Swiss Op-up policy
 

Hello all,

I will be flying in C with a travelling companion, same PNR, same booking class, no SPML I am SEN and he is just M&M.
I am wondering, in case of overbooked Y and C, what is the priority of Op-ups in my situation?

Guess it is HON, SEN, *G, FTL and the rest.... The higher the booking class, the chance is better. But I guess opups from biz to first is very very rare. I had the whole F cabin for myself on an cheap US award ticket on Lufthansa FRA-ICN, no op-up happened. I thought they would bump somebody up front, but they did not.

Well they did actually do that after a while, but that was because one passenger was sick and her friend was blind so they bumped up the two pax so the crew could take care of them. They were showed back when it was time for my breakfest meal so not really an op-up. Ah well this thread was about Swiss and not Lufthansa. My impression is anyway that Swiss and Lufthansa are both very strict with op-ups. I had one friend with no status in Star Alliance at all who was op-uped at gate from Y to C. I think the gate agent swiped his boarding pass and came out with an error or so and she said you are flying business class today sir. Very rare.

Of course they are strict. An operational upgrade is invoked only if they really really have to. When they really do need to shift passengers forward (or upwards:)), there is some hierarchy in terms of passenger eligibility for an upgrade. However, when it's a fire-fighting exercise (rather than pre-planned and orderly) the hierarchy can go out of the window: as your friend discovered.

Upgrades from C to F are pretty rare events.

Which is good, I mean the only gurantee to fly business or first is to actually book a ticket in business or first. :) I have myself booked a ticket in Qatar business OSL-DOH-BKK. The fare was very good to be a business fare aroudnd 1800 USD.

Agreed. But it happened to me once with LH.
But my question is another, in my situation, travelling with the same PNR with a non status family member, would they upgrade me and not him or would they upgrade both of us after HON, SEN and FTL?
This of course if they are planning to do operational upgrades

Check this thread which might answer your question. ;) Of course only people who were op-upped with their non-status travelling companion have reported here and you won't know how many people didn't get op-upped because they were travelling with someone with no status. :p

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...l-sen-hon.html

Thanks NewbieRunner. I just remembered that sometimes someone posted the priority and the criteria for LH opups based on status, etc. Is it the same for LX? Also, I wonder if family member travelling with a status passenger with the same PNR are treated like the status passenger.

On a recent LX flight, I was specifically asked at c/i whether I was flying alone or with another pax. In the end there were no empty seats, but no op-ups either, but this implies that having a companion on the flight may decrease your chances - I would say in particular if they just need one single pax for an op-up.

Speaking of Lufthansa. My friend was traveling ARN-EZE via FRA on LH with his fiancee. They were traveling in Y on award tickets (bought by his dad who is SEN 300K per year). Their connection in Frankfurt got extremely tight due to a delay of the flight from ARN. After some serious running, they made it just in time to the gate to find them being upgraded to C!

Is this unbelieveable or what!? The guy was traveling +1 on an award. The flight was obviously overbooked in Y, so with the gate staff assuming they'd miss the connection, they had no other choice then to op-up them.

This just shows how every op-up case is different, and in a real "emergency" all this status&booking class hierarky goes out the window.

Swiss is indeed VERY strict with op-ups, I have noticed that LH seems to use this more often.

I am sure that the numerous LH upgrade examples do not apply to Swiss flights.

I don't know anyone who has ever had an OP-up on swiss

It happens sometimes, but rarely. It happened to me twice, on one occasion from Y to C with my better half together on a longhaul. Can you imagine my surprise and pleasure?

But I don't think you can "plan" this in advance.
W

My very first op-up many years ago was on longhaul LX from Y to C. I think I was FTL at the time.

Clearly, you don't know the right people. :cool: