rr900134567

A few weeks ago I was flying alone on the inbound leg of a round trip from New York to Europe on Swiss in economy class (W fare class). When I was boarding, the gate agent said, "congratulations! you have a new seat!" and handed me a paper slip indicating a business class seat for me. Of course I happily took the opportunity and had a great flight.

But I'm left wondering - why me? I don't currently have elite status on any airline, and in the past never had it on Swiss or another LH-group carrier. Was it totally random? Was it because I was among the last passengers to board? Or perhaps because I had selected one of the best economy seats to begin with? Maybe because I had travelled in Swiss business once before (on a United mileage ticket)? Because I complained to the check in agent on the outbound flight that I had gotten stuck with a bad seat? Or because I was travelling alone and fit some demographic they have in mind as someone appropriate to sit in business class?

In short, is there anything I can do to maximize my chances of this happening again?

Thanks!

tgj1974

Pray

fanb

Did u complain to a check in agent or a supervisor haha ?
you charmed them and they liked you haha!
​​​​​​as far as I know few people (for example the supervisor) could upgrade anyone they like..and not follow the list on their computer ..

Nick Art

I don't know if that is still the case but a few years ago deciding who to upgrade was not only done by status and booking class but also by how you act or look. If they are to select a random just think about who you'd chose: The unfriendly tired guy wearing slippers and lousy jogging trousers or the friendly guy in trenchcoat and suit?

Now I personally always fly wearing good clothes just out of respect to my fellow travelers and the cabin crew. Having been upgraded once in a while is a nice little addition

trooper

Alone. Very important. My only op-up ever was on CX from J to F.... again..travelling alone. Never had any status with OW.... Wasn't dressed fancy.

How to get it again? Already answered. Pray.. (and fly a LOT)

Fabo.sk

Got an upgrade once on LH as a base member (not even FTL).

I travelled alone and had a relatively high booking class. I expect both helped.

MSPeconomist

LH may have needed your seat for someone with special needs or to enable a family to sit together. This would make it easier to upgrade you versus picking someone else or shuffling seats around, given that someone would be OPUPed. BTW, can we assume that your flight was full in coach?

lacoca

is it so that gate supervisors, can upgrade anyone they like on the flight even if the ticketed booking class (Y or C) is not full ?

fanb

no .. we're only talking about operational upgrade situations .. sometimes you can be upgraded as a gesture of goodwill but that would be in specific cases (witnessed it once with overbooking on OS when a mum and a small kid were upgraded ..I was a VDB too but from what i overheard they had problems with their previous connection too.. )

totti

Welcome to FT and the M&M forum rr900134567!

As you were asking specifically about LX I moved this thread to the LX subforum.

Have a nice day,
totti
Moderator M&M forum

andywaw

Why make the choice so obvious, how about: "The friendly guy wearing slippers and jogging trousers or the unfriendly tired guy in a lousy suit"?

airoli

While it would be nice to think that how you dress or how charming you are to a gate agent has an influence on your op-up chances, the truth is that with most airlines today, it doesn't.

You'd need to charm a very sophisticated revenue-maximizing algorithm instead. It ranks people suitable for op-ups along a number of criteria such as ticket revenue, FFP status, journey travelled (simple O+D vs. connection), lifetime value score, group size and so on. Prior to that, premium cabin seats are offered for $ at various touch-points.

Finally, the computer also looks at specific operational constraints like the airline requiring one specific Y class seat (i.e. for someone with a disability, a bassinet, a toddler travelling with his parent etc.) and how to minimize the number of seat changes to accomodate that.

garykung

If after asking all these questions, and you still don't know the answer, then it is obvious that in your perspective, the op-up is totally random. However - Op-up, in the perspective of the airlines, does not usually mixed with randomness. It can as simple as your assigned seat was overbooked and there was no other empty seat left.

Always remember - it costs airline money (in their perspective) to op-up. So this is not a random event for sure. Contrary to urban legend, each airline does have mechanism to determine op-up priority. It sounds like that in this case, someone paid no attention to the rule.

Sure. Let's talk more once you become a HON Circle.

Nic33

This topic is the source of many discussions and fantasies. My view is the following:

- When IROPS are limited, and the situation is managed, the gate agents try to apply the op-up rules. On recent EU flights with overbooked coach sections, I got upgraded while my booking class was the highest (Y). Rules applied. But, as stated above by MSPeconomist, even in those cases, the gate agent may need a particular seat for special needs and a non status passenger with a low booking class could be upgraded to avoid a reshuffle of seats. Also there are sometimes last minute changes (among others passengers who have been predicted to not show up who eventually show up) that lead the gate agents to make last minute op-up to any passenger that has not yet boarded.

- When IROPS are major, such as the last that I experienced during the April strike in Germany, the check-in personel and gate agents are legitmately overwhelmed and focus their attention at trying to get as many passengers possible to fly. As a status passenger, the check-in agents made sure that I had a seat on a plane, but I do not believe that they had the capacity to apply the op-up rules in such a chaotic situation. Hence, to my view, any passenger has a chance in those cases.

Accordingly, there is little that can be done to maximize chances without deploying a lot of efforts (get status, look for overbooked flights and chaotic situations, buy higher booking classes) which are probably not worth the increase in chances.