FlyDeltaJets87

Oh man. Hope none of the DMs from Delta land come over and see this. They're going bonkers in one thread over people like you (and me) who, rather than swapping with the person sitting next to your/my spouse, situation demand that we speak to gate agent and give our F upgrade to the "next elite on the upgrade list" when we find ourselves in this. It's rather hilarious reading their posts where they're lecturing about the "rules" and how people like us are "undermining the system" blah blah blah.

ffI

Too much money it appears; He could have just upgraded her and spent a flight time with anyone else.
I know my wife would appreciate some time away from me relaxing in comfort with a glass or two of wine.

I needed some tissues as well.

We need more of them so our upgrades will clear

OP you do make some points that I may agree with at times, but not all in the same post please.
Rentals;
In strange cities, I do like smaller cars, but I call ahead and specify that.
Hotels;
I do not care for the view that much, but sometimes the 10 min of time you spend is worth it. I spent time in Luxor courtesy of a SPG Plat who booked it for me. We got the suiet with the Nile view; I was sure it was worthless as we were travelling around most of the time. The last day, our flight was to leave late afternoon and we returned at noon and had a couple of hours to kill - The young kids still remember our time on the suite verandah watching the boats ply the Nile and think of that as one of the best times of the whole trip.
Trains;
First class is quieter and you can get more work done
Planes
Are you in this cattle herd? Look at the flights today and the crowding!
Calling SMI/J
You must be the new type of Elite Flyer that United is looking for;
they are looking to thin the herd of the undesirable over-entitled cattle hanging around and getting fed on Flyertalk.-

ffI

OP, I thought this was a troll post to start a thread like many, but you are serious!
Any award that you book from your account is free.

The interesting thing in the new program is that the ticket booked from your account, bestows on them the same rights that you have.

My wife was upgraded as a non status to Biz with an UDU with my status for a ticket booked from my account.

xxpert

Doesnt elite status give you companion upgrades on most FF programs ?

BOShappyflyer

Well, the OP isn't at all off-based on the hotel upgrade part. I do agree that not all upgrades are worth it. I recently just came from a 2+ weeks vacation abroad for a family of 5. For most of our stays, we booked 2 rooms, with request for a rollaway bed in one of the rooms. It tends to work out pretty well.

At one of the hotels, they had already upgraded us to an executive room queen room pre-arrival for one room, and to a 3 single beds room for the other. We couldn't be happier. At check-in, they offer to upgrade the "3 single beds" room (not ready yet when we checked in) to a "family" room, but it's only got 2 beds and rollaway wasn't allowed (and we asked about a pull-out couch). After some quick discussion amongst ourselves, we decided to decline the "higher category" family room because we did the shared bed option + rollaway at Conrad for the first part of the vacation already. It was fine and all, but we each felt it was more important to have a bed you can call your own to catch a good night's sleep...

In the end, we stuck with our 3-single bed rooms and it was a very homely room with comfortable beds. In fact, we all thought it was just great, and possibly even better than the executive queen room (which only edges in better views on a higher floor, and larger bed).

For flights though, it's almost always more comfortable to sit up front. However, if given the choice between the extra 5 inch legroom in economy vs regular economy, I'd rather sit next to someone I know over those puny extra leg room (and I speak from very recent experience, if I could do it all over again).

Just my 2 cents.

Kagehitokiri

so youre only talking about free/operational upgrades..

hotels depend on what kind of hotel you stay at and for what purpose.

personally, id like to see more paid airport VIP offerings.

MyTravels

Agreed. On one trip a non-status was upgraded due to coach being oversold and the flight attendant asked me to switch as I was sitting next to his wife (never mind that I had status and wasn't offered the upgrade, but that'd be for another tread).

I was willing to make the sacrifice and schlepped up to Business Class.

tasnam

lazoh

A good read and laugh! Thank you!! LOL!!

particlemn

after reading this i was waiting to see a post like "I tryed to book a red eye flight lax-jfk and requested a middle seat in the back that deos not recline and is right next to the bathroom, I also requested to have 4-5 screaming kids seated near me, but the darn airline upgraded me and i had to sit next to a young lady in a cheerleader outfit in first class. this stinks i just wanted my old seat in the back."

BenSenise

I realize that this is an old thread that has been dug up but i just have to add that the same drink/ snack cart goes through the whole train, first and second class, so it has zero to do with your upgrade.

sosafan

In response to thread #6, I suspect everything on flyertalk is a first world problem.

Regarding the train, it was clearly our mistake. But if we weren’t in first class, we wouldn’t have thought they were offering us free water.

One rime my wife and I got split up due an upgrade I couldn’t undo, and I told her to take it. But the flight attendant said something to her about having a man’s name. The remark might have been good-natured, but it made my wife uncomfortable, and she now refuses to take the upgrade in this situation again.

A bad experience was on a Zurich to Bangkok flight soon after a Chicago to Zurich flight. Our internal clock was different than most others on the flight, so after a short nap, we both got up and wanted to watch movies, but the flight attendants couldn’t get the devices working at our seats. So about halfway through the flight, they upgraded us to some empty seats. In order to see the controls on her TV, she turned on her light twice for 5 seconds each. This made another passenger irate who came up two rows and bitterly complained how much we had disturbed her.

You can all put your tissues away. I am not looking for any sympathy and we don’t need any. I am pointing out our preferences to politely disagree with the notion that everyone would always want an upgrade. If I were big or tall, I’m sure I would value airline upgrades. I value other perks, like lounges, priority, easier changes, free luggage, free flights, etc. And if you value your upgrades, fine.