LilAbner

Even a Nun wouldn't get upgraded on her birthday, especially if she doesn't have status!

vandrei

Most of the transcons are full of Premiers.

Also, if I found out that GM (sometimes referred to as "kettles") were getting upgraded for free ahead of Premiers, I would...not be amused at all.

MSPGabe

When I was a GA it happened just about every day.

IF (almost never happened) F had open seats, after all upgrades etc, I'd occasionally Op-Up folks for their honeymoon, etc.

Of course, there were times where we were booked to 66 in Y, and 0 in F...and had nobody on the UG list. I'd get up to the gate and ask for volunteers, without being specific as to what.

First people interested would be asked if they'd want to volunteer to give up their Y seat...in exchange for F.

FlyingNone

----------------------------------
I took your quote because...."to None"......(I wish)....

I get this question often (at the ticket counter) for various reasons (inbound delays, miscellaneous airline related aggravations, etc.), but it's all about letting people down easy and explaining how upgrades are "awarded" to frequent fliers, etc. Hard to believe in the way, way distant past this was given gratis to passengers who were frequent fliers by sight (when mileage progams did not even exist), generally those passengers seen by the same agents week after week.
I can remember only one time where a husband and wife got really annoying and found it incredible that we would not upgrade them (at least her) because she was pregnant.

astroflyer

If you want a birthday upgrade, get a friend who flies UA frequently to sponsor you with a regional upgrade (RPU) or use miles. I'm going to be flying EWR-SFO on my birthday, and as a plat, I know that's about the only way I'm getting an upgrade on that route, maybe.

fastair

A decade ago, people would ask (the honeymoonrs to HNL would always ask, not realizing that there are 15 othr couples honeymooning on the same flight who have asked as well.) Now, people realize that this business is a commodity business, and that birthdays, weddings, etc are just anotheray to sell you an upgrade to econo plus.

I personaly think it is low class to try to get somthingfor free that is a commodity unlessan offerhas been mae by thecommodity seller, but that's just me. I'm not a fan of "waivers or favors" in any line of work, as I like a consistant product that is transparent and predictable. Others may have differing viewpoints.

So to answer, I can't even remember the last time someone seriously asked me for anything other than free economy plus, or free standby when they were not entitled to it. People throw out the "free upgrade" thing while walking past the counter still, but when I don't smile at it, they realize it isn't going anywhere and never ask seriously.


Sorry to be a buzz killer, but it's hard enough trying to deliver a consistant product as it is, with line jumers and boarding group 1 blocking the premiere access lane before we have boarded disabled passengers, military, or GS. McDonald's didn't become huge by giving away free large fries for the price of medum on your birthday (in fact, if you had a party thre, thy cashed in on you,) but by giving a consistant product no matter what store you went to or what time of day. Too many tmes do I hear each day "well, they never charged me in the past" for a service we are supposed to charge for, so I don't want to contribute to the problem by not doing my job as I was trained to.

Edit: On the ultra rare times (a few/yr) when my premium cabins are not full, my list for UG/nrsa are cleared, and Y is full with revenue standby still tryin to get on, if I don't have time to do an opug by fare class (remember elites/NRSA have already been cleared) it will go to the most unassuming quiet person in line. (similar to MSPGabe/PWMRamper) The OPUG is done (by me) to create room for the revenue standbys, as they aren't gonna get a windfall and get it.

Mike Jacoubowsky

It's not just the airline business. It amazes me how many people are shocked that we can't do them a special favor and get a major repair done for them next day, sometimes even the same day they bring in into the store, when we have 5 days worth of work for repairs that have been brought in previously. We do things in the order they come in, and people don't believe us or don't care that it's not fair to everyone else in front of them if we were to squeeze their repair in ahead of them.

It's an employee training issue too. As we work through the backlog, we'll get ahead of schedule and suddenly have a day where it appears we have nothing to do... so why not plop something in there? The problem is that we're supposed to move everyone else's repair forward and get them done earlier than scheduled.

Point of all this being, there's a way that things are supposed to work, and when you make exceptions, you fail in the promises you've made to others. IMHO, of course.

jugglesfire

Actually, for all you statistics nuts out there, on a flight with 138 people in economy, there is a 99.9999(with 10 more 9's)% chance that two of those 138 people will have the same birthday (day/month). There is a 92.8% chance that three of those 138 people will have the same birthday.

Therefore, I think if you ask for an upgrade for yourself on a flight, you should also ask for one for anyone else with the same birthday or don't ask for one at all!

(one more fun fact, on a full A380, there is a better chance of you being struck by lightning twice in the same day then there not being at least three people on the plane with the same birthday)

chinatraderjmr

I got a birthday upgrade from NRT - SFO from Z - F last year. When I checked in the agent in NRT noticed it was my birthday. I asked what the UFC cost was since I could not use a GPU on a Z fare & she nicely handed me an F boarding pass & just said "Happy Birthday". You never know but I was at least a 1K at the time

halls120

several years ago, I had a long layover in ATL waiting for a flight to BOG. Walking by the DL CS counter, I saw that there was no line, so I thought what the heck - let's try. So I walked up to the CS, told her that I didn't have status on DL, but my brother was a DL Captain, and would that qualify me for an upgrade? She looked him up to make sure I was telling the truth, smiled, and gave me the upgrade.

LilAbner

UA-1K 3MM may have has some bearing!


BTW, belated Happy Birthday!

DarF2001

Without going to far off topic, I'm curious about the math you've used - I disagree that it's a virtually certainty that someone else would have the same birthday.

If we simplify the patterns of human birthdays, and assume the date of flight is one of 365 possible day/month combinations and ignore leap years, and that everyone on the plane has a random date, without leap years, with an equal probability of being born on any particular date, the chance of one of the 138 having the same as you would be 1-((364/365)^138)) or 31.5% chance that it's someone on the plane's birthday.

I've had quite a bit of wine so I'm not going to try to think about three or more combos, but extrapolating out, a plane with a capacity of 252 has a better than even odds of a birthday. It's not a virtual 99% certainty until you get into the thousands - so don't ask for free tickets to a sporting event.

villox

He's actually stating the statistical likelihood of 2 people on the same plane having the same birthday - of all birthdays - not the chance that there is someone else with the exact same birthday as you. It's referred to as the Birthday Problem.

LilAbner

The odds that anyone on this forum consumed "quite a bit of wine" at 5:30 in the morning, on any given day, is about 2 to 1.

jugglesfire

kudos Villox

Yes, follow the link to the Birthday problem. On a plane with 23 people there is a 50% chance that at least two people share the same birthday. This is pretty much the intro to statistic question to get people thinking. Just crossed my mind with all the birthday talk going on.

As to my particular math, I used a birthday problem calculator online instead of cranking out the old TI-89.

This is a pretty global forum, in addition to being full of alcoholic, workaholic, back seat driving wannabe attorney frequent flyers (BTW, I willingly put myself into several of those categories before people get pissy). Might be 5:30am for you in Vegas but it is Happy hour time for me in Finland. Enjoy your work day people, I am going to go try to catch up to DarF2001.