Airline Upgrades
 

Can anyone give me tips on how I can get free (or almost free) upgrades with the airlines, hotels, or car rentals? Is this difficult to do?

off....The ONLY sure way to get upgraded is to pay for the upgrades.Airlines, forget it unless you have frequent flier miles to trade in.Hotels...you can always ask.Some will offer you an upgraded room for an additional nightly fee,others may not give you the time of day.You will get all kinds of replies on hotel upgrades.Car rentals, same deal would apply.I have been offered free car upgrades when they were out of the size car I reserved.And there was no additional charge to the rental.Good luck!

You can always ask.

The airlines, hotels and car rental places are all very good about up-grading if you are a frequent traveler. I often use the same companies so of course that helps because they know I am a steady customer.

It's really nice when I pick up a rental car and they just hand me the keys, or check into a hotel and I am automatically upgraded to the "Towers Floor" which includes breakfast. Of course a first class seat to Miami is always nice too.

It is important to remember that these little upgrades are often given first to those of us that travel alot.

Work travel does have it's perks. Happy Travel!

LilyLace, I'm surprised to hear that you get upgrades on airlines by being "a frequent traveler". Do you mean that you cash in your frequent flyer miles? Or are you saying that you ask for upgrades and they give them to you gratis? I'm a very frequent traveler on Delta, and I've not found this to be the case.

On AA, I "earn" upgrade certificates every time I travel. I have to cash in 1 certificate per 500 miles of travel for an upgrade... or I can buy upgrades with FF miles.
EXTREMELY rare to get a free upgrade on AA. Usually relates to a customer service issue.

Actually, one way I have found to get a "free" upgrade is to volunteer to get bumped. When I've done this in the past, about half the time or better, I've ended up in first class when they re-booked me on a later flight. Of course, I'm actually paying for it with my time.

And I've always got vouchers for later travel as well but haven't done this in a long time, over a year since last voluntary bump.

As a USAir frequent flier, my husband has earned upgrades to first class. So many miles means so many upgrades, which he can use based on availabilty in first class. But he can only use these a few days before the flight - they only give them to you if there is room available. Many times seats are not available.

One time when we were flying together to Florida, they bumped all 4 of us to first class. I believe the flight was oversold and there was availablity in first class. We have never had this opportunity again. Once, when USAir changed our seat assignments and had us sitting all over the plane, I asked them to change us back to where we were originally supposed to be seated (bulkhead). They refused. When I asked for them to bump us up to first class, they laughed at me. So apparently it is a very rare occurance to move people up.

A strange thing happened to us last month. We were scheduled to fly to Nassau two weeks ago. When I checked my husband's FF balance, it showed 60,000 miles were deducted to upgrade both of us to first class. When my husband called, they told him I called to upgrade the seats! I would never, ever use 30,000, which is free ticket to the Carribean, to upgrade to first class! They put the miles back in his account, but this was weird. As it was, we were able to upgrade to first class with his upgrade balance.

Delta allows use of "segment upgrade" certificates only if you've booked a ticket at a higher class of travel (like fully refundable coach class). I can't use my upgrades for low-budget tickets, which is how I generally fly for work.

So it doesn't necessarily pay (as in upgrades) to be loyal.

I also earn upgrade certificates, but actually don't use them very often. The most frequent places I travel to I am often upgraded by the person on the counter with no charge to my mile account. I do not normally book my tickets for work very far ahead, so I pay premium for them. Also, when I travel overseas I often go business class and some places I fly to very often - would this make a difference???
I know I won't complain!

Thanks for the info. For all you frequent travelers, are there certain cities that you find where the ticket agents and customer service people are friendlier and more willing to work with you for the asking?

Not sure about the friendly part, but I do know that it is very hard to get upgrades due to seat availability to Las Vegas. An agent told me she guessed it was part of the whole Vegas experience to fly there first class. I've found redeeming FF tickets to Vegas to be extremely difficult as well.

Karen is absolutely correct about FF tickets to Vegas. I think your chances to upgrade (and use FF tickets)are always better on the less desired destinations and travel times.

pay for it, or cash in frequent flyer miles for the airlines. i don't know about hotels...