Damn, I look a lot smaller using metric measurement!
I think I will start using the metric system when discussing my weight here in Texas!
Y'all have a great weekend!

That's 5'9", 140 lbs, lol.
M

Back in the late 60s I was upgraded twice to first class. Both times I was flying military standby just hoping to be able to get on the flight. Even though it ended up that economy was not filled on either flight, the gate agent assigned us seats in first class. It was Delta Airlines and I still appreciate that they did it for us.

I recently was told by a FA on United that two businessmen on a DC to LA flight, after discovering that a couple of soldiers had just returned from Iraq, had the gate agent give them their first class seats and took the soldiers seats in economy. Its nice to think that there are still some people who appreciate what our military men and women do for us.

Travelermebe, I have done it and seen it done many times.
AA has started giving those in uniform 1st class when available.
I carry handfuls of real AA domestic upgrades that I had out so they can confirm it 24 hours in advance.
I get a kick out of doing it and if anyone needs some first class treatment, it's our soldiers!

Mike -
Fortunately or unfortunately, I married a guy about your size and hence have never had the pleasure of first class. I am with travelpro though and from now on am going strictly metric.

The boards at Flyertalk.com are a great source of information on topics like this. Your best bet is to do a search on the term "operational upgrade" (although I believe their search function is down at the moment).

You can try flying with a child on a full flight with seat assignments in seats by the emergency exits. This worked for me. When the FA could not find two adults who were willing to trade seats with us, they moved the two of us into first class, since a 9-year-old was not allowed to occupy the windo seat at the emergency door and there were no other available seats on the flight.

ttt

ttt

Northwest Airlines has one of the best programs going for elite members when it comes to upgrades: unlimited complimentary upgrades on a space available basis for flights in North America and the Caribbean. The higher the elite level, the earlier the upgrades are cleared. For platinum members, the window opens at five days out. The priority order is established by computer.

For the occasional traveler, first class upgrades at no charge are probably much less likely than they might have been in the past.

USAirways has similar upgrade program for different levels of FF - my husband finds, however, that at his second level up FF level (forget what they call it), on many flights First Class seats are already filled.

gail, it's only March, so maybe your mission this year should be to take a few long hauls to nudge that level up a little.

I have worldperks platinum status ( for the last 4 years ) so when flying domestic I never fly in coach. I haven't NOT been upgraded in almost 2 years now.

However, on international itineraries it is very difficult to get a first class ticket. There are no "free" elite upgrades on these itineraries.

In order to get a First class seat, you can upgrade using FF miles. You must buy the non-discounted coach ticket, and at this price seats are still very limited.
For example : We're going to Rome this Summer, and when trying to use miles for an upgrade at the 1500$ flight price ( discounted coach ticket was 900 ) there was only 1 seat available.
For the Y class ( full coach fare ) of 3000$, then we can use miles.

So we decided to fly in coach and use the extra couple of thousand bucks on 5* hotels

The last option is to use all FF miles for your first class ticket.
We're going to China in September and since we have so many banked miles, we each used 90,000 miles for first class round trip since the first class ticket costs 6,000$ each

My wife was upgraded last night on British Air. She said its either because her FF Miles or the volume of business her company gives British Air.