how to upgrade to first class?
 

My fiance and I are spending our honeymoon on Maui in September. We have heard stories about people upgrading to first class at the airport without paying the ridiculus first class price. Could anyone explain to me whether or not this is possible and the steps one should take to upgrade to first class? Our tickets are frequent flyer tickets, so I don't know if that will hinder me from upgrading or not...

There's a posting on this topic in the "Smart Travel Tips" section of this forum. Try checking it out, there's been a lot of interesting responses.

Upgrades to Hawaii are very difficult to obtain. "Road Warriors" with premier frequent flyer status have the best chance of upgrading. <BR>

The only suggestion I can offer is to let the ticket or gate agent know that you are on your honeymoon. Then if they upgrade anyone you have a shot. When my husband and I went to Greece for our honeymoon we found the Olympic flight was totally full... with a plumbers convention! We were really unhappy about sharing coach with a hugre group of rowdy drunken plumbers (they were already drinking in the airport!). Fortunately the flight was overbooked, and we were upgraded to 1st class at the very last minute, along with 2 other honeymooning couples.

Worth a try: call Northwest Airlines. Flew with them to HI 2 years ago (a great flight, BTW) and they had a very reasonably priced option of paying extra to upgrade to first class. They fly from the mainland to Honolulu-- you'd have to switch to another carrier from there to Maui. Perhaps they still have that upgrade plan. Good luck. <BR>

This is risky, but several years ago my family and I arrived late (only about half an hour before flight time)for our UA return flight from Honolulu to LA. Because the flight was overbooked, we were seated in Business Class--instead of the other on-time conscientious travellers. Of course, we spent time worrying about whether we'd be kicked off the flight altogether and I guess you never know what the policy will be on any given flight, but we felt we really lucked out.

Wear the wedding dress!