Katie_H

Another member mentioned turning down an upgrade to a business class seat by accident as one of their biggest travel mistakes on another forum thread.

My best flight upgrade was on a flight from Heathrow to Dulles. I arrived late to Heathrow after a particularly harried morning and almost didn't make the plane. I had asked at the check-in desk if I could possibly my seat changed to a window seat.

Imagine my surprise to find that my new seat was upstairs---I'm not sure now whether it was their business or premium economy seats but it was an extremely comfortable and restful flight. I remember toasting my good fortune with the glass of champagne they offered me just before take off.

Any similar stories?

LMGSONIC

I wish! We can barely afford to fly economy. But I'll live vicariously through everyone else's stories.

yk

Believe it or not, I've been upgraded twice to Business, both on Cathay Pacific.

The first time happened when I was only 20. I think I was supposed to fly from Hong Kong to London, but the flight was oversold. They asked if I would mind flying business class from Hong Kong to Frankfurt (I think) and then connect to London. Of course I didn't mind! I had no status at that time and certainly wasn't dressed too well as a 20 year-old student!

The second time was just earlier this year. I was traveling with my husband, and we were flying Hong Kong to LAX on Cathay. I have middle-level elite status with American Airlines, which also gives me status on OneWorld partners.

AGain, the flight was oversold in economy, and the check-in agent asked if I would <i>mind</i> upgrading to Business class. But he regretfully said that he could only upgrade me, but not my husband (he has low level elite status).

Of course I took the upgrade, and DH stayed in economy. We didn't switch seats, but I did bring him a bottle of water which was complimentary in the Business section.

J62

#1 SQ biz to 1st class upgrade NRT to SIN, then SIN to TPE. Both very long flights. Biz class was nice, 1st far better. Nose of 747.

#2 AA ORD to LAX (unfortunately a really long flight to enjoy the perks). Change of equipment meant 777 Coach to 1st upgrade on an international 3 class cabin. Skipped right over biz class.

#3 AA. Not a great upgrade because it was just a short flight, but an example of great customer service/benefit of using Admirals Club. Stuck in DFW with connecting flight canceled. No flights with coach seats avail till 8 hrs later. AC agent got 1st class seats for 4 with just 2hr wait, and gave rest of family 1day passes to AC.

ccolor

DH had a seizure and the flight crew immediately put us in first class to keep an eye on him. Just before that happened some doofus tried to smoke in the bathroom so bells and whistles were going off everywhere. Man, was that airport lit up for our plane when we finally landed!!

P.S. We don't suggest anyone use his method for an upgrade....

Jeff_Costa_Rica

My first trip to Europe many years ago was on KLM, Chicago to Amsterdam. I checked in to find the flight was oversold. The check-in agent bumped me up to first class, which, at the time, KLM called its &quot;Royal Class.&quot; I don't think they still use that name. Prior to this, I'd never flown any flight longer than two hours, so to have such ample space and attentive service on an eight-hour flight was a real treat. Flying back home, I was in coach. It was quite a let-down.

travelgourmet

A few that stick out:

1) An upgrade from coach to Business Class on Continental's Honolulu to Newark non-stop. 10+ hours passes a lot quicker when you have room. And this was on a $300 fare, too. This was probably the best because, at the time, we flew much less, so the novelty hadn't worn off.

2) A recent upgrade from coach to Business class from Amsterdam to Newark. Nice, since our connecting flight had left at 6 am, and we were only spending a couple of days in Newark, so the sleep helped a lot.

3) I was upgraded from business to first on BA. It was nice, but the incremental improvement is not nearly as much as going from coach to biz. Indeed, I turned down another upgrade from biz to first on BA, as my wife didn't score the upgrade, so I stuck with her.

wally34949

I sat at the airport in Miami waiting to board a BA flight to London for over 2 hours. When they finally called my row (Row 34), I handed them my ticket and I was told I had been moved to row 63. I said, &quot;Row 63, what's that--the bathroom in the back of the plane?&quot; I was told I was moved to Business Class upstairs.

DRJ

20 September 2001: With essentially nobody flying, my wife and I were going ATL-CDG-FCO. The Air France 747 that usually occupied a visually prominent space at ATL wasn't seen. They had downsized to an Airbus. At the gate we were given seat assignments and I asked if I still had bulkhead seats (I'm tall). They had already been given out. When asked if we could speak French and occupy exit rows we, truthfully, said no. The GA then secured two new seat assignments, row seven. Nice trip.

mrwunrfl

1) Brother and I were able to get confirmed upgrades from full fare business class to first class for LAX-SYD-LAX using miles and upgrade certs. The fun part was that those &quot;full fare&quot; biz class fares were mistake fares, under $1600 each for LAX - NZ via SYD. (that's about the cost of an economy ticket and was about one-fifth of the cost of biz class).

2) I flew to Nagoya, Japan, on a free ticket (not miles, but a one-time promotion). On the return I asked at check-in if an upgrade was possible, but answer was no. At the gate, I put my bp in the machine and the machine made some noises that I recognized from a previous, paid, flight: I got an op-up at the gate, this time on a free ticket.

ms_go

I've had a few but none lately...

Best was probably the operational upgrade from economy to business on a London-Chicago flight--not just for me, but for the whole family (United).

I've also been upgraded from paid business to first on American. That was nice, as I was going straight from the plane to a full day of work.

Also in the &quot;upgrade&quot; category...our return flight from Australia last year was cancelled due to a mechanical. United rebooked us on Qantas in business (an upgrade in airlines)--especially nice, considering mr_go and daughter were flying on saver award tickets and I was flying on an economy ticket that I had upgraded to United business with miles.

Ackislander

CDG to BOS, upgrade from Cattle Class to First Class on AA. Air France had a greve that day, chaos reigned, we stayed calm and polite, virtue was rewarded.

Several upgrades from SFO to BOS from Cattle Class to Business and First. One involved giving up seats on oversold flight. Don't remember the other circumstances.

AJPeabody

In the long ago, before the present flight madness, Mrs. Peabody and I were going on our vacation cattle class to Paris. Because of tight scheduling, we both came to the airport directly from work, in suits and trench coats. We were sitting and waiting for boarding when the check-in attendant came and asked for our boarding passes back. A moment later my worries were ended when she brought us new ones for business class. I asked why she chose us. She said that economy was oversold and we looked like business class.

We came home in economy.

Melnq8

The bulk of my upgrades are earned/purchased with miles, but I've had a few surprise upgrades too.

1) Husband and I were boarding a Singapore Air flight from Male to Singapore. The gate agent fed our boarding passes into the machine and new boarding passes popped out. Like magic, we were both upgraded to Business Class. Upon arrival in Singapore we checked in for our connecting flight to Dubai on SIA, and were told our flight was oversold, BUT if we didn't mind making a short stop in Colombo, and if we really hurried, they could put us on an earlier flight in Business Class. No brainer, that one. Twice in one trip, what are the chances?

2) Husband and I'd purchased RTW tickets in Business Class. We were both returning to Kuwait via Munich, but on separate flights a few weeks apart. When he got home he called and told me he'd been put in First Class on the Munich to Kuwait flight. I was jealous, but oddly enough the same thing happened to me a few weeks later. We found out much later that our travel agent had made a ticketing mistake on that particular flight. Oops.

3) Lufthansa used to routinely offer upgrades to Business Class on flights from Kuwait to Munich if there were empty seats at check in for a couple hundred bucks. I was always happy to oblige.

Ah, those were the days...

JohnEMcNeal

In and earlier age, when PanAm still existed and I was single, I flew coach from Chicago to Heathrow with a stop in Detroit. The Chicago price was way below market, since the flight was intended to serve Detroit/London and used Chicago's Ohare primarily for overnight parking.

During the half full coach flight over, I enjoyed a prolonged conversation with my, less than busy, FA who was based in London. Comparing calenders, we learned we were scheduled on the same return flight, two weeks later.

When returning, I was boarded to coach but then escorted to first class seating in the upper deck bulge. Thereupon learning, I was to be the ONLY 1st class passenger for the flight.

Gardyloo

I've been &quot;op-upped&quot; on a number of occasions - it's great when lightning strikes, isn't it?

But my best upgrade came on an old Lockheed Super Electra (a four-engine turboprop) flown by Reeve Aleutian Airways, with whom I spent a helluva lot of butt-in-seat hours some years ago. I was such a regular passenger that I had standing shtick with the various air crews (RAA wasn't that big and you got to know people pretty well after a time.)

I was going from Cold Bay to Anchorage on the Electra, but after we took off we got diverted (several hundred miles the wrong way) to Adak, which at the time was a large Navy base out in the wetern Aleutians. An earlier flight to ADK had got weathered out, so we were volunteered to go out and pick up the pax and mail that had got missed.

The additional pax we picked up outnumbered the open seats (it was all coach) so instead of bumping someone, I got &quot;op-upped&quot; to the jump seat in the cockpit for the 3+ hour flight to ANC. Far more pleasant than sitting next to some halibut fisherman who hadn't seen a bathtub in a week amp;.

kllh

Flight from Chicago O'Hare to CDG Paris, first class on Northwest. They'd overbooked the flight plus a snow storm delayed several people. Myself and one of the people I was traveling with got booted and had already spent a nite at a hotel to find that we still weren't leaving out to Paris. Shortly after, we met these two Scandinavian guys who offered to give up their seats and go to a Bull's game (this was in the days of Michael Jordan!). Funny on our way back to the states we ran into the guys at CDG. Classic!

Jedmo68631

My greatest update was on a flight from Omaha Nebraska. The flight was full and they were asking for volunteers to give up their seats. The reward was a round trip ticket to anywhere in the US. I volunteered and got my voucher. The ticket agent told me to stay in the area. When all was said and done, I got upgraded to first class and got to keep my voucher. What a deal!

kenck

My wife and I were on our way back from California years ago. There was an announcement saying that were going to be over the Grand Canyon soon. I asked a Flight Attendant if I could go into first class to take pictures of the Grand Canyon as it was a pretty full flight. She asked if I would like to change my seating to first class. I thanked her but told her that I was with my wife. She then told me that we could both move to first class. It was a wonderful experience and reinforced my belief in being polite to everyone.

Softato1

Many years ago on a flight from LAX to Maui, our family of four was seated in what I assume was business class. It was four large comfy seats around a table. There was no reason for the upgrade. We didn't have any preferred status or anything. Nobody even mentioned that we had been upgraded.

During our stay in Maui I had joked that if they thought I was flying home in coach the airline was sadly mistaken. When we checked in to go home the agent said &quot;I think you will like your seats today.&quot; We were back in the same lovely seats.