[Rcfl1967]

I was upgraded on a flight from Boston to London from club to 1st at check-in. I went to the lounge only to be downgraded at the desk back to club. The whole thing happened so fast (from check in to lounge) that I didn’t even have a chance to be disappointed

[rferguson]

It doesn’t happen infrequently.

I recently operated a LHR-USA flight which was scheduled to operate on a 777-200 (configured with 48 J seats/40W/127Y). Economy was overbooked so about twelve Y passengers were bumped to W and same amount of W passengers bumped to J. On the day, the aircraft was switched to a 777-300 which has 183 seats in Y so everyone was put back to where they were meant to be. Out of the 24 affected passengers 23 took it in their stride. One Gold card holder was particularly upset and made his feelings made to the CSD in a dignified manner and she upgraded him to Club.

My last flight on Cathay SYD-HKG was subbed from a 777-300 to an A330. There were some almighty scenes at check in when some whom had been upgraded online and were then downgraded. It happens. Not pleasant but it’s not something that applies to one particular airline.

[superchris]

Great feedback as always Rferguson and a nice timely reminder that treating people with dignity, respect and calmly stating your position will almost always yield better results than simply ‘kicking off’.

[travelworld2]

superchris – 11/01/2016 15:51 GMT +1

[CathayLoyalist2]

In conversations with cabin crew and their Inflight Managers on CX the worst culprits for the DYKWIA are Diamond Members ( as I am but she wasn’t referring to me!!) who have booked the cheapest Economy fare and demand an upgrade to Club even skipping PEY where applicable. For my part I hope I get one but I don’t expect it and on the occasion I have asked at check in it has always been a polite dignified request laced with a bit of humour. Sometimes I’ve been lucky sometimes not and accepted the outcome of the request with a smile regardless.

[travelworld2]

Absolutely. I’m silver on BA and gold on Virgin, Emirates,Turkish and Alitalia (the latter two via status matches) and have always found that being polite and cheerful works wonders- not just for upgrades but choice of meal, extra amenity kits and so on . Indeed, the nicer you are to people, the nicer they tend to be back….

[CathayLoyalist2]

travelworld2, those three words namely ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ , both with a smile pay handsome dividends

[GivingupBA]

CathayLoyalist2 said “three words namely ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ , both with a smile pay handsome dividends”. Too right, being extra-polite at check in has worked well for me more than once including getting upgraded to F on Japan Airlines London-Tokyo years ago. Plus other upgrades on other airlines. I try to be polite all the time anyway, but that’s my check in story.

[JohnHarper]

I find the original post in this thread extraordinary and then to boast here about behaving in such a childish way beyond reason.

When you book something expect to get it and nothing else. Upgrades and downgrades happen for logistical reasons all the time. If you want to travel in a particular cabin, book it and pay for it.

I appreciate the reasons why airlines upgrade (and downgrade) but it would be better if the SIA approach was more adopted where you see it happen so rarely. If they can get it right so can others.

As someone who travels in F&C I don’t like the cabin being devalued with upgrades and free loaders. Rant over.

[CathayLoyalist2]

JohnHarper, your example of SIA, whilst laudable is one where SIA is to rigid and that is SIA FF’s saying that. There are many times a day with careful perusal of a passengers history to carefully select passengers for upgrade in the hope they like the experience and upgrade themselves next time to that ‘better cabin’, Hotels do the same thing albeit the difference is not always easy to see in a hotel unless you go from a standard room to suite. Equally top FF’s appreciate an upgrade as I believe we all do.

[rferguson]

‘INVOLS’ will always be a fact of life at BA. Take the 747’s – recently some have started being rolled out with even more premium seats to reach an optimum yield and revenue point that can be regularly achieved on certain routes. It is still more cost effective to have to upgrade some invols than turn away J class booking because of a full J class.

For example a 747 with the new ‘super high J’ (14F/86J/30W/145Y seats) flying LHR-JFK-LHR. The booked loads on the outbound flight a week before departure may be 11/50/30/145 and the airline knows that the chances of selling another 3 F seats and 36 J seats before departure are slim. So they start selling more W/Y seats in the system which are far easier to sell to fill the plane and gain the extra revenue even if it does mean having to upgrade passengers. Some would say well why not just add more economy seats and less Business seats. But the fact that the return flight from JFK is booked at it’s optimum configuration point (which often happens on such routes) compensates for having to sometimes use ‘invols’ and move them into more expensive floor space.

There will always be particular days/weeks/seasons where flights are more ‘premium heavy’ so it is better to use this system at BA.

[silentquays]

I have never been upgraded, but have been downgraded from Business to Economy on a BA overnight flight from LHR to Mumbai because of over-booking. A mere Silver member, I was afforded no special consideration. I was given a credit, and offer for a future upgrade, but that was not the point. I was spending the money to fly in Business Class because I had to go straight to the airport to a meeting upon arrival. While on the flight I learned that there were empty seats in First Class. What is the policy in such circumstances? Why not upgrade a Business Class passenger to first? Are such decisions taken onboard at the discretion of flight crew? SQ

[rferguson]

@ silentquays – that’s an unusual one. The policy is to always upgrade before downgrading. For example in your scenario if there were seats in F someone from J should have been upgraded. Likewise if someone booked W and there were seats in both J & Y. The policy would be to upgrade to J not downgrade to Y.

[ConstantFlyer]

I’d have been pretty miffed if, having paid good money for a J seat, I then found SwissExPat sat next to me, he having paid significantly less. Probably because he would have gone on about it for the entire flight. 😉

[Cwyfan]

This is the first post I have ever followed where the proposer never came back into the debate later.

Where are you SwissExPat? No comments?

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