Is this true or a myth? checking in late may give you a free Business class upgrade?

[CaptainPersia]

Hey guys,

Someone told me the other day that if you don't check-in online and go to the airport an hour before flight and check-in at the counter, the airline may have ended up over allocating economy seats and then have to give you a free business upgrade, he told me he's done a few times with Emirates.

Is this true? I think it's too good to be true, has anyone else done this?

 

[Quickstatus]

Yes but no reason to close thread, happy to hear of upgrade success

 

[Forg]

Whatever the case, it's usually higher status passengers on the highest fares that are most likely to be given the upgrade - irrespective of how late you arrive at the airport.

And it definitely goes the other way with downgrades. My wife was flying AC to YUL, I met her at SYD airport (swapped the luggage she'd just brought back from Korea with a freshly-packed bag & we had brekky together) … and the AC self-check-in station wouldn't check her into J. Went to the counter, turned out bird-strike had caused a change to a 'plane with fewer J seats.
I can't fault AC for their handling of it, they'd tried to get in contact (but she'd been in the air & uncontactable), they offered another airline on J (but she'd have arrived too late in Canada), and I did explicitly ask if her status with *insert-alliance-name-here* (Star?) meant anything and they said that everyone remaining in J was higher (I guess if you're regularly flying all the way to Quebec from Sydney in J you'd rack-up status quickly). So she got un-bumped back to Y, to arrive a few hours before a meeting (they DID block-out an entire middle row of seats for her ) … because those who'd not been bumped to the back of the bus had Status.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

And it definitely goes the other way with downgrades. My wife was flying AC to YUL, I met her at SYD airport (swapped the luggage she'd just brought back from Korea with a freshly-packed bag & we had brekky together) … and the AC self-check-in station wouldn't check her into J. Went to the counter, turned out bird-strike had caused a change to a 'plane with fewer J seats.
I can't fault AC for their handling of it, they'd tried to get in contact (but she'd been in the air & uncontactable), they offered another airline on J (but she'd have arrived too late in Canada), and I did explicitly ask if her status with *insert-alliance-name-here* (Star?) meant anything and they said that everyone remaining in J was higher (I guess if you're regularly flying all the way to Quebec from Sydney in J you'd rack-up status quickly). So she got un-bumped back to Y, to arrive a few hours before a meeting (they DID block-out an entire middle row of seats for her ) … because those who'd not been bumped to the back of the bus had Status.

How did they handle the compensation side of things with regards to reassessment of the J to Y refund. Was there any cash given out at checkin also? At least AC offered alternatives in J (although your wife wasn't able to accept those) rather than just being downgraded from J to Y end of story.

 

[Forg]

How did they handle the compensation side of things with regards to reassessment of the J to Y refund. Was there any cash given out at checkin also? At least AC offered alternatives in J (although your wife wasn't able to accept those) rather than just being downgraded from J to Y end of story.

They didn't do or say anything about a refund at check-in, and the payment was done by someone in Quebec she never hears from except to receive tickets, so she doesn't know what happened with that.
In hindsight, she should have asked to be personally reimbursed that money! They got the work out of her that they wanted, and they got it cheaper; they should have given that refund to her. But she's not the "complainey" type, not unless they p'd her off directly/knowingly.

I know that she did feel a little uncomfortable (apart from the physical discomfort!) with the entire middle section of a row being assigned to her (what's that on a 777 in Y, 4 seats?), the 'plane wasn't entirely empty & there were definitely other passengers eyeing-off the 'empty' seats. I mean it would've been sorted if someone did sit there, but you don't want to be the one who "calls the police" when someone else does something they don't know they're not supposed to be doing.

It's also about expectation ... when it comes out of her section's budget & she's organising the tickets she flies Y to the EU.

 

[Quickstatus]

Downgrades should be like any other customer service recovery.

“Sorry you did not get what you paid for. Here is an immediate full refund, and your patronage is now free”.