Do free upgrades exist?

[nonscenic]

My only DOM upgrade was in 1996 when flying on the 6am Sunday MEL- SYD Ansett flight in a 767-200 in order to connect with the then one flight per day to Wellington, NZ.
All 12 passengers were asked if they would sit at the front in J by the flight crew, many of whom had come straight to work from the Desperate and Dateless Ball. As I remember they served the J champers and OJ before take off , but served the standard Y breakfast.
My only other recent upgrade was nearly free, when my wife and I were flying to Paris via PER and SIN. QF rang us up a few days prior to our flight offering us an upgrade on the PER-SIN leg for a nominal points value, much less than the published points upgrade.

 

[penegal]

Welcome to the new members

It is nice to hear that other people have enjoyed that warm feeling when your boarding pass is swapped for a better one... Now I feel like I am missing out (and might be a little jealous )


The last few weeks have been very hectic for me, and still no upgrades. The closest "free" experience I have had this year, was being invited to a lounge which I don't have published access to. I suspect this could be due to my dollar spend approaching a magic number, but I don't really know.

 

[kiwisflying]

I've never had an upgrade domestically and only one internationally. It was a good one though. We were booked economy from Sydney to Tokyo but were upgraded to premium economy. But the seats were in the business class cabin. The only difference was that we received the premium economy meal. This wasn't quite an unprompted upgrade though. My wife assisted a kid who had cut her finger in the terminal at Sydney and our details were taken by the Qantas staff member present.

We used points for an upgrade on the way home to see if they were always in the business class cabin. No dice.

 

[wallacej]

I have flown 127 domestic flights with Virgin over the last 12 months. Always in cheapy cheap - I boarded the flight, and was asked if I would mind taking a seat in row 2 please.

I obliged, thinking I would have been just provided with the seat, but in fact I was provided with the full service.

My boss though, who is silver (I am platinum) was not afforded the same request, and the pleasure was all mine as I gave a cheers over my head in his direction

My boarding pass was originally for row 4, printed at the lounge entry - although grateful, curious how or why it was issued.

 

[AusTripper]

I have never experienced an upgrade but on one QF flight to London from Bangkok there were three of us travelling and two of us checked in together and the other a little later. He was put into business - not just on an economy ticket but the first time he had ever been in a plane! Economy was nowhere near full - go figure.

 

[shodgso]

After reading the thread the answer is obviously a resounding 'no'!! After 3 years as Qantas Platinum without the sniff of an upgrade, that explains it.

 

[sandpipers]

Never had a domestic upgrade, but have had 3 internationals LHR-SYD to premium economy in the last 3 years (QF) On each occasion, travelling alone. No upgrades SYD-LHR though - have been travelling with my husband on all those flights. Have had upgrades with CX CNS-HKG and return numerous times, when travelling with my husband - on each occasion they have sought us out in the boarding queue! Unfortunately don't live in CNS anymore so won't be getting any more of those!

 

[mbeder]

Was booked economy Jhb-Syd in late Jan 2012 (as the final leg of an economy RTW ticket)...had selected my seat in economy the day before and was happy to get a window seat.
At the airport, I noticed that my seat allocation had changed to 35B (or similar) - I asked why I'd lost my window seat and was ready for an argument...only to be told that 35B was an aisle set in Premium economy...however they could get me a window seat back in economy if I preferred. Somewhat embarrased, I graciously accepted the free (and totally unexpected upgrade) and had a much more pleasant flight home...my first complimentary upgrade. At the time, I'd slipped back to Bronze QF Club status due to a lack of travel on QF, so I was caught totally unawares.

 

[danunder1]

Yes they do exist, and I've had quite a few - tho' all with Emirates. Jan before last, on a trip that took me to Accra and back, return via BKK, I had three upgrades to business class. Used points tho to upgrade to business on the outward journey when going direct to Dubai, when I found out it was going to be a 380.
Couple of years back, when I used points for a direct DXB-SYD sector upgrade, comfortably settled in business, a fellow lady passenger informed me I was in her seat. When she called the attendant, I was informed that " sorry sir, your seat is 1K" !!! Again folks, yep, it does happen.

 

[cbourl]

Im quite often upgraded on United long hauls transpacific from C to F - 3-4 times a year- usually USA- AU domestic us flightsd ive never had a free UDU (unlimited domestic upgrade) not clear! which is why i keep flying united and use them on swiss and lufthansa global fares

 

[GKeep]

I am a Qantas platinum FF. All from domestic, economy tickets. That is hard to do. Roughly 150-200 flights in the past 2 years. I never take a Virgin flight. I have never got an upgrade to business for free, what gives?

I was upgraded to J on a BA flight at the gate at Heathrow on a flight to Brisbane in 2010. Very nice surprise and plane was decked out with the lay flat pods. Was also upgraded on a QF MLB/BNE flight last year. Have been QF Gold for about three years.
Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[moa999]

Never an international upgrade, although have selected seats in F cabins with J service.

About six syd-BNE, SYD-mel upgrades, and one SYD-CNS, mostly over school hols out of peak hours. This as a 8-yr Plat.
Nothing on DJ as a matched and requal with 20 odd flights

 

[nowmedia]

I know this is off-topic, but anyone can share a feeling on Op-up chances between QF and CX?

QF Gold for what seems like 500 years and NEVER been upgraded. Flown CX once, upgraded once. Upgraded a couple of times on BA - mind you, you'd want to be...

 

[djh53]

Very much agree with the comment that the airline throws a freebie when they "have a bridge to build". Examples:
1) Upgrade from economy to biz, Cathay. Only on the JFK-Hong Kong leg, but that's the biggie. Reason: Cathay was about to announce a major change in its One World participation that adversely affected folks like yours truly.
2) Two $500 vouchers, one for me, one for my wife, from what was then called V Australia. We were flying premium economy, and our flight LAX-BNE was delayed for 3 days (they ended up putting us on a QF to SYD, from where we connected to Perth). The vouchers were good for a year, and fully transferable, so two of my colleagues got pleasant surprises!

 

[Verde]

My track record is better flying from Aus rather than returning.

Last year I had a SYD-DFW flight booked in Y (in Y+ seat) and got an op up to Y+ in a J seat (Gold at the time I think), I got to settle for Y in the Y+ seat for the trip back. This year I got a Y to Y+ upgrade flying MEL-LAX (as a Plat flyer) and nothing on the way back (though at least my luggage came on the same flight as me, unlike my return on the DFW flight).

Oddly my sister had a bit of the opposite, flying from the USA to Aus with three children and offered a Y to Y+ upgrade (she had no status). Has anyone else experienced a trend of doing better on outbound flights than return?

I've just traded in some points for a JASA to get to the USA next April so I don't think there will be any opportunity to be upgraded on that trip (I was torn, but since it was less points and more SC to go WLG-SYD-LAX than SYD-LAX I thought I'd squeeze in a brief visit to one of my fav cities before heading for the USA).

 

[Her-in-Oz]

I am a Qantas platinum FF. All from domestic, economy tickets. That is hard to do. Roughly 150-200 flights in the past 2 years. I never take a Virgin flight. I have never got an upgrade to business for free, what gives?

NOT Qantas I might say here -
2 years ago I checked in with Gulf Air, as economy.
Without having requested an upgrade - I was ASKED at the counter if I would like one [to business class] through to London from Bahrain.
Needless to say I was very pleased, and accepted.

That same day on checking in at my hotel at Heathrow [Sheraton on Heathrow] - once again - I was asked if I would like a room upgrade !
As if that wasn't enough, when I went to pick up my hire car from Europcar, there were NO cars left to be had in the class I had booked and so got an automatic upgrade to a higher class car . .

This TRUE . . . So yes, I do believe that you can get free upgrades and without having to ask.

Her-in-Oz [currently back in the Gulf]

 

[Kef]

I was upgraded to J on a BA flight at the gate at Heathrow on a flight to Brisbane in 2010. Very nice surprise and plane was decked out with the lay flat pods. Was also upgraded on a QF MLB/BNE flight last year. Have been QF Gold for about three years.
Maybe I'm just lucky.

I have been upgraded but not in J but to Y+.

I was upgraded two years on a QF flight from LHR-SIN-MEL Flew Y from LHR to SIN. Was in transit in SIN upon reboarding I had my first "bing" when the flight attendant zapped my boarding pass, she swapped my boarding pass for a new one and was sitting in Y+ from SIN-MEL on the A380. (My family of two were upgraded with me).

Then next "free" upgrade I got was flying from LAX-MEL, upon checking in at QF at Tomy Bradley Terminal in LA, my family and I, we were all upgraded to Y+ on the then new A380. Had such lovely chats to the flight attendant and gave her heaps of tips on shopping in the US that on arrival into MEL she gave me to take home 2 bottles of champers.

My recent trip from DFW-BRI I had a points upgrade from Y+ to J so that one was not a freebie but the other two were.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I'm no longer going to read this thread. It depresses me....

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AustFreqFly

 

[DrAndyC]

Upgraded the other week from a Y award seat on CX to J (intra-asia). The cost of my ticket (taxes only about $69) was less than the cost of the bottle of Billecart Salmon champagne and meal I had on board! Quite a pleasure!

 

[abstraction]

I'm a discount economy platinum - work for an NGO, so can't pay full fare. On a mel-LA flight, my non-platinum colleague got upgraded to business and I didn't. Seems pretty lousy. Never flown Cathay without a business upgrade. Very occasional upgrades with Qantas, and now usually only to premium if at all. It means more to me than lounge access or anything else, yet it's so rare.