Superman24 From Canada, joined Oct 2009, 39 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 1391 times:
Hi everyone,
I am planning on flying YUL-ATH and I wanted to know if any airlines offer upgrades for a fee during check-in time. I know Air Canada but I was wondering if the same is done by Swiss, Lufthansa or British.
I know US Airways does if there are any availible. I don't know if you'd be able to fly YUL-PHL-ATH though to get it. It would makes sense to me if most airlines did do this.
toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1336 times:
It's pretty rare on European airlines...I mean u could by paying the fare difference of course but if you are referring to like an extra 300-500, than I would say no. You are most likely looking at 1000s. Doesn't hurt to ask!
TK787 From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 4102 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1280 times:
It is a stretch but if you were to do YUL-JFK-IST-ATH, on the TK, JFK-IST portion for $300 you can upgrade from Economy to Comfort class if they have the space on the day of. One of the best Y+ product out there.
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 4839 posts, RR: 28 Reply 4, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1254 times:
Ask. It doesn´t hurt and you´d be surprised. The first time I flew LH FRA-MEX I was on C and I just asked if I could be uprgraded to F. They said yes. That´s it. They didn´t ask for miles, or cash. Just got it. Granted, I was not in Y initially, but still.
LHRBFSTrident From UK - Northern Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 628 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1229 times:
At LAX, LX have been known to do it from time to time - I suppose it depends on the loads if they will offer the seats for buy-up or not. The LAX-ZRH buy-up was $500 - however the by-up doesn't change the originally-paid fare class, so things like mileage accrual, etc will be based on the originally ticketed fare class.
I guess the airlines don't make it a regular thing to prevent potential full-fare J pax purchasing the lowest available fare; banking on the cheap upgrade being available at check-in, thereby cannibalizing their revenue!
BR offer it too, but only from 1 cabin to the next - you can only buy-up from Y to W or from W to J, but not from Y to J.
Next up: LAX-LHR NZ002 Y SkyCouch! LHR-LAX NZ001 Y
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6270 posts, RR: 23 Reply 6, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1215 times:
AF emailed me the day before CDG-JNB to offer an upgrade to J from Y for £250. I was VERY tempted, and the offer said that capacity permitting the offer would be open until departure. However, like a schmuck, I saved my money and put up with their astonishingly mediocre service in Y.
bananaboy From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 1558 posts, RR: 26 Reply 7, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 1198 times:
BA do it, at least on short haul to / from LGW in my experience. I'm sure they'll not be averse to taking extra money from people at check-in if they want to pay. Now, as to the price and overall value proposition, that's something only you can decide on.
Flew with KM a couple of years back and asked about upgrading for cash. They said it was possible, but there was no "deal" - I would have had to pay the full difference between my fare and the business class fare, so I passed on it and had an enjoyable flight in economy.
Quoting RussianJet (Reply 6): AF emailed me the day before CDG-JNB to offer an upgrade to J from Y for £250.
Bargain! Similar thing happened to me with UA a few years back and I declined the online offer - I asked again at check-in but they couldn't get the same deal.
Mark
All my life, I've been kissing, your top lip 'cause your bottom one's missing
Yeah, it was a good deal. However, it was only for one sector out of four, and that's pretty much why I kept my cash. Not sure what AF J class is like service-wise, but if the crew were even half as disinterested as some of those in Y then I'm pretty glad I didn't shell out the extra money.
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 4839 posts, RR: 28 Reply 10, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 1190 times:
Quoting RussianJet (Reply 8): Yeah, it was a good deal. However, it was only for one sector out of four, and that's pretty much why I kept my cash. Not sure what AF J class is like service-wise,
Yeah. But CDG-JNB is a loooooong sector.
Their service in C is hit or miss, but when you hit it, it´s excellent. I´ve never flown them in Y.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21460 posts, RR: 24 Reply 11, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days ago) and read 1171 times:
Quoting toobz (Reply 2): It's pretty rare on European airlines...I mean u could by paying the fare difference of course but if you are referring to like an extra 300-500, than I would say no. You are most likely looking at 1000s.
KLM frequently offers upgrades at online check-in on flights within Europe, sometimes at a fairly low fee, but it's not worth it with the European type of business class on the typical 1 to 2 hour flight in my opinion. Only significant benefit is many more frequent flyer miles. I recall one recent offer for 95 euros but forget what route that was.
toobz From Finland, joined Jan 2010, 673 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (4 months 1 week 2 days ago) and read 1160 times:
Viscount: very cool! I've never had KL offer me an upgrade. Like you said the flights are fairly short...no difference in seat other than maybe a bit more leg room in the first 5-7 rows and the middle seat blocked. I fly HEL-AMS quite often and never got asked if I wanted an upgrade. I have flown it in C before and other than a hot bfast and more personal attention, its pretty much the same as Y. I'll save my money for other things I actually don't mind flying coach in Europe..pretty good service all around. I dread it in the US though....ugh.
ACDC8: Thats incredible!! I hope you took them up on that
So I guess it can happen but I wouldn't hold my breath for these kinds of deal to come along all the time. I know DL does not do any special fare upgrades on intl long haul flights..and have to say I'm a bit surprised about some of these examples.
So as we have learned, it never hurts to ask
rahulrahul From United States of America, joined Jun 2012, 125 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (4 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1083 times:
Its happened a few times to me at check in.
One time, they didn't have vegetarian food, so somehow they upgraded us to J on LH.
It pays to be vegetarian
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1127 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (4 months 1 week 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1052 times:
Well usually a special meal is rather a reason NOT to upgrade But congrats
OS offers upgrade offers at check in as well. China Eastern does it in FRA at check-in. Their is a note at their ticket counter informing ticketing agent about which Authorization code they need to fill in in the MCO
ACDC8 From Canada, joined Mar 2005, 7598 posts, RR: 40 Reply 17, posted (4 months 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 844 times:
Quoting toobz (Reply 12): ACDC8: Thats incredible!! I hope you took them up on that
I think the reason they had that offer was because they had the 70 seat Business Class 744 flying that day instead of the usual 52 seat. I remember that earlier in that week, BA85 ended up going back to LHR with a tech problem so they must have used the bigger business class version as the sub. First time I ever had to pay for an upgrade though, mind you I don't fly nearly as much as I used to. Still, it was a good deal
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Reply 18, posted (4 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 772 times:
BA normally have an offer to upgrade from Y to Y+ for GBP 150, and Y+ to C to around GBP 450. This varies from airport to airport. You can only upgrade 1 class at a time. If they need it for operational reasons, they often have an upgrade offer via Manage My Booking, and again at OLCI.
Quoting reifel (Reply 16): I just read somewhere hidden on the AZ website that they offer upgrades at the airport as well. Italy-Japan from Y to C as cheap as 350 EUR.
I flew Tokyo-Rome on Saturday in Y. I had read about upgrades for EUR 150 to Y+. I asked at check in, and was told that 150 EUR was a "campaign" offer, and that today, I would have to pay EUR 2400 (or maybe USD) for a Y+...hahaha, no thanks.
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1127 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (4 months 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 742 times:
Well fair enough since it's subject to availabilty and good for them if they don't need to sell the seats at that price.
I can't find the offer on their website anymore, it's really well hidden, but it's stated that IIRC it's only valid for departures in Italy, which explains why you couldn't take advantage of it.
LH7478i From Germany, joined Jan 2012, 41 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (4 months 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 700 times:
In 2008 I walked up to the LH counter in the boarding gate area at DEN. Just out of curiosity I asked how much it would cost me to upgrade to Business Class on my flight back to FRA. Price would have been 650$.
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