Anyone any experience of upgrading flights last minute

[letsbepositive2024]

Flying to New York from London in premium economy. Flying back, I'd rather have comfort for my back. Upgrading to business class is so much more but was wondering if they do reduced upgrades just before you fly as they know the seats won't sell?

Anyone know the protocols?

If it is BA or Virgin they sell at the airport. Price varies. They also offer at online check in and in the app for BA.

Ah, good to know. And do you know if it's a 'better' price than usual?

Yes- through BA it is called a POUG. Go into the booking and see if there is a sort of star symbol- they offer them from booking onwards. I usually get offered at check in from the USA but the POUG often appears a few days before as well

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2146216-pro-active-online-upgrade-poug-tracking-discussion-2024-thread.html

With Virgin you can be d online for an upgrade. I am flying Premium economy and bids for Business were starting at £450

It can be a good deal. The only problem you'd have would be if business is already sold out.
I've had emails from BA offering BC upgrades on return flights at quite reasonable prices. (And I've bought them too so sometimes I still get offers -- presumably when there's availability.)
I'm a BA Executive Club member if it makes any difference. Think i got an invitation to join after my first BC long haul flight that i paid full price for. It doesn't seem terribly exclusive, mostly i get offers for discounts on car hire.

Thank you, that's good to know

Just want a bit of comfort for once

I just flew transatlantic on Sunday with United and there were lots of options to upgrade at online check-in the day before. I didn’t check what prices were originally but they seemed like good deals to me.

Their top option IIRC was $599 which was about triple economy.