Have you ever been upgraded on a plane?

[TheRozzers]

I never have. Never flown anything but economy.

If you've ever been given a free upgrade on a flight make me jealous and tell me how it happened?

Despite having taken very few flights in my life - 5 return trips - I was upgraded on one, only a two hour flight, though. I think it was just that economy was full! I wasn't wearing anything special - my coat was more or less new but it was just a Debenhams one.

Once yes, we were going on honeymoon to Canada and In laws had bought tickets in DH name, i hadn't changed my name so when we checked in we were told we had togo elsewhere and get our tickets reissued in our names when we-did they said sorry flight full ! DH said how so ?
we were booked, can i speak to a manager who promptly put us in business class, what a treat from Heathrow to Texas i think then we were back with the plebs 😂 but nice to see how the other half live

Only once - flying back from a business trip to San Diego when about 20 weeks pregnant I asked at checkin (said I'd really appreciate the better footrest!) and they kindly upgraded me to business class. That was 25 years ago when checkin was always with a human not online.

Several times (all long haul) but only when I travelled solo

We were upgraded to first class on a flight home from New York after a passenger in our row had a paranoid schizophrenic issue. He was terrifying and himself terrified.

Have to say I didn’t enjoy the upgrade.

Yes, economy to business class for a transatlantic flight, twice. Both times the ticket was paid for using the airmiles of a family member who was a gold member or whatever the very top tier of their frequent flyer club was called. I was told that although I wasn’t a member that was why I was chosen, they still saw it as prioritising their most valuable customers despite me never flying with that airline before or since!

This was twenty years ago, it may be different now!

(I was travelling alone which maybe helped, but I was wearing very casual clothes. I was asked to go to the desk at the boarding gate both times and given a new boarding pass at that point, so the jeans and hoodie I was wearing at check in didn’t put them off!)

Yes a few times, back in the day. I once got upgraded to First on BA which was very nice.

Nevdr but years ago when ret from India after a 5 weeks hols - BA plane/747 faulty - they offered us a hotel and plane out 24 hours later - then hotel and business class, - still said no and got put on another economy flight
Never upgraded do on avg one long-haul per year

Our three kids, one of who gors on hols a lot travels business class via work but has been upgrade a few times, he asks - often this no but a few times yes.

Twice.
Long haul to USA.
I asked, they agreed.
It was a long time ago and in the days when one travelled looking “smart.”
Can you believe that back in the day I would buy something nice especially to wear for a flight. Yikes!

At the time of booking I was upgraded to First Class from business class on a flight to New York. It was incredible, a once in a life time experience for me. Business class is pretty fantastic but First didn't even feel like being on a plane!

Years ago a colleague asked for an upgrade every flight we went on and at last we got one on a 45 minute flight! We got a salad and a glass of champagne.

Not an upgrade to business or 1st class but on a flight to Portugal in the days when you didnt have to pay and book early to get specified seats the check in guy took one look at my 6ft 3 Oh and gave us extra leg room seats

I got upgraded on a night-flight to US once, I think it was due to a tearful/romantic farewell to my fiancé at check in!

Anyway it was fabulous and amongst other perks I got a free in-seat massage and slept brilliantly. I have always remembered it!

Oh and we flew with our 16 year old son to costa rica and the flight was delayed so-we missed our connection, were told we were on the-next flight out several hours later but when we went to the gate it turned out we were only on the standby list! To start with they were saying only two seats left and would we travel separately! Errrr no thanks, we waited ages then we were told an extra seat might be free several calls for-the missing passenger and panic every time someone came running past our gate the attendant finally ushered us forward saying quick run we can get all three of you on then just as we were reaching the steps said oh but one is in business 😮 we let our 16 year old do it as doubted he would ever have that opportunity again, plus we were knackered and not hungry and he had hollow legs so could take full advantage of the evening meal!

Twice. Once coming home from Florida with BA 1995 and once flying out to Las Vegas with Virgin in 2003.

Several times.

Once when our seats had been double booked and although we were already sitting in the correct seats, the other people with the same seats were so obnoxious about it, the cabin crew upgraded us to business

The other two times were when we knew members of the cabin crew or ground crew, and they arranged it without our knowledge.

A couple of times flying UK to Middle East and vice versa and the best one I think was Doha to Tokyo on an A380 several years ago.
Funniest one, a short flight from Oman to another GCC country where the cabin was empty apart from me and 1 other passenger (male) who was getting very drunk. Cabin crew kept coming up to me to apologise for his behaviour saying it never usually happened in 1st class (no business class).

On my 1st upgrade (intra GCC) I think I spent the whole flight (v.short) playing with all the buttons on the chair ..... am such a child 😁

Love these stories! They are brilliant. I have politely asked for an upgrade a couple of times but the check in staff have just rolled their eyes at me.

I used to travel a LOT for work, but my company were pretty thrifty, so Premier Economy was standard fare for most trips at my job grade. That said, I travelled so frequently I did get a fair few upgrades.

I always dressed reasonably but for comfort; I was unfailingly polite to all airport and airline staff; I didn’t drink on board .

Although I had many upgrades to flat beds etc, my favourite was when I was sitting in economy on a last minute flight. Clearly my membership card flagged and just before push back, the purser came and suggested I follow him all the way to the front.

You get Earl Grey tea in real china cups. You get tracksuit - pjs (don’t be a pleb and take them home) . There are actual sheets on your wee flat bed, and the cabin crew make it up for you.
And of course you might see someone famous, although not on the routes I flew.

Worst was on an American airline, where the guy next to me got really drunk and started crying - his wife left him because he had an alcohol problem 🙄

We were flying to Orlando via Toronto (saved us £600 pounds!) and the first flight was severely delayed ( think it was an Icelandic eruption) so we missed the second leg and were told we would have to wait 3 days to fly to Orlando in April, snow on the ground, not a warm coat between us. So I said we would fly anywhere in Florida asap and they put us on a flight the next morning - 2 in first class and 4 in economy.

For reasons I cannot understand they put the two youngest children (4 and 8) in First Class 😂 so DH and I had to swap with them of course as they couldn't sit up there without an adult. So the kids all sat in economy ( the two older ones were adults). And we had a very nice flight, great food, real knives and forks and free bubbly for me! But we had a long drive from Fort Lauderdale so swings and roundabouts!

I was upgraded last year from PE to business class. It was amazing and it's very sad to now only afford cattle class!

I didn't even know I had been upgraded until I got on the plane, I just thought I got free lounge access.

Oh and I didn't dress smart! I was in leggings and looked a bit of a mess honestly.

My aunty and uncle were upgraded from economy to business class on emirates long haul, London to Malaysia. The reason being that they forgot their passports, so one of them had to go all the way home, collect their passports and return to check in. They had literally minutes to spare and the check in staff were wonderful, rushing them through security and passport control etc. when they got to they boarding gate they took them to one side and said 'we are really sorry the flight is full'... then issued them business class boarding passes! This was back in 2002, so things were more human back then.

I haven't but my aunt and uncle used to regularly get upgraded years ago. They would deliberately turn up to check in dressed to the nines and they reckon this is what swung it!

Yes, but like a PP only when solo travelling. The best one was long haul from Tokyo to London.

Yes- economy to PE when going backpacking flying LHR to Hong Kong. I asked why and they’d oversold and I was a lone adult so deemed suitable to upgrade.

Another time I was upgraded from PE to Business flying to New York from LHR, again travelling solo. I think I was linked to the family acct which has a lifetime gold tier member in it.

India to Dubai we were upgraded from economy to business, travelling with the lifetime gold tier member.

I’ve been very lucky!