How to upgrade to first and business class

This is a tricky matter and there are many myths surrounding this issue. You have to realize that the odds are still heavily stacked against you. Only a small number of people will be upgraded to business or first at the courtesy of the attendants even though, nowadays more than one in four of passengers
ask for one. Men are twice as likely to be upgraded. Also, travelers between the ages 45-54 have the most chance of being upgraded. If you fly alone, you have better chances and if you fly with your children – forget it. And one more thing – if you ordered in advance a specialty meal – diabetic or Kosher or vegetarian etc. the agent will not consider you for a courtesy upgrade.
No matter how empty the business or first cabins are, if the economy cabin is not overbooked, the chances of a courtesy upgrade are very small. It is best therefore to aim at flights that are busy with passengers, but not with business passengers. Flights are generally busy on Mondays and Fridays. Always remember that business passengers have priority over you because they may have paid five to ten times as much as you, so best are overbooked flights with few business passengers. Aim for busy flights where business passengers are less likely – holidays, mid week etc, or flights that sell online for low prices. Following some simple tips you may increase your chances of getting an upgrade.

First, here is what you should never do: upgrading you depends on how much the ticket agent likes you. If, for whatever reason under the sun, they don’t like your face, they will pass the upgrade on to the passenger next in line, and you will not even know it ever happened. They do not want to learn
that you have friends in high places, that you personally know the CEO, and will react unfavorably to the line “don’t you know who I am?” Do not just ask for an upgrade; try to be as subtle as you can. Also, if you have ordered a special meal (gluten free, kosher, vegetarian etc.) your chances of getting an upgrade run around zero, for the simple reason that the company cannot arrange to change your meal to business in less than 24 hours. Rather than going through the process of changing your meal, the ticket agent will just choose to upgrade a passenger with less paperwork. If you have a title to your name such as Dr. or Professor etc. make sure the air company addresses you with those titles, i.e. that’s what your ticket says.

You want to be nicely dressed but this is not absolutely necessary. In order to be upgraded, you just need to ask if there are seats available and ask if there are courtesy upgrades today. Oh, and you have priority for that if you are a member of the company’s frequent flyer program.
If you are on your honeymoon many companies will consider an upgrade for you. However, if your destination is Cancun or Rio or the Maldives, expect to have another 10 honeymooners on the flight so just try to arrive first. There is another technique that really works: 3-4 weeks before your departure, call the company and tell them it is your honeymoon and ask
them to make it special, ask them if you could pre-purchase a bottle of champagne for yourself and your wife – The rep on the phone will of course say no, but if they are extra nice they can sometimes arrange an upgrade for you, which you will discover as a surprise upon arrival at the check in counter.

If you fly business your are likely to upgraded to first and if you fly coach you can be upgraded to business. The air attendants themselves are not allowed to let you into first or business class without reporting this in their flight log so they are reluctant to do it so quickly. There is a situation on board the plane that will almost make your upgrade a sure bet, but only in case the “sardine” class is absolutely full and there are no seats left whatsoever. In case your seat is defective, or was messed up by the previous passenger who sat on it, if there is a bad odor coming out of it and you report this to the flight attendants, especially if the doors are already closed, the easiest thing for them to do is to just send you to business or first class. They might sniff around your seat though before sending you off to your new business class seat. Some companies, like British Airways, United (but not Air France) will try to sell upgrades before they start giving them away in a flight where coach is overbooked. You will sometimes see a sign at check-in saying something like “400$ to upgrade to World Traveler Plus.” This is a wise business move on the part of the company and some passengers will go for it.
If you are flying with a companion and the two of you have cell phones, you could do the following and I have seen passengers do this: have one board the plane with everybody else, and you wait to be absolutely last. If there are no seats left available in coach, because the agent at the gate started
boarding the passengers waiting for the next flight and your friend who is on the plane informs you that there are still seats available in business, then you might get an instant upgrade to business or first class. If business has filled up, your friend should call you immediately and let you know, so that you
don’t miss your own seat in coach. Don’t wait after the last call though: if you are not careful you might lose your seat to another passenger entirely and then have to wait for the next flight. On the plane, if you are seated next to a very large person you can ask the air attendant to pay for an upgrade. It sometimes happens that the attendant will re-seat you in business and then never return to charge your credit card. Youneed to be prepared to pay for the upgrade though.

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