Tag Archives for upgrades.
For the most part, upgrades have been tough to get because (1) premium demand has grown while the supply of premium seats hasn’t kept up, and (2) airlines have shifted their merchandising to take less money for those seats from any willing buyer rather than honor frequent flyer upgrades.
However part of the reason why Delta’s upgrade percentage is so low, it seems, is because gate agents at Delta just don’t process upgrades as reliably as they do at other airlines.
You cannot self-upgrade. If you see an empty first class seat, you can’t just take it. I have never, ever seen it actually work. What I’ve seen is passengers who tried it being embarrassed, and I’ve seen passengers escalate matters when they’re sent to the back and get kicked off the plane. But some are now trying it even though they know they’re going to get kicked out – they just want a free drink before that happens!
Marriott promises a lot to members, and frequently doesn’t delivery. Hilton doesn’t promise much, and so it rarely disappoints. Some Marriotts have even figured out a new way to avoid handing out upgrades, and I have to say that it’s really clever.
Marriott reset member expectations a year ago about how upgrades work, changing the name so that an upgrade isn’t necessarily to a suite and giving out upgrades only closer to check-in. Well, they’re changing upgrades again!
A year ago Hyatt started testing online redemption of suite upgrades. That feature is now live, and it works for both suite upgrades and club access awards, through both the Hyatt.com website and through the Hyatt mobile app as part of the booking process.
The carrier has changed the way they sell tickets, offering fare bundles rather than a la carte and more premium services. Now they’re taking it a step further.
The airline has gotten very good about merchandising premium seats – and is willing to sell them very cheap, especially as upsells to infrequent flyers. They want to take a few tens of dollars from a once a year customer rather than upgrading a very frequent flyer who spends tens of thousands of dollars. Delta is also most likely to skip processing upgrade lists at the gate of the major airlines.
When computers handle the upgrades, there’s less opportunity for discretion, and as long as everyone is classified correctly on the list. But there are still plenty of cases where gate agents don’t follow the upgrade list.
One thing that not enough parents consider when naming their child is how a name will appear on upgrade lists. What does the combination of first three letters of last name plus first initial do?
The day after the American Airlines earnings call, executives held a question and answer session for employees. One question came up about mileage upgrades and how elite members were getting passed over – because waitlisting for an upgrade takes away the option to pay a discounted cash upsell amount – and so non-status members buying cheap upsells are trumping elite customers.
The company’s Vice President of Revenue Engineering took that question, and shared more than he was supposed to because they’re planning an announcement for a couple of months from now. I now have the full detail of his answer.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
