Tag Archives for upgrades.
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.
I’ll take it a step further and explain how airlines offering these buy ups actually discourages passengers from buying first class outright (and you should consider this as a strategy to buy first class for less).
The elimination of change fees during the pandemic mean that you should consider buying coach instead of first class.
American Airlines is going to start offering the ability to spend miles as a form of payment for upgrades starting next year. That means upgrades will be available to AAdvantage members much more often. But you may not like how much it costs.
Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein spoke at the Morgan Stanley 12th Annual Laguna Conference and shared that they are going to add premium seats to planes.
One reasonable strategy is to just lean into discounted first class buy up offers. Pay for coach, even if you want first. Then wait for an upgrade offer. If you don’t get one, cancel the ticket and as long as you didn’t buy a basic economy fare just use the flight credit to buy the first class seat you wanted. But you’ll often wind up sitting up front for much less.
It’s now possible to change an itinerary online even if it includes flights that have received a complimentary upgrades. You don’t keep the upgrade when making flight changes, however. And there’s a catch to the process.
A 33 year old recently-married woman shares what happened when she and her new husband started off on their honeymoon, and only one of them was offered an upgrade for their flight.
Alaska Airlines MVP Gold 75K and 100K elite members have had the opportunity to confirm upgrades at time of booking on American Airlines long haul international flights, just like American Airlines Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members can select systemwide upgrades as a choice benefit.
These confirmed upgrades on American for Alaska Airlines elites go away next year.
Between late check-out rules and housekeeping costs, some Marriott employees cop to lying to guests and saying there are no suite upgrades available – since it’s costly and operationally difficult to honor the benefit.
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 »
