Tag Archives for upgrades.
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.
Alaska Airlines passengers flying on American are now eligible for upgrades even when buying American’s basic economy fares.
A very common misunderstanding among elite frequent flyers is to see first class seats available, but their upgrade not clear. Something must be wrong! After all, the airline promises space available upgrades within a certain number of hours until departure. That time has passed, and there’s first class space available! But that’s not how this works.
American Airlines upgrades on Qantas are now live. It’s managed by PlusGrade, the company that sells ‘bidding for upgrade’ programs to airlines. And it’s a “cash or miles” upgrade option. Basically you have the ability to upgrade on Qantas, as a Qantas member might, but pay using AAdvantage miles. And this is the oneworld upgrade program.
Passengers express frustration as pilots receive upgrade priority over them, prompting a reassessment of the value of top-tier elite status versus the advantages of mid-tier benefits.
While there’s a tradeoff upgrading pilots versus passengers along a certain margin, that’s not the reason most elites are sitting in back most of the time – just a visible lightning rod. Still, re-evaluating loyalty and status makes sense.
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 »
