Upgrade excitement

[Mattg]

I was sitting once in the Maple Leaf Club in YVR, waiting to board a flight to BNE. One of the other passengers in the lounge, waiting for the SYD departure, was on a rather loud phone call where the main topic of conversation was whether his upgrade would come through.

Apparently it did, because a while later he yelled "yes!" and then started pacing around the lounge saying things like "f--- yeah!". Obviously couldn't contain his excitement.

Have you seen anyone more excited to get an upgrade? Or would you admit to being that excited yourself?

 

[astrosly]

No not yet. I would be more likely to quietly think 'thank goodness' than get physically excited by an upgrade being confirmed.

 

[SuePa]

I was very excited to get an upgrade from LAX to SYD, but it was late at night when I saw it so I did a little happy dance on my own.

 

[SYD]

A few years ago flying home from Europe, I was sitting in the QF lounge in SIN waiting for the BA flight to SYD and my phone rang. The woman on the other end asked if I would mind being upgraded to First. A nanosecond later, “No, I don’t mind at all”.

With a wry smile, I sauntered over to the BA lounge front desk to collect my new BP.

Funny thing, this was an AY ticket and BA had already upgraded me previously on the SYD-SIN leg at checkin.

 

[offshore171]

he yelled "yes!" and then started pacing around the lounge saying things like "f--- yeah!".

Ah yes, Loud Phonecall Guy (TM). Every lounge seems to have one.

And yes, they are often seen pacing about, in order to create maximum irritation.

David Attenborough should do a documentary on Lounge Creatures!

 

[elanshin]

Excited when i got my very first upgrade (complimentary) to Premium economy quite a while ago. Although initially it was confusion as we were just held up at check in gates for ages before they told us (thought we had some problem).

First upgrade to J was SFO to MEL. That was pretty exciting too as it was my first J flight and it was nice to fly long haul in J.

Upgrade confirmation now its less of a surprise as now I monitor flights loads so you have some sort of idea beforehand. (Even to see where to sit in Y)

 

[Berlin]

The totally unexpected free ones are the ones where I get seriously excited. But making a dance in public? Not really my style, no.

 

[Quickstatus]

Those with CLASS never make a song and dance about it.

Once we had F tickets to DFW back when the A380 was operating. Remember there is a airbridge for F which they always seem to want to get F boarded and the airbridge stowed quickly.

So we were at the gate and boarding had already started and they announced "paging Mr and Mrs QS can you please come to the first class lane". Got a lot of "looks" as we were the only F pax to board

 

[BCons]

Cathay, when they had F on their Aust flights, were pretty good at giving upgrades to FF's. I think they identified people at checkin-in - upper lvl OW's who were neatly presented - and then the lucky ppl found out when their BP wouldnt scan on boarding. Ah Mr. X, here a new BP for you.. The smile lasted all the way to HK.

Once I put in a request for a QF points upgrade to F on the 380 Syd/Sin. Forgot to look at my BP until I asked in the lounge about chances of the upgrade coming thru. Staff looked at my BP and said you're in row 3 - any further fwd and you'll be sitting with the pilots.

 

[AIRwin]

Once I put in a request for a QF points upgrade to F on the 380 Syd/Sin. Forgot to look at my BP until I asked in the lounge about chances of the upgrade coming thru.

No SMS/email notification?

 

[BCons]

No SMS/email notification?

Nothing that I saw or can remember - suspect I might hv only applied the day before it.

 

[p--and--t]

Years ago only my second o/s journey on the way to SGN via BKK I arrived in Mel from Adl to find an absolute zoo around Thai checkin counters in T2.

Being a top tier flyer on AN I joined the priority queue and asked what was going on.

Apparently the flight day before had been cancelled and two flights were trying to fit into one.

I was advised that unfortunately the seats I had selected were no longer available and we would be upgraded to the upper deck of the 747.

Surprisingly J was relatively empty and we were given a row each for the overnight flight and the upper deck crew extremely attentive given they didn't have many passengers to look after. Glad I wasnt downstairs as there was not a single spare seat.

Given it was an award booking I was smiling from ear to ear when also advised been upgraded to J on return as well.

 

[jastel]

Back when I first started collecting points, I was only about 25 or so, I had just enough for a Business Upgrade SYD to LAX.
As Silver and paying for Economy I didn't hold much hope but when checking in with my friend was told "Please go to the Business Counter Sir". Friend was confused when we met after checking in and security.
"What happenned?" he said
"Buggers Cancelled my seat" I said, "and gave me one in BUSINESS Class!"
I was happy but the look of disbelief on his face was worth more than the seat.

I said "See you in LAX", and went upstairs to the Lounge.
Unfortunately he talked the hosty into coming to visit me upstairs (A380) sometime before landing the next morning and interrupted my movie...

 

[dairyfloss]

Generally, no… but wife and I giggled like kids and skipped down the aerobridge corridor a couple of times, on scoring J>F upgrades on the EK 388, back in the QF-EK partnership honeymoon period

 

[SYD]

Generally, no… but wife and I giggled like kids and skipped down the aerobridge corridor a couple of times, on scoring J>F upgrades on the EK 388, back in the QF-EK partnership honeymoon period

Yes, we got one of those. Gate went “beep” boarding from the DXB F lounge and new BP handed over. SYD+1 said, “I guess I’ll see you at the other end”, until gate went “beep” and we had 1K and 2K! (on QF CR tickets!).

 

[jastel]

Another time LHR-DXB-SYD I was in PE, chatting to seatmate during the flight, we had both requested upgrades but didnt get them. Arrived in DXB and have to deplane before getting back on same plane etc etc. Back in the security area before the gate and I saw her again. I went and sat next to her again as I knew nobody else there, "I got a Business Upgrade 10B" she said excitedly.
Pulled out my new BP to show her... "10A".

 

[rbjhan]

This was 10+ years ago. Got invited to pay for Y-J one way MEL-SIN for something like $200. Not free but close.
It was a few days before the flight at home, so no one saw my excitement!

 

[bashworth]

About ten years ago Mrs Bashworth had never flown business, although I had several times thanks to work travel.

We were off on an Emirates flight to KL via Singapore no points no status.

We had checked in on line and printed the boarding passes.

When we got to the check in desk the check in agent ripped up the pre-printed boarding passes and Mrs Bashworths's face fell.

When we were then presented wth two business class tickets she became like a 5 year old who had drunk far too much Red Cordial.

 

[Seat0B]

I was pretty excited when I worked out what it meant for the J boarding pass to be rejected out of the machine when boarding an A380 on SYD-SIN-LHR flight 12 or 13 years ago! Yes we were upgraded to F (for the SYD-SIN leg). I contained myself because I did not want to look like an amateur, but soon gave that away by asking the flight attendant to take a photo of Mr Seat0A and me. "Oh, is it your first time?" she said, with a twinkle in her eye and then proceeded to give us the absolute best service, some helpful tips and seat orientation and so on. When I thanked her, she said that she loved loved loved it when people acted excited to get an upgrade and were not too cool for school. I was WP at that time.

I was not excited in 2015 when QF1 SYD-DXB-LHR was delayed over night for mechanical reasons (but that's a whole other story). We just accepted it, took the night in the nice hotel and returned to the F lounge for early breakfast the next day - to find that we had been upgraded to F (from J) the whole way. I often wondered if it was a good will thing for high status pax (I was P1 at the time) or if it was because we acted like civilised humans about the delay - boy there were some rude, over-entitled people harassing the F Lounge staff. I was pretty excited about that one.

On QF2 LHR-DXB-SYD in about 2017, we had lovely service in the EK F Lounge and I asked to see the manager and gave a compliment for the staff member. He asked if I would be prepared to write it down and sign and I said of course. He thanked me. Some while later he tracked us down in the lounge and said he had a new boarding pass for me and Mr Seat 0A. We were now in F from DXB-SYD. I was quite excited about that too but tried to retain some decorum . I was P1 at that time.

These are the only times I have ever flown in F. It was lovely, but I don't think I could justify paying for it, so J is my happy place. Of course, I hoped to be able to use my points and status to get F award seats or F upgrades, but firstly I dropped from P1 to WP when I stopped flying for work so much, and then of course all the issues with using points to get CR seats mean that I will probably only ever fly F when I get a free upgrade. So I reckon I will remain pretty happy about that!

 

[bPeteb]

We were sat at the gate at JNB just two weeks ago and two names were called and asked to go to the service desk. I watched two people go up and I don't know that I have ever seen a couple so excited. They sat down and the smiles were gigantic. More cloud 99 than 9.

They ended up in a front of us a few minutes later when J was called and I quietly said to them I have a feeling you've been upgraded. They just couldn't hide their excitement. Said they had been trying for years and didn't think that it would ever happen, especially on an international flight. It made my day.

We chatted to them a couple of times stood by the galley and they were still ovecome with joy and excitement.

I realise some of you only ever fly J or F, but for those of us who don't do it often, or ever, it is a joy to watch first timers get that upgrade.