What's the best travel upgrade you've received?

[Forg]

Having only caught 50, maybe 100 max, flights in my entire life; I have no stories of exciting upgrades. In fact the only flight upgrade I’ve ever had was when a mate & I flew SYD-HBA to see Targa Tasmania in 1994, he casually asked whether we could be upgraded; and we were. . Neither of us would’ve had a drink so it wouldn’t have cost QF anything that I can think of; he’s 6’6” or so, so he definitely enjoyed the roominess.

However, I’ve had a few hotel & rental-car upgrades. Although most car ‘upgrades’ have been downgrades (I hate SUV’s with a passion & they’re usually the “upgrade” despite always being inferior to the class I booked); I did book a diesel Golf in 2018 from Inverness to Heathrow for 12 days and got a Jaguar XE which was very nice (there’s not a lot that’s cooler than driving a nice curvy Scottish highway winding along the edge of a mountain-range & seeing a pair of Eurofighters rocketing along the edge of the range through the sunroof of the Jag ).

We also went down to Melbourne, I think it was also 2018, because Queen + Adam Lambert were playing on my birthday in Melbourne. My better half had been impressed with The Langham in London, so booked us a room at The Langham in Melbourne; whether it was due to it being my birthday I don’t know, but they upgraded us to this massive suite with a bathroom/spa as big as a bedroom. It was pretty fancy, but I must admit that I had the same feeling as when we flew Emirates to AKL in 1st; couldn’t really see the value given that it’d have cost us ~$900/night at RRP.

 

[pauleg]

Years ago I was in Jakarta on business staying at the Hyatt. About 1 am I had to move out of my room as there was smoke coming from the AC unit. The only other room was the entire top floor Presidential Suite!!! I explored all the many rooms (bathroom bigger than a normal full room, banquet room, conference room, huge kitchen, bar etc) and services and lifted the soaps etc, as one does. Off to the office the next day early but on my return that evening they had moved me back to basic!!! 6 brief hours of how the other half live!!!

 

[AIRwin]

I explored all the many rooms (bathroom bigger than a normal full room, banquet room, conference room, huge kitchen, bar etc) and services and lifted the soaps etc, as one does. Off to the office the next day early but on my return that evening they had moved me back to basic!!!

Why not bring the office into the suite's conference room?

 

[93Revisited]

I’ve been lucky enough to be given quite a few op upgrades on Qantas but just once on Cathay. As a QF Platinum, Cathay recognizes your status and the attendants will sneak you a nice drink but they almost never give away upgrades to alliance partner FFs. I don’t know why I scored this one but there is nothing like being given the gift of sleep with a business upgrade on a packed Friday night flight home from Hong Kong.
The best flight upgrades were undoubtably a QF premium economy trip from HKG to LHR return about 10 years ago. An op up to business on the daytime flight to London got the trip off to a great start. Thinking that lightning wouldn’t strike twice, I booked a points upgrade to business for the return overnight flight but luck was on my side. A Cathay flight was cancelled and with the passenger overflow the next thing I knew my boarding pass was pointing to seat 1A. First class! It remains my all-time favorite 747 experience and have never slept or eaten better on a plane.
Finally a shout out to the Radisson Blu New World in Shanghai. Their regular rooms are great but for my last visit I was upgraded to their premium suite. It was a vast multi-room suite with amazing views.

 

[Frequent Frier]

Not long after Virgin (Australia) started flying SYD-LAX-SYD, I was in California and seeking to get home early for a family commitment. My existing carrier wanted an arm-and-a-leg to change my return flight, so I booked one-way Virgin economy LAX-SYD.

At LAX, the Virgin agent who checked me in for economy noted that pay-per-entry was available for the Alaska Airlines lounge (which Virgin then used at LAX, in the terminal they shared). As I had several hours to spare, I paid a pricey US$50 for lounge entry. It turned out to be one of the best investments of my many years flying.

Once in the lounge, I was approached by Virgin’s on-board cabin manager, who introduced herself and her then-new airline, and noted that it was a shame I was only travelling in economy. Within minutes, she came back with a premium economy seat for me, which made my day - and more than paid back the cost of the lounge entry!

However, when I boarded the flight, and found my seat in premium economy, a different cabin manager approached me. (I wondered if she was going to put me back into economy, where I belonged). Instead, she said that business class was quite quiet, and she would find me a Sleeper seat in business for the 15 1/2 Hours back to Sydney.

I have never slept so well. Thank you, Virgin Australia. Hope you are up and running again widely soon!

 

[JulieJ]

We were flying back from Italy with Emirates a few years ago and we were in line to check when attendant directed us to the Business queue and offered us an upgrade to Business class. There was one condition though that I would not be able to have the fruit platter that I had pre booked I reluctantly agreed to upgradeMy husband and I were like kids in a lolly shop - we now mostly travel business class - it well and truly converted us.

 

[kiwitripper64]

What a great thread. So much fun looking over good fortune. Its great to see the upgrades were unexpected and not schemed over like that cough who put a moonboot on in Singapore to scam an upgrade. Or the people who are in the lobby yelling about the most trivial issues.
We had another upgrade experience.we were flying CDG-AMM-SYD on Royal Jordanian. Mrs KT was J and i was with 14 yo daughter in Y. We had a long layover in Amman, and about an hour in the lounge angel came over and gave me a ticket for J. 14 yo not impressed, but held it together. About 10min later I went for a walk and asked if there was any chance of 14yo also getting an upgrade, but we fully understood if she couldn't. The lounge angel said she would look into it and came and saw me 30 min later with the second upgrade. We kept it quiet until we got on the plane and told her to check the seat number. Great finish to the holiday

 

[pugwombat]

Yep, the unexpected international upgrades are best. The family (me, Mrs Pug and two pre-teen kids) was flying back from Europe via Hong Kong on CX in about 2012 and when we were given our boarding passes, we had been upgraded from down the back to PE seats. I've always though PE was a bit pointless, but the extra leg and bum room, better amenity kits and feeling underserving made it the most magical experience. We don't know why we got them, but of course we didn't complain. I've never flown PE since then and probably never will. But I'll never fly long haul down the back again, so thanks CX for spoiling cheap seat flying for me.

The worst upgrade experience was in the late 80s when I treated myself to J on Australian Airlines from Adelaide to somewhere else at the client's expense, thinking I was very important and they'd never notice. The client's representative was on the same flight and was flying down the back in keeping with company policy and a tyrannical cost-cutting CEO. The client rep was a semi-senior exec. Wore a very fancy suit. He was upgraded to J and was very pleased. I was upgraded from J to F making my self-indulgence stick out like dog's balls. I apologised to him that there had been a mistake in the booking and I didn't mean to be in J (F). He was very understanding, but I'm pretty sure he never forgave me.

 

[Denali]

Only upgrades we've received were hotel upgrades to suites (and they were much appreciated). Waldorf Astoria in Edinburgh gave us a castle view suite and hubby got his own man cave. Perth Hilton suite was so large with balcony that the wardrobe was bigger than a hotel room I remember having in Cairns once and we would wander around looking for each other.

Now I just look my brand new & unused luggage, sometimes I take it for a spin around my home office but thats about it.

 

[Keldi]

I've never been lucky enough to get an airline upgrade but in March 2020 flying from London to Sydney on a 'repatriation' flight there were only 50 odd passengers on the flight so we had lots of room to lay down (no food unfortunately).. This was following a cruise from Dubai on 12 March...we had pre-paid to upgrade from a standard cabin to an 'ocean view' cabin. When we received the paperwork we had been upgraded to a balcony cabin, made the cruise much more enjoyable when all the ports were closed due to Covid so had 12 nights at sea (luckily we were not confined to our cabin).

 

[Julesmac]

Another fab upgrade was when we'd been to meet our backpacking daughter in Rome - she and her pal had been away for 6 months. We fluked business seats on a special deal with Emirates for Collingwood - way back at the start. So by departure time we were pretty knackered after 5 weeks away. MrMac tried to get an upgrade to first (he reckons it's always worth a cheeky smile and a nice manner, but no joy that day. Wandered round to check in. Delightful Aussie girl - same age as our daughter - from Melbourne - from same suburb - whose parents lived in the next street. Neighbours, right? She said she wished her parents would come to the UK to visit her but in 3 years they hadn't. So impressed with our love for our daughter that she upgraded us - bout only to Dubai. Then sadly due to a full plane we got busted back to J. The horror, the shame. As I said, a smile and asking nicely really can work some days.

 

[dairyfloss]

Whilst I've managed to wrangle a few upgrades on flights and more in hotels over the years, my favourites were on two key 'firsts' for me, as a flyer.

The first was in the early 2000s as a young guy taking his first international flight. I was travelling for work SYD-xAKL-WLG to deliver some training. Being young and naive enthusiastic, I went the whole way; donning the suit & tie I'd recently purchased, and proudly carrying my new laptop briefcase. I had no idea about seat selections and what my seat number actually meant as I departed the check-in area, and so it was only when I boarded the Queen of the Skies to AKL and was directed upstairs to what I now know as a MK1 Skybed that I realised something special was happening! I was too nervous to ask how my seat worked, or ask for anything but what I was given, but damn did it put the fire in me to get up there again!

The second was about 5 years back and the first time I ever paid with my own money to fly J. Now, I'd flown J countless times by this stage... but mostly it had been Awards / upgrades, or by convincing my boss/es to cough up fare difference on a flex Y ticket for long-haul or red-eyes. For this one, my wife and I were headed over the ditch for a short break ahead of the birth of our son, and with her being concerned with comfort and space, didn't want to chance the upgrade to J on QF, so we paid outright for J with EK SYD-AKL-SYD on the 388, instead. I was QF WP by this stage, and thanks to AFF, was aware that upgrades on EK were possible, but the delight of seeing that red light on boarding - suggesting the upgrade to F was a 'go' - not only on the outbound flight, but the inbound as well, is something else! Too bad I had to have [most] of her share of the Dom in our F suites, each way

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[2infinity]

Well there was this one time at band camp...........................................ooops, hang on wrong thread.

But there was this other time..................hmmmm, nope, I paid for that.

Well, I was travelling through Europe,......................nope, paid for that too.

On this trip to New Zealand.....................yea, no.....also paid for that.

Scratches head. Come to think about it, never ever received a free upgrade. That's 0% of flights, 0% of hotels, 0% of car hire. Talking about car hire, I think almost everyone gets an upgrade to the next class (eg: micro to economy or manual to auto), but I don't class this as an upgrade. Booking a manual economy and getting a luxury sports convertible would be an upgrade. I have booked a luxury vehicle expecting to receive a particular car, but ended up with an effective downgrade with the car I got, it was in the same class category, but sucked compared to what I thought I was getting.

I got sick of waiting, joined AFF to learn how to get my own self-earned upgrades. You want something, don't be a lemming, go out and grasp it. This has worked out quite nicely, with business class travel to USA, Bali and New Zealand and first class to London, only just February/March this year.

I'm sure it would be a nice feeling to get that unexpected upgrade. One day I hope to feel it too, but in the meantime, I'm living life.

Come to think about it, I was in San Francisco a few years back when I was checking into a hotel with my elderly mother. It was a late check in, about 1am. We had just finished a very late tour and wanted to grab a few hours sleep before our early morning flight. I had booked and prepaid a basic twin share room, but when we checked in, the clerk was delighted to tell us we had received a complimentary room upgrade. I was a bit tired so my surprise meter wasn't running at full tilt, so I just asked what we get in the upgrade. He said our room now has a fridge and breakfast was being provided free of charge between the hours of 7-10am. I said we were there for 5 hours and wouldn't be needing a fridge and were checking out at 6am so wouldn't be able to have breakfast. The expression on the clerks face took a turn as he then advised us our twin share room was now a double. So our alleged upgrade was actually a downgrade. I argued with him for about 5-10mins until he eventually just said 'It's the only room we have left, do you want it or not?' He wouldn't refund our money as it was prepaid through Expedia, it was 1am and we were in the middle of nowhere as it was an airport hotel. We took the room. I complained to Expedia first thing the next morning, but was told I should have notified them at the time of checking in. I can only imagine they would have just refunded me my money, leaving me without a hotel in the middle of nowhere at 1am.

 

[EdC59]

Two experiences come to mind. Both on British Airways. In the first I was flying London to Tokyo in Business class. I had boarded and settled into my seat to discover I had a "chatter" next to me - when flying by myself I prefer to keep to myself. Before take off a flight attendant came to me and asked me to gather my things as my seat had been "reassigned". I was a bit non-plussed by this until she handed me a hand written note with my new seat assignment - 1A! No chatter and first class all the way.

The second experience was JFK to London. We'd flown London to New York in Economy and it was horrible. On check for the return flight we were prepared to pay to get out of economy and asked if there were any Business Class seats available. We were told they had 2. We took them and then asked how much extra we'd have to pay. The check in agent said "Well, we were looking for some people to upgrade, so it won't cost you anything"! SOme times you just get lucky!

 

[LHT]

Last year, I was on my PC chat function to Qantas trying to use my credit card to buy the exit row for my husband and I on a return flight from Queenstown to Brisbane. My credit card kept getting declined for the payment part. The person on chat told me not to worry as I would have plenty of legroom. On boarding the flight, we got the ding and was handed new boarding passes to business class which we were obviously very happy about. Now I will never know if we had somehow been flagged for an upgrade as the chat guy seemed to know this already days before or not. A week previous to this on a domestic flight, our flight had been changed to a later one and our bags did not arrive with us. The bags went on a later flight and were sent to our hotel which was a 2 hour drive from the airport and they actually arrived before we did as we stopped on route for lunch. I complimented Qantas on social media for their great service. I like to think that this was the reason for the upgrade.

 

[Lutrusler]

When I checked in for a Cathay early morning BNE/HK flight 2 yrs ago I was greeted with “Happy Birthday you’ve been upgraded to business”.

 

[AIRwin]

When I checked in for a Cathay early morning BNE/HK flight 2 yrs ago I was greeted with “Happy Birthday you’ve been upgraded to business”.

Did you hold any status?

 

[VPS]

Two experiences come to mind. Both on British Airways. In the first I was flying London to Tokyo in Business class. I had boarded and settled into my seat to discover I had a "chatter" next to me - when flying by myself I prefer to keep to myself. Before take off a flight attendant came to me and asked me to gather my things as my seat had been "reassigned". I was a bit non-plussed by this until she handed me a hand written note with my new seat assignment - 1A! No chatter and first class all the way.

The second experience was JFK to London. We'd flown London to New York in Economy and it was horrible. On check for the return flight we were prepared to pay to get out of economy and asked if there were any Business Class seats available. We were told they had 2. We took them and then asked how much extra we'd have to pay. The check in agent said "Well, we were looking for some people to upgrade, so it won't cost you anything"! SOme times you just get lucky!

Great first post - welcome to AFF

 

[skylight]

Arrived at Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel with 2 kids in tow. Went to check in and he asked if I would mind changing from normal room to one bedroom Suite with Mountain Views. It was a hard choice but I took the suite wow so huge plenty of room for 4 and lots of snow and views of deer wandering around the grounds.
Also checked into Whistler and apparently who we booked through had gone bust. Oh I said ok I will pay with cc card and fix when I get home. The Manger gave us the 2 bedroom Condo instead of the Studio we booked because I was so good about it and did not make a fuss. Bye the way received a refund for the amount I paid. Always book my own Travel now as I find it easier than using an agent.

 

[WeeGraeme]

Back in 2013, I booked flights from Brisbane to Scotland. I booked on BA. I’d booked premium economy. Being the first long haul flight that I’d booked myself, I’d checked all the detail. I’d chosen a seat. Everything was organised and documented as I wanted to leave nothing to chance.

I couldn’t check in online as I had a QF flight from BNE to SYD. When I arrived at the desk at Brisbane domestic, I placed my luggage on the belt. I noticed a “Business” tag being attached. I assumed that they must process the premium economy luggage with the business class luggage. I flew to Sydney. Once in the departure check in area, I looked at my boarding pass for my onward flight and it had a different seat number. I found the BA check in desk and sheepishly asked if I’d been upgraded. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself if I hadn’t. He assured me I had. I went to the gate and waited. At that point in time, I had no clue about business class lounges. I’d never been to Sydney International terminal before, so I may not have found it in time to make use of it anyway.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my flight to Singapore. Being an afternoon flight, and with a stopover in Singapore, I didn’t avail my self of the lie flat bed. But I did recline and enjoy the food. Because of my stopover, I hadn’t been checked in to my onward flight before I left Australia. I wasn’t to be so lucky. Due to the delays experienced with deliveries of the A380, BA was still flying some old 747s. I went from SYD-SIN in a 3 yo 777-300 to SIN-LHR in a 29 yo 747-400. Still, I wasn’t complaining. As a QF Bronze and never having flown on BA before then, I didn’t think I was in the running for an upgrade at all.