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

[Flying Fox]

Domestically, my family and I had an op-up from Y - J flying BNE - ADL which was very nice.

The most suprising thing was that we were a group of six; thus on this particular B737, we received 6x op-up from Y - J (half of the J seats).

I was totally blown away. Thanks QF.

 

[Bindibuys]

Boxing day flight SYD/SIN on BA, at checkin “Oh I see you have already selected your seats....”
my reply - is there a problem?
No, we have given you both an upgrade to J.... unless you want to stay in your seat selection?
Doh...
I usually try to dress nice for flights, but had jeans on that day.

 

[27mrpc27]

As someone who has been flying domestically and internationally since 2007, I'm not faking when I say I never get upgraded. The 1 memorable exception was an Emirates flight to Thailand to see an old friend, and me and another school friend were travelling together in economy. School friend is a very successful exec in the energy industry, with more money than Elvis, who only booked his ticket in economy so we could sit together. Imagine his frustration when it was ME who was upgraded at the gate to business, and seated literally just the other side of the curtain from his front row economy seat. He took it well when I turned around and gave him food & drink reviews mid flight. Needless to say, while we are still the best of friends, he has never let me live it down that I abandoned him in his time of need.

 

[Dalescott]

We got an op up out of Narita on a JAL flight. Must say that JAL FA's are the best in the world.

 

[Flashback]

I was traveling to DEL regularly for work last year and the client's policy is Y (Y+ at a stretch). I was lucky that on all but 1 sector BA bumped me up to J or F on every trip. Can't complain about that!

 

[spudseamus]

2012 returning to Melbourne from Dublin on Etihad. A380 in J . I was intercepted in the lounge in Abu Dabi by a man with a very strange pronunciation of Murphy. I was then asked to pick up my carry on and follow him . I was led into the first lounge and informed I was being upgraded to K 1 and because of a delay in departure I would also get the use of the first class lounge ! It was spectacular to say the least . This was still in the “ Reimagined “ era ! Which I feel they have never since regained that service . Following flights a few years later and this airline was a shadow of its former self and that is such a shame .

 

[Magoo]

I was thinking that I'd never been upgraded and then I remembered.....

Many years ago (I think somewhere more than 40 years ago), I was travelling from a conference in Perth, home to Sydney. I was booked with - I think - TAA.

On the flight over, they fed us only a snack in Y and I landed in Perth on a Sunday night, hungry, and nothing was open.

For the return, I was at the airport early. When I checked in, they told me the flight was delayed and they couldn't allocate seats. They took my luggage. This was my first ever flight longer than an hour or so, and I didn't understand what that meant. I did remember, however, being hungry and as the flight was now looking to stretch over 2 meal times, I went to the restaurant and ordered a proper meal. While I was eating, I was apparently called over the PA system, but I didn't hear it. I ran into a couple of friends outside when I finished and they asked me what I had done to get paged like that.

I had no idea, so wandered up to the check in desk, where they told me there were no more seats and I didn't have an allocated seat. I must have looked utterly shocked and terrified. Then they said that they might be able to fit me into First - would that be OK? I sort of mumbled "yes" and took the boarding pass. I was pretty naive so didn't really understand what that meant either.

I get on board and I'm in the last seat of the front section. My friends were immediately behind me, in the first row of Y. In F, however, they served a full meal and my friends in the next row were moaning about their snack. I did manage to eat most of the F meal.

It wasn't all fun and games though. Because the flight was so late they couldn't fly into Sydney, so we ended up in Adelaide, in some grotty hotel, for about 3 hours. My flight from Adelaide I was, sadly, back in Y

 

[VPS]

I've had a few upgrades over the times.

Flying LHR back to Australia on points in Y and went to ask if I could use my points to upgrade - very naive about the whole thing 15 years ago and they said oh you needed to apply more than 24 hours before the flight and I said oh damn Qantas told me I couldn't apply until I got to the airport - never mind it's not your fault. Beep at the gate - YEP

Again LHR to DXB a couple of years ago - was in J on points booking. Asked if it wasn't a full flight and there were any window seats with no one in the aisle (I'm too short to climb over people so always prefer the aisle). No sorry - no worries - have a good day. Another beep at the gate and 1A.

I've also had a few domestic upgrades when weather has been responsible for chaos. Always be nice to the lounge dragons when you go up to find out what's happening because I know one and the nastier you are the more chance you have of getting a middle seat down the back.

Another flight to Darwin checked in and got 1K and I said oh what and she said yep we're chockers so upgrading all the WP and SG - ok thanks

 

[love_the_life]

Lots in the good old days.
A couple of memorable ones - of course always the first = Y to J - BKK to LHR back about 20+years ago.
SIN - MEL on EK in Y and when I booked I didn't check that it was a 777 (so 3-4-3). What was I thinking of for an overnight flight. End of. Feb so flight was checkers returning uni students by the look of it. Scowling and cursing my stupidity I joined the long queue. Oh Joy and rapture - there was a beep at the gate. Unbelievable luck.

On a different note - booked the cheapest inside on QM2 and got an upgrade to balcony - bliss.

 

[NSun]

Back in the mid 2000s as a kid my family got an upgrade on SQ from Y to J - and of all J cabins to the 747 upper deck. If memory serves me correct it was an overbooking which only was realised when we were onboard/

 

[psmall]

We had booked an ocean front room at the Sheraton Fiji. As we were about to get into the golf buggy to go to our room, we told the porter our room number and he said, "that is the room where that family is going", pointing to a family that had just left in a golf buggy. We went back to reception to sort it out to what felt like 30 minutes later, and we were upgraded to an Ocean Suite for the rest of our stay and a free bottle of wine.

 

[love_the_life]

We had booked an ocean front room at the Sheraton Fiji. As we were about to get into the golf buggy to go to our room, we told the porter our room number and he said, "that is the room where that family is going", pointing to a family that had just left in a golf buggy. We went back to reception to sort it out to what felt like 30 minutes later, and we were upgraded to an Ocean Suite for the rest of our stay and a free bottle of wine.

We had sometime a little similar in Wuhan at the Marco Polo Hotel. Checked into our room and there was someone's bag there. Called the front desk who sent housemaid who had almost no English so made it difficult to explain. Eventually managed to get the idea across. They were terribly embarrassed and upgraded us to a very nice river view suite.

 

[Howie50]

Well this is an easy one because I did way to much travel to really care. But boarding a CX HKGLHR flight @ 1am HK time, my body was on 4am due to Sydney daylight saving time. I was booked in Premium and I get the bump to Business for a pleasant nights sleep through to Heathrow. I don't actually recall putting the seat down!

 

[Seat0B]

Best ever upgrade was SYD-DXB-LHR from J to F - the whole way in 2016. Our flight was delayed out of Sydney first due weather, then for maintenance, and we waited hours and hours in the F Lounge (there are worse places to wait). Eventually after many hours, they cancelled the flight and rescheduled for 0700 the next day. There was mass panic as people with pressing needs tried to get onto other flights. We were not in a major hurry - going to visit our son, but as I was P1 at that time, the Lounge staff were very keen to get us on our way. I told them not to worry, we would just take the flight the next day. We spent a very short night in a lovely hotel arriving well after midnight and back to the airport for new check in by 0500. Went back to F Lounge for breakfast, a bit shell shocked, to be greeted by a smiling customer service manager holding new boarding passes - F all the way. That was absolutely amazing - only my second time ever in F. And we got plenty of flight time to enjoy the whole experience.
He said it was a small way to say thanks for being reasonable the night before. Certainly a lot of people were being pretty aggressive.

 

[Tassey69]

Traveling business and using BA to Sydney from LHR joking said to lounge reception how about an upgrade for my birthday (it actually was my birthday) sadly the delightful lady behind the desk said that she was sorry that she could not upgrade me because there were still seats in Business and First, sadly I carried onto the lounge until my flight was called and as I was leaving to board the flight I was called to the desk with the lounge manager holding a new boarding pass with the comment "happy birthday from BA I hope 1A will be OK". After takeoff and I was settled into my piece of heaven the CSM came up to me wishing me a happy birthday and asking if I was going to watch any movies etc after dinner, I said no and she asked If I could change my seat with the passenger behind because his audio visual system was not working and he was not planning to sleep. I changed seats and many hours later as we came into Sydney the CSM said be careful when you open the over head luggage door, when I opened the door I found a bottle of French Champagne with a thankyou note from the CSM

 

[Flashback]

That doesn't sound like BA at all!

 

[Julesmac]

That doesn't sound like BA at all!

I just remembered the last - appropriately it will have been our last o/s trip ever. 8 years ago, travelling to France for 3 weeks in Paris for our 40th wedding anniversary - I got a part time job for 4 years to save up the money, & then my cousin's wedding in San Tropez. Travelled J on SQ thanks to a very dear friend donated his Krisflyer points. In the A380, so very exciting - got whisked to F for who knows why on a very lightly loaded plane but I wasn't going to question it. Mentioned to the crew the reason for our trip, and were woken at about 5am with a card made and signed by all the crew, along with a celebratory very rich chocolate cake, and a bottle of French bubbles as well. If ever I got to fly again would only ever fly SQ

 

[WeeGraeme]

I also had an upgrade with a rental car. Not a huge upgrade, but an upgrade all the same.

I reserved a Mazda CX-5 from Sixt at Schiphol. I booked it in February for a July trip. I didn't particularly want the Mazda, but I had a different Mazda as my own car, and this was the first time I was to have driven a left hand drive vehicle. I thought that being familiar with the brand's layout would be useful.

When I got to the airport, they didn't have the car, or even one in the same class. I was given the choice of an Audi A4 or a Volvo V60. Unfortunately, I had luggage with me and I didn't know what would fit in the Audi, so I took the Volvo. My memory of Volvo was the old square models of the 1970's. I was disappointed not to take the Audi, but the Volvo was a pleasant surprise anyway.

 

[drron]

As far as airlines go the only notable upgrade was from J to F on AA NRT-LAX.Notable as we were on award tickets.

But our neice had the best upgrade I know of.Just started in the travel game and booked on Pan am on the cheapest Y stand by fare.At checkin received a BP for F.Fawned over during the flight.On arrival in LAX was asked if her father was picking her up-no he is back in Sydney.Turned out she had the same name as Pan Ams CEO's daughter.

 

[Seat0B]

I just remembered a couple more.

My first ever upgrade to business - travelling with Mr Seat 0A and the little seats (aged 5 and 10) in 1997 CBR-SYD-AKL on very cheap economy seats. Our connection flight CBR-SYD was delayed and delayed and I was sure we would miss our connection - they were even announcing us over the intercom in the international terminal "SEAT family, recently arrived from Canberra, please urgently run to gate 10 where you will be the last passengers to board - yes run please!" So we ran, and as we hove into view of the gate, looking frantically for boarding passes, QF staff said "don;t worry we printed new ones to make it faster" and beeped us through. I was powering in a stressed state down the aisle when the littlest seat said "hey mum, we are here in row 16". I said: "don't be ridiculous, these are the business class seats" and made to keep going, but it was true - 2 in row 15 and 2 in row 16 - what total bliss! Made the return leg at the end of the holiday in very cheap seats a bit dismal!

And this was just weird. Mr Seat 0A (then Plat) and I (then P1) were flying DFW-SYD in October 2014, around the time they changed from 747 to A380s for that trip. I was on a fully paid business class ticket and he was on an award seat using my points. When we checked in, there was some kerfuffle because of aircraft changes, but they sorted it quickly and we boarded and sat in our seats, all fine. A few minutes later, another couple turned up with boarding passes for our seats - and there was no mistake, 2 sets of boarding passes with the same seat numbers. Cabin Manager tapped away on iPad and put the other lady in a nearby seat. Said "hold on a minute", vanished up the aisle and came back with some new seat allocations. Mr Seat 0A upgraded to First, and the strange man to sit next to me!! I said that I didn't really want to sit for a 15 hour flight next to a strange man, and Cabin Manager said "oh you can just swap seats with his wife." Bless him, at this point Mr Seat 0A said "Well I think Seat 0B should get the upgrade - after all, she's the P1 on a paid ticket". Cabin Manager looked really, really surprised, said hold on, and then came back a few minutes later with an upgrade to F for me too! That was my first ever trip in F and I really felt lucky to have what was then one of the longest sectors in the world to enjoy it. I must say it was pretty weird that they did not offer me the upgrade to start with, but anyway....