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I just read Lucky at One Mile at a Time‘s post on his upgrade experience with American Airlines and Matthew’s take at Live and Let’s Fly around United Airlines. My thoughts are a bit different as I gave up trying for domestic upgrades at least five years ago and now buy domestic First Class on every flight.
I need the legroom as I am six-foot-five-inches tall. Almost any seat in Economy Class is going to be uncomfortable for me. Over the past decade, I spent many years as a Global Services® and Premier 1K® member with United, Platinum and Diamond Medallion with Delta Air Lines, and Executive Platinum with American Airlines. Even with all of these statuses held, I bought the seat that I wanted. There was no guarantee (even when I held Global Services®) that I would be granted a complimentary upgrade and post-pandemic this has gotten even worse.
Upgrade standby lists are lengthy and the competition for upgrades is fierce. Even instrument-supported upgrades are not a sure thing and more often than not I hear from others that these have failed. The airlines are doing a good job of filling seats with passengers that will pay for the premium experience (whether with cash, miles, or by paying a fee to upgrade).
It’s not lost on me that not everyone can afford to buy First Class seats on every flight, but expectations should be adjusted to a point where if you’re not paying to fly up front that you will be seated in Economy. The airlines dangled the promise of free upgrades for many years and people (myself included) bought into what these programs “promised.” Those promises have fallen short and it really is time for upgrades to be removed as a benefit. They create more disappointment than anything else and does it matter if you’re number one or number 107 on the upgrade list?
International flights are a different animal and I have found success using PlusPoints on United and Global Upgrades on Delta to secure Polaris® and Delta One® seats when flying to Europe and Asia. These have value and should be highlighted as true benefits. Airlines should promote these avenues more and focus less on the complimentary domestic upgrades.
Anthony’s Take: I consider myself fortunate that I can buy the seats that I want and gave up on upgrades domestically long ago. What’s your upgrade strategy?
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3 comments
Due to my location in the Southeast I’m pretty much having to choose between Delta and American. I started off as a rabid Delta partisan but their perpetual series of hate-the-customer moves and some stunningly bad experiences soured me a lot over time. Now I’m EXP with AA and my wife and I – together no less – are 5/6 on upgrades for the year. If the price difference is minimal or it’s a long flight I’ll balance that in my thinking about just paying for first. I’m 6’4″ and weigh a lot so coach is no party but the exit row seats at least save my knees some bruising if an upgrade doesn’t come through. I wish I had the money to buy a seat up front on an ongoing basis but I’m more fortunate than most so I’ll count my blessings when things do work out well.
I am doing a cheapie mileage run on Tuesday to KOA on Alaska airlines. My outbound upgrade has already cleared. I have chosen my seat and meal for breakfast. I purchased a cheap fare code, “G”. Now I am watching for my return upgrade to clear.
“it really is time for upgrades to be removed as a benefit.” sounds elitist, and will be ignored by all airlines. One reason is that airlines sometimes upgrade Elite passengers because they have oversold Economy. On an Ethiopian Airlines flight ADD-FCO-IAD I was moved from Economy to First because I was a lowly Star Alliance Silver through United. Without elite status, involuntary upgrades might cause fights in economy cabins because there would be no metric to use to determine who gets an upgrade. If Basic Economy passengers were upgraded on overbooked flights and not Economy/Premium Economy/ Elite/Alliance etc. members, that airline would be trashed mercilessly.
On about 60% of my American and Alaska flights I am upgraded because of my Alaska Gold 75K status. I average @200 flights, 3 continents, 14 countries, 12 US states per year…and have been upgraded thousands of times. Tomorrow I fly to YCC, Monday to PHX, and I will be on the United upgrade list because of my Million Miler status. Upgrades and loyalty status benefit airlines as much as they do passengers.