Who gets the upgrade on your flight ?

Wren

Wren

Well-known Member
Location
Europe
I watched a TV programme about flight upgrades this morning and, if there’s only one upgrade available, it seems mainly the men who accept it, leaving their wives to travel alone in economy

Apparently this happened to one couple on the return trip of their honeymoon !

Would you agree to it ?
 

I'm sure my husband would tell me to take the upgrade, but I'd rather sit with him so we'd pass on the offer.
 

A couple of yrs ago coming home from visiting my brother&family over Thanksgiving weekend,I was given an upgraded seat.
I had put my Lands End canvas bag underneath my seat because there was no room in the overhead bin
The steward came down the aisle one last time before we left the gate,asking if anybody had not put their luggage in the overhead,I raised my hand.
He said'follow me,you're going to be sitting in 1st class'.I was thrilled since I've never sat there before,a perfect way to end my weekend Sue
 
When we fly, we fly first class. Being a retired pilot for United, I get free coach tickets and either earn points with my credit card or pay cash for the difference. FC is overrated. If I weren’t 6’4”, I would fly coach with the optional extra leg room seating that’s available on United. However, FC offers some really nice leg room, but the food isn’t anywhere near as good as it was 20 years ago.
 
oldman said:
When we fly, we fly first class. Being a retired pilot for United, I get free coach tickets and either earn points with my credit card or pay cash for the difference. FC is overrated. If I weren’t 6’4”, I would fly coach with the optional extra leg room seating that’s available on United. However, FC offers some really nice leg room, but the food isn’t anywhere near as good as it was 20 years ago.
Click to expand...

That's very useful to know....
 
oldman said:
When we fly, we fly first class...... FC is overrated. If I weren’t 6’4”, I would fly coach with the optional extra leg room seating that’s available on United. However, FC offers some really nice leg room, but the food isn’t anywhere near as good as it was 20 years ago.
Click to expand...

You must be talking domestic flights only. DW and I fly first now domestically, and we do like the extra room. It's a splurge, but worth it to us. But I got upgraded some years ago to business class going overseas. Before that, I was in the cheap seats. Since that experience, I fly business class every year going overseas now. Having a 'cubicle' to sleep in on an overnight flight is worth every penny to me even though I realize how much I'm getting 'taken' for! My choice.
 
I fly very rarely, and have never flown first class. If an upgrade was offered to us, my husband would insist that I take it.
 
I got upgraded to first class on the final leg of my flight once, because the airline had caused me to miss my earlier connection, lost my luggage and then stranded me in Chicago overnight. I accepted the upgrade.
 
retiredtraveler said:
You must be talking domestic flights only. DW and I fly first now domestically, and we do like the extra room. It's a splurge, but worth it to us. But I got upgraded some years ago to business class going overseas. Before that, I was in the cheap seats. Since that experience, I fly business class every year going overseas now. Having a 'cubicle' to sleep in on an overnight flight is worth every penny to me even though I realize how much I'm getting 'taken' for! My choice.
Click to expand...

I don’t know exactly what you are referring to, but almost all of United’s planes offer regular coach and coach w/extra legroom that the passenger must pay a premium for. I’m not sure if any of United’s plane doesn’t offer that service. I flew the B-737 when I first started flying for United. Eight years later, I started flying the B-757/767 and for two years, I flew the B-747. All of those planes offered the extra legroom service.

The B-747-8 had the First Class & Global Class 360 degree seats that actually turned into a tight bed. I flew that plane from Chicago to Honolulu. The 747 has now been abandoned by United and in its place is the B-777, or what is referred to as the Triple 7. Remember the old saying, “Come fly the friendly skies?” Well, sometimes they weren’t so friendly.
 
I flew first class to and fro, just over 20 years ago. It was sooo nice.

Big, wide comfy leather seats, finger bowls, hot moist napkins; the food was great. On our return trip, they gave us a free bottle of wine that had been uncorked but not used. They said once a wine had been opened, they couldn't take it back up. I wonder why?

It was on American, but I forgot the type of plane.

To answer the OP (sorry), he would have insisted I take it, but I also would just stay with him.
 
The only time I flew first class was when I was in grade 8. We drove all the way out west, stayed at our student exchanges house for one week in Calgary, went to BRitish Columbia then Vancouver island. We stayed at the best hotels with huge discounts then flew home first class. It was a 3 week trip and was most memorable. I wish I still had the pictures I took but I lost them all.
 
No offense, oldman, but my most recent flight was on United (LAX-BOS). The plane was a 737-900. I paid for the "extra leg room", but still ended up with my knees firmly in my lap. It was pretty awful! I'm not a particularly tall person, and I can't imagine what the regular economy class seats would have been like.

I've never been offered an upgrade while flying with my wife. We did run into an unexpected "downgrade" once. It was on an Air New Zealand flight from LAX to Auckland on a 747. We were supposed to have two first class seats, but we ended up with one of us having to sit in business class. We switched off between the outbound and return flights. Even business class on that plane was nice.

I was fortunate during my serious flying days (mostly the 1990s). For those of us who regularly flew a large number of miles my regular airlines - Delta, then United - automatically upgraded every flight from coach to first class on planes that offered it.
 
Tommy said:
No offense, oldman, but my most recent flight was on United (LAX-BOS). The plane was a 737-900. I paid for the "extra leg room", but still ended up with my knees firmly in my lap. It was pretty awful! I'm not a particularly tall person, and I can't imagine what the regular economy class seats would have been like.

I've never been offered an upgrade while flying with my wife. We did run into an unexpected "downgrade" once. It was on an Air New Zealand flight from LAX to Auckland on a 747. We were supposed to have two first class seats, but we ended up with one of us having to sit in business class. We switched off between the outbound and return flights. Even business class on that plane was nice.

I was fortunate during my serious flying days (mostly the 1990s). For those of us who regularly flew a large number of miles my regular airlines - Delta, then United - automatically upgraded every flight from coach to first class on planes that offered it.
Click to expand...


I have to wonder if you were sitting in an "Economy Plus" row of seats. I think the passenger gets an extra 5 inches or so of legroom compared to the standard economy seats. Did you question the F/A? I'm 6'4" and I find the seats in that area do-able. F/C has more recline, plus an extra inch or two more of spacing over the Economy Plus. The 737-8 is a great plane and the world's most popular. I never flew that -8 (as a pilot), but I did fly the -3. Boeing also makes a -8 MAX, which is even nicer inside. The engines on the -8 are made by GE for the most part, but some do have P&W (Pratt & Whitney) and some even have the RR (Roll Royce) engines, which are my favorite because they are they most quiet. Right now, the airplane business is good. Many of the airlines are ordering new planes from both Boeing and the other guy. ( I try not to say the "A" word (Airbus), but sometimes it slips out.)

Over the years, getting a bump to F/C from Coach has been crap shoot. If I were to draw a F/C seat with my wife flying along, she would definitely be offered the seat. You know what they say, "Happy wife, happy life."

BTW, there isn't a whole lot of difference between First and Business classes. In first, the passengers get their bell answered first, get served first and have their own lavatory. Food menus do differ on some flights. But, IMO, the airplane food is not as good as it was 20 years ago, unless you fly one of the high end international airlines, like Singapore, which really goes out of their way to treat their passengers x-tra nice. What an airline!

I apologize for going off topic. I get excited over flying discussions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top