joho

I am having to return to the UK for 3 weeks as my mum has been very ill, I am going it alone and have booked on the A380 with SA (my fav). As I am on my own has anyone got any tips on a free upgrade. I am a VERY scared flyer, have anti anxiety pills, sleeping pill etc etc etc all ready but am sure my anxiety will be much easier in BC. I am Kris Card holder but as they are free these days not sure if this helps.

Jo

joho

whoops title is suposed to say bumping pls someone change it lol.

Jo

Pomster

Very rare I'm afraid unless you pay.


Only once have I been bumped up and that was because I held a Platinum Frequent Flyer with Sing Air. Since I lost that, I am just a economy traveller.

My company sent us back to UK in Aug and paid for Bus...it was almost empty but no-one got bumped up . Quite rare these days unless the plane is hugely ovrbooked.

Pollyana

sorted

Kooky.

Sorry to hear about your Mum, Jo.

As Pomster said, a very rare thing with SIA. The Geek flew with them almost every week when we were in Sg but flew economy so never got upgraded. Well, maybe once or twice in 6 years.

The Singapore Girls don't like to have too many people up front to have to fawn over.

bcworld

Singapore Airlines + discretionary upgrades? Rarer than hens teeth.

It's not a part of their culture, they really protect the experience for their paying customers. My friend worked for them, they wanted him to fly back and forward to SIN from London twice in one week so he asked them for BC on at least one of the flights, they point blank refused despite being available...he told them to get ******!

They will upgarde for operational reasons, but top tier frequent flyers will be at the head of the queue.

Centurion

Respectfully, no chance on SQ. They protect the premium cabins from upgrades to the last. Even if the flight is overbooked you can more or less guarantee there will be several PPS fliers in economy and even they moan about never getting an upgrade on www.sqtalk.com

On the bright side, as economy products go, SQ is pretty decent and you can always make your trip a little more pleasant by buying lounge access in Singapore.

Red_V_Roger

There is no logic to it.

I have been flying internationally for 20 years (like 50 - 60 flights a year) and never had an upgrade...although with Virgin/Pacific Blue's new system, as I am Velocity Gold, they do either sit me at the front our at least lock out the seat next to me.

My sister-in-law and her friend came here on Emirates 18 montsh ago...they have never flown Emirates before, have no flyer card and may never fly them again, but they got upgraded to the A380 business class??? Why???

Unless economy is full, nobody has a chance of being moved up these days.

My thoughts on upgrading my sister-in-law and my friend compared to me...they are two small women, I am a big bloke. they think they will drink less and therefore cost the airline less than me.

bcworld

In some circumstances they have to make a decision in a hurry and you just get lucky.

I was waiting for a United flight once...I knew it would be oversold so I hung around the gate. About 15 minutes before boarding they started paging lists of passengers...they literally gave them 2 minutes, if they didn't go to the desk they read out more names. I waited, and waited, and eventually heard mine....as a bmi silver I was somewhere in the pecking order!

A friend of mine did get an op up on SQ...one of the emergency slides was not operational and they had to offload 70 passengers! He got upgraded (as a Krisflyer Gold), others didn't fly that night!

BadgeIsBack

So despite all those books which tell you how to 'hit the ground running' and smile sweetly and wear 'airport clothes' (know what I mean) upgrading is really quite rare.

So you can imagine our delight when we got a small upgrade at Heathrow - ie. First Class lounge (which we eked out all morning) and Club class..it's who you know...me brother knows one of the terminal mgrs and she took us to one side. The boss said to me "Don't let on this is something we don't normally do" and I promised to seal my lips.

I blew it by opening my gob and saying "Wowwww..." as soon as we got throught the door..

and we will fly from Heathrow rarely..

bcworld

I think BA are one airline that does still upgrade a lot of their regular customers for no good reason. I've benefited from knowing someone who knows someone with them too!

The best my friend at Singapore could do for me was emex row seats! Although I did get a tour of the A380...that was pretty cool!

johnnye

Here's a Tip.

At check in, ask for an Aisle seat next to the window. Always works for me.

bcworld

Haha...I like it!

spalen

I have Qantas Platinum and had Singapore top tier whatever it was.

qantas fairly regularly - maybe 10 or 15% of time long haul - give you upgrades if they over book - its more common on Cathay code share to HK. On Domestic too I frequently get bumped up - probably one in 4 times. On Singapore only 1 time in 5yrs did I get bumped up and that was on a 50 (yes 50) minute flight from Singapore to malaysia.

Our company used to be business class everywhere , now for past 3yrs we have to sit in Coach and its *murder*. Long haul every week straight into work and straight back to home then back on the plane the following week when they are all 9hr+ flights is no_fun_at_all.

Petals

My brother asks when be books in and last time he went to Hawaii he got upgraded for $300 he thought it was a good deal. My friend who is a travel agent said it was a very good deal. So you can ask and if its cheap enough who knows.