ladygwennie

Yeah, one of the times i did get upgraded, was on BA too, quite suprising, was partly because im a member of the executive club, but also i was dressed pretty smart, but i vowed to never do the heels again on a flight, first class or not. Drove me nutz!

jamjar

Only flown with Continental once (Newark to Gatwick) but the flight attendants were easily the grumpiest and most unhelpful I've ever come across and the ground crew were just plain rude. My parents on the other hand flew with them, got upgraded to first class, and couldn't say enough good things about them.

Englishmum

As the previous poster mentioned, it goes generally on the category of your frequent flyer status. I've been lucky when I've travelled with my husband, he has a BA Executive Gold Card so if they have space I have been upgraded and I can go into the BA lounge with him. He is occasionally upgraded to First but they don't do it very often....he's lucky in that I have a friend who works for BA and if she has spotted him at check in he's been upgraded....but he would never ask her and neither would I.

Also never travel in jeans or Jesus sandals/scruffy footwear if you're hoping for an upgrade LOL! Or look like a chav...

My best ever treat was when I was flying with American Airlines in the Summer of 2001. I was in the departure lounge at Newark (post security) and just prior to boarding it was apparent that the flight was overbooked. An announcement came over the tannoy for volunteers to take a later flight from JFK and get $500 compensation in vouchers. There were already loads of people milling about at the ticket desk so I thought there would be no chance of being voluntarily bumped. Five minutes later they again asked for volunteers (I guess the people at the desk were anxious not to be bumped as a fair few were flying on to other European destinations) and the compensation had gone up to $1000! I legged it to the desk and found that they needed 12 people to be taken off the flight.....I was one of the lucky ones and got re-booked to the flight leaving from JFK a couple of hours later. We had to wait for our cases to be taken off the plane and were put in a couple of those stretch limos to transport us to the other airport.

It got better.....when I got there for some reason I was somehow given a Business Class seat...I wasn't complaining LOL! The timing was great for me as it meant that getting into Heathrow a bit later the next morning (9am rather than 7am) gave me more leeway for returning the rental car I was picking up and I didn't have to hang around in Oxford as my daughter was still at boarding school and finishing her term at lunchtime.

It got better....on the return flight to the US my daughter was travelling back with me....and for some reason we were both upgraded to Business. I didn't even have a frequent flyer # with American Airlines! That $1000 voucher gave me two trips back to the UK.

Sadly the max most airlines give as compensation to get voluntarily bumped has gone down...generally on international flights it's now $500, but usually they initially offer $300 in vouchers.

BigDavyG

Ah well, cattle class again for muggins

Elvira

Well, you can always live in hope! My son and I got upgraded to United Business Class last Christmas - and we were both wearing jeans!

Moreover, my son at the time was sporting the most revolting hairstyle...

Bob

For the upgrade, blag it and say you have a brother/sister working for the airline...helps if your smart, had a couple upgrades to business class flying around the EU doing that, but then my sister does work for BA...have to say, staff discount tickets are utterly crap compared to some other airlines, Virgin where the best a few years ago at least...and definately one of the airlines to use if flying to the far east, good service and cheaper than Singapore or Japan airlines...other ones to try are quantas and alitalia, though it really depends on the route as to how good the flight really is...

Shahlax

I flew JFK to Heathrow on thanksgiving and only got miles for the return portion. Apparantly it was a discount ticket (bought on expedia) so I get half miles. Never had that problem on BA flights.

Elvira

That sounds weird. I use Expedia all the time and have always received full credit for air miles...

cindyabs

I always book my clients seats in advance and it's interesting that normally my corporate clients are the only ones who ever notice or comment on their seats. I don't know if the rest of the folks just trust that I will do it for them or don't care, or don't think about it.
Anyway, I am able to assign exit row seats in advance on Delta but not the other airlines since they usually only assign those at the airport, same for bulkhead seats which indeed are usually saved for those traveling with little ones. However, on most of the US airlines, they have the "preferred seats" saved for those folks who are frequent fliers of a certain status. IF those seats don't get claimed, THEN they are released at the airport.

cindyabs

We flew Lufthansa Business Class to England this summer on a travel agent ticket. We are supposed to dress spiffy (no sandals!!) etc. It was interesting to see that the guy sitting two rows behind me had some sort of pj/karate outfit on that looked like he had slept in it for a week, as well as just looking scruffy otherwise.

Englishmum

Yes but he probably wasn't upgraded and had a paid-for ticket in Business Class LOL!

A couple of gorgeous Dutch guys approached me at EWR last week and were looking a tad 'scruffy' even though they had obviously flown business class....one of them was a musician (I didn't recognise him) and I guess the other guy was his manager; he asked me if I could arrange for a private helicopter to take them directly to Manhatten (!). They had to make do with a limo instead.....you don't have to be poor to look unkempt LOL!

I've heard that Joan Collins and Liz Hurley have been very rude indeed to BA staff....Liz Hurley's boyfriend had paid for a WT + ticket and she caused a huge scene at Heathrow as she demanded that he be upgraded so he could sit up front with her.

Russ&Jayne

Most of the people I see flying first class are either scruffy in jeans or smartish casual. The business people are usually the ones wearing jeans and the smartish casual ones are housewives flying on their husbands miles or retired couples.

mrcusa

Reply Received this morning from Virgin:


Dear Mr Coles

Thank you for your e-mail dated 8th December 2005.

The advice you were given concerning a Miles Plus Money ticket being non
changeable/non transferable was correct and you would have to purchase a
new ticket. I apologise for a Virgin representative stating you had not
contacted us, as you point out in your e-mail you did on the 3rd November.

In regard to your comment about a ticket being used out of sequence please
find below the entry in the Customer Relations section of our Virgin
Atlantic website:-

3.3 Coupon sequence and use

3.3.1 The Ticket you have purchased is valid only for the transportation
shown on the Ticket from the place of departure via any Agreed Stopping
Places to the final destination. The fare you have paid is based upon our
Tariff and is for the transportation as shown on the Ticket. It forms an
essential part of our contract with you. The Ticket will not be honoured
and will lose its validity if all the Coupons are not used in the sequence
provided in the Ticket

Whilst we very much regret the inconvenience and disappointment that was
caused we must abide by our conditions of carriage which explain our right
to refuse carriage.

In view of the above I must advise that I am not able to meet your claim
for the cost of the new ticket you had to purchase, however, as a gesture
of goodwill I have credited your flying club account with 10,000 miles.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to explain and apologise. I do
hope you have not been discouraged from travelling with us again and that
future flights are enjoyable and trouble free in every respect.

Yours sincerely

<snip>
Customer Relations Executive

mrcusa

My Reply:

Dear <snip>

Thank you for your email and explanation.

Could you please address the points that I made in my previous correspondence which have not been covered in your reply.

As you now know, I contacted Virgin on 3rd November 2005 about my ticket. The representative that I spoke to suggested I purchase a single ticket as opposed to a ticket. At no point in the conversation did she suggest or state that my ticket would not be valid if I did not use the outbound portion. I followed her advice.

In your reply, you have made me aware of the Rules and Regulations which are contained within a section of your website entitled "Customer Relations".

I have looked at the section to which you have directed me and I see in addition to the sub paragraph 3.3.1, there is a sub paragraph 3.3.6 which states:

3.3.6 Please be advised that in the event you do not show up for any flight without advising us one (1) day in advance of departure of the flight, we may decide to cancel your return or onward reservations. However, if you do advise us in advance, we will not cancel your subsequent flight reservations.

Not only did I notify you one month in advance, my wife confirmed this to your check in staff at Orlando. You will recall that I mentioned that her baggage check is affixed to my ticket, leaving no doubt that your check in staff had my ticket in their possession.

I would also like to reiterate, that at no time whatsoever did any representative of Virgin make any comment or representation which would have lead us to believe that Virgin would cancel my return flight or may decide to cancel my return flight. When I called Virgin on 3rd November, all notations necessary should have been made to my reservation, or, I should have been notified that the ticket would be cancelled.

This should be the end of the matter, as this paragraph is completely clear and there is no argument about me contacting Virgin in a timely manner. I would therefore expect a refund to my credit card without further ado.

If however, for any reason you do not concur, in addition to a response to these points, would you also be kind enough to provide a cost breakdown of the ticket that I was forced to buy at Gatwick.

In particular, would you please advise me the total cost, type of ticket, basis of ticket pricing, and any credit given for my other ticket. The ticket receipt that was emailed to me showed a total cost of $492.00, that is four hundred and ninety two US dollars.

Would you also please inform me of the number of air miles that this ticket would normally earn?

I am unable to find any link from the ticket confirmation to the "Customer Relations" section on your website. Could you please confirm?

Lastly, could you please inform me of the company details of the vendor of tickets from your website for US Citizens, in other words, when tickets are purchased online, is one purchasing from Virgin in Crawley UK or from Virgin USA? Where is the Court Jurisdiction in case of legal remedy? Would you also provide details of the location of the Virgin company with whom I had discussions about this ticket on 3rd November, and who answered the Silver Flying Club USA telephone number.

I apologize for the length and detail of this email and my request for additional information, but I feel that charging me $492 cannot be justified in any way if I was a first time Virgin flyer, much less based on your Virgin Silver Club membership, and I will not rest until this charge is refunded.

During my conversation with your ticketing staff at Gatwick and our first telephone conversation, mention was made of IATA regulations. In particular your ticketing staff spoke to my wife and I as though we should be conversant with IATA regulations. I have visited their website expecting to see these rules published for the general public. This is not the case. It appears to be more like a trade organization and is certainly not a source of information.

I look forward to hearing from you in the hope that our association as customer and supplier may be repaired.

Best regards

Martin Coles

BigDavyG

Nice paragraph. The implicit threat of legal action is a touch of class.
If you know anyone who can do it for free a replica letter from a sollicitor/lawyer should startle them into action. This should also include an additional claim to cover any expenses you've accumulated whilst trying to recoup the disputed amount.

Keep up the good work, and good luck