You’re not a really frequent flier. Or, maybe you’re a lower level elite — i.e.: basic Delta Medallion, United Mileage Plus Premier, Advantage Gold. But, you’ve been stockpiling your miles. The miles have come from a credit card, maybe from travel, and you’ve finally gotten enough miles to upgrade two tickets to Paris, and you’re booking more than nine months in advance.
The airline reservations agent or travel agent tells you there are only a few seats sold in business class, but that the upgrade will have to be waitlisted. But hey, almost 40 seats left, no problem.
Well, not exactly.
In fact, recently I had just that Paris situation for clients, who actually booked so far in advance a helpful reservations agent told me exactly two business class seats on the plane had been sold. And while United did open up some upgrade seats, they all went to higher status fliers.
Similarly, another client, a Premier level flier booked a midweek December flight from Washington-Dulles to San Francisco. In this case there were 34 business class seats on his 777 flight. Not a single seat was sold when he got on the waitlist this fall. And again, while others have been upgraded on the flight, including curiously enough, another client, who is a United 1k (100,000 miles a year) and who booked less than a month ago, my original client was stuck in coach.
What’s going on? Quite simply, United, along with other carriers, has set up a waitlist system that prioritizes first by mileage status, then fare type, with time of booking a distant third.
This means that a 1k, or the almighty Global Services members, can join a waitlist the day before, or even a few hours before a flight, and jump ahead of everyone else at a lower level on the list. (And this applies also for passengers standing by for different flights in coach.)
The system isn’t that new, but perhaps because so many people are using mileage credit cards, perhaps because flying coach has become such an unpleasant experience, or perhaps simply because of flight reductions due to the economy, premium seats are getting harder and harder to come by.
In addition, airlines are expanding their discount business class super-saver fares. Such fares can have up to a 50-day advance purchase and can be completely nonrefundable. In addition, while the fares aren’t cheap (in the $2,000 range or so domestically, and $3,000-$5,000 range to Europe) they are considerably lower than regular business class fares. And some seats that might have gone for mileage upgrades are clearly being sold this way.
In any case, where in the past I would cheerfully tell clients, it may take a while, but the waitlist will probably clear, now I regularly tell them, I just don’t know. On less popular routes, chances are better, but on transcontinental flights, I hear even from higher status fliers that they are ending up back in coach.
So what to do? If it’s critical to be in the front of the plane, and you are not a very high level frequent flier, it’s probably worth
considering alternate flights if available, even if they are not your first choice. Or consider nearby cities, for example, I have found upgrade seats to Brussels, for example, when Amsterdam was full.
In addition, travel agents may be able to help you find flights with larger premium cabins, and thus a better chance, and many agents know from experience which are the most likely, and unlikely routes. (Often it helps to avoid flights between hubs, as they usually have the most high status fliers.)
For the airlines that charge a fee to speak to an agent too, it’s often worth paying the fee if you can find someone competent. Such a person may well find you an option you couldn’t find on line.
Or, if you can, consider the discounted premium fares. Agents with good consolidator relationships can often find fares even lower than the discount published business prices. Although realistically they will still be considerably higher than coach.
One other advantage with the discount business fares, not only do you not have to spend miles, but most airlines give you a bonus for booking any business class tickets. So you will end up with more miles, which of course, you may or may not be able to use next time.
And if all else fails, find a flight where at least the economy class seating options are tolerable, and resign yourself to coach. You could be pleasantly surprised. But you don’t want to count on it.
photo by Alan Light/flickr.com/creative commons
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Interestingly, for the past four years I have been able to purchase upgrades at the gate almost every time I’ve wanted one – and one was Philly to Venice and then I did the very same thing coming back the next week from Rome! On these trans-Atlantic flights I paid about $300 and went from Coach to Business Class. Certianly far less than the cost of a Business Class ticket had I bought one in the first place. Of course, this won’t work for someone who absolutely MUST be up front. But I wonder whether this practice is in part, what is making upgrades more scarce? Could the carriers be holding some seats in hopes of selling them for cash? Any cash is better than nothing, I suppose.
It is better for people to collect points on a credit card if they are looking to use points to purchase seats in business or first. The points (VI and AX) are simply applied to the actual purchase and there’s no waiting list to deal with.
I’d echo dcta’s comments – find a credit card with a points system that allows you to directly apply points to card charges at some predetermined conversion rate, ala Diners Club. If you stockpile a bunch of points, you can then just buy one of those discounted business class tickets outright, and after applying points, you may well end up pretty close to the price you would have paid for a coach ticket plus the upgrade co-pay. The downside – I think all such cards charge an annual fee, so make sure you’ll be charging enough on the card to make the fee worthwhile.
I am 1K and always purchase a ticket that permits upgrading when I feel it’s essential.
Having flown from Hong Kong to Chicago in Coach, I won’t pay the upgrade fee UNLESS I can be booked in Business class when I reserve the seat.
My ticket cost more than three times the deep discounted promotional fare and (naturally) I wasn’t entitled to a financial rebate. Not only was I tired when I reached my destination, but I was cranky over the money I spent for nothing. Everyone is a 1K these days. The man in the seat next to me was Global Services and he was none too pleased with his seat assignment.
hey janice,
Alittle off topic, but you choose amazing pictures to accompany your articles. Wondering who’s Business/First Class section that is and if you could post an “explanation with the picture” for future articles.
thanks!
Thanks Frank, the picture is United’s new business class, which is mostly on their 747s Supposedly someday it will be on their international 777s.
Re the buying with points suggestions others have made. Good idea, but with these fares in 4000-5000 range usually it can take a lot of points. Curiously enough, a lot of the best business class specials are around the holidays, because business travelers are either staying home or going on personal trips where the company won’t pay for the front cabin
At least United has a waitlist. For USAir, its call back repeatedly and hope :)
Actually the picture is from a 767. All of the 767 and 747 planes have been converted to the new seats (save for a lone 747 that mostly is flying military charters). 777s will be converted starting in February.
Purchased upgrades are the lowest priority and seats are NOT saved for them. Seats are “saved” in hopes that people will buy full-fare business class tickets. Purchasing upgrades for $500-1200 at the last minute are only available when seats are otherwise open. Mileage upgrades get prioritized over purchased upgrades.
I’ve flown a lot on United the past six weeks and have gotten upgraded on every sector that I’ve wanted to which included an LHR-ORD (the seats were the same in the picture above) and four trans continentals.
I am a 1K and some of the upgrades were confirmed ahead of time (one JFK-LAX and one SFO-JFK) but the others cleared at departure.
Am I just lucky or does the 1K status pull that much weight?
1k pulls a lot of weight. It means you are above everyone but Global Services, and one reason people get to Global Services is that they book a lot of expensive tickets, so many of them are in business trying to upgrade to first. I am a 1k myself and have had pretty good luck, but I can tell you that executive premiers often complain to me they never get upgraded anymore, and regular premiers say it almost never happens. Again, as a 1k you leapfrog an executive premier who has been on the waitlist for months.