I have been traveling all over the world lately (spending more than half of my time away from home). Since we are still a cost conscious start up, I travel coach most of the time, even for very long flights (Boonty shareholders, take note !).
I am flying Air France most of the time and I have noticed that I am upgraded to business about half the time. At one point I thought I knew how to be upgraded : book a 777 or a 330/340 since I have noticed that about half of those planes are business seats. On the other hand a 747 has very little room for business so upgrades are more difficult. I was also recently upgraded when I strained my ankle and I called my amex insurance, they took care of everything.
So how do they upgrade you ? is it just based on your frequent flying card ? Do you need to be nice to the desk person in charge of check-in ? Do they even upgrade you from time to time so that you are hooked to it (like drug dealers giving away free stuff) ? Do you need to be late at the check in (it happened to me once) ?
if you travel a lot, be sure to check this site : Seatguru.com, lots of useful information for frequent travelers.
I was upgraded again from Beijing, and so was the girl seating next to me. She had no "Flying blue card" and paid the minimum fee for the coach ticket, this is puzzling...
Posted by: mathieu | September 11, 2006 at 04:03 AM
Okay, am trying your advice regarding the 777s the 330/340s in an upcoming trip (my travel agent confirms your finding, something like 30 business class seats vs. 30), but what to do when flying over continental US? I can only strain so many ankles. broken arm, maybe?
Posted by: Colette Ballou Lamotte | September 06, 2006 at 03:01 AM