Why you won’t ever get a free upgrade on a flight – here’s the cheapest way to experience first class
GETTING a free upgrade to first class is one of the best things that can happen to any passenger in economy.
Many experts claim to reveal how to easily do this – but it seems that it is unlikely to ever happen.
One way it might be thought to get a free upgrade is if first class is left empty during a particularly quiet flight.
However, this isn’t the case – last year, a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv was forced to turn around after passengers in economy tried to sleep in business class when the seats were empty.
Despite them being empty – and it being a long-haul, overnight flight – crew said they hadn’t paid for them, and the plane had to return to land after two hours after they refused to move back.
According to Traveller: “Airlines do not upgrade economy passengers just because there happen to be empty seats in business or first.”
Laura Reynolds, a flight attendant with Virgin Atlantic, agreed that this didn’t work, telling the Daily Mail: “You’ll do a night flight and you’ll have say 15 people in upper class in bed, and then you’ll get up for breakfast and you’re like ‘whoa, we’ve got 17 now’.
“So two have managed to get in and sleep all night with no one noticing. You have to ask them to kindly return to their seat.”
Elaine Graham, a former British Airways flight attendant, said: “That’s happened to all of us.
“I even had someone who didn’t wait for the middle of the night and just plonked themselves up there and hoped no one would notice.”
The only way to get that upgrade? By asking for it while checking in.
Traveller said: “You can sometimes buy an upgrade at the check-in counter.
“It’s probably going to cost less than the difference between the economy seat you paid for and a business-class seat but there are no sweet bargain-basement deals here.”
A British Airways flight attendant backed this up, previously saying: “Your best bet is to ask at the desk when you’re checking in.”
If the plane is empty, then you can still get a first-class experience in economy.
Flight crew won’t mind if you move seats so you can make the most of an entirely empty row.
This way you can lie down and make a bed without having to pay for it.
Many frequent travellers have shared their tips over the years about how to get a free upgrade, from what to wear to what to say.
However, the most common way to get an upgrade requires you to be a frequent flyer with the airline – and it is rarely for free.
One man claimed he managed to sneak into business class in the middle of the night to get a full night’s sleep – although not everyone believed him.
And in 2018, a first class passenger was booted out of a plane for trying to share his fancy drinks with some mates sitting in economy.