The following is a true story – before mid-March 2020 of course when we all used to love travelling! One day we will all be able to hit the skies again for a dream holiday.
One of my lifelong obsessions is to score a free business or first class upgrade on a longhaul flight. So off I went to the airport on a recent trip to Toronto and did all of the right things:
Dress appropriately ✓
Everyone is a decision-maker ✓
Ask nicely (and ask everyone) ✓
Get there early ✓
Have a decent frequent flyer status ✓
You can pay for an upgrade to business class or use points, but that would miss the mark and I still think I would be obsessed with the free upgrade concept. Either way I didn’t have enough points, so I would have had to buy points ($2,500) for a business class upgrade from Brisbane to LAX. On a 12 hour flight that works out to $200 per hour, so clearly couldn’t justify that!
Going through the check-in process and seeing the staff at different points along the way there didn’t seem to be even one point where it was going to happen. There are many articles written about getting upgrades, that everyone is a decision-maker, but it seemed a bit like the opposite. The only time an upgrade may have been handed out was possibly at the gate if your name is announced. (BTW Didn’t happen either).
So Cattle Class it was, and fortunately I was lucky to have a spare seat next to me, enabling me to slumber in a half-lying position with my head against the window whilst able to encroach uninhibited into the middle seat. If only I could stop that pillow from slipping down between the window and my seat!
A (requested) long layover in LAX and the huge Oneworld Lounge helped to ease the upgrade letdown, prior to my onward journey across continental USA and Canada.
Lets try again on the way home!
The way home – Dallas to Brisbane (via Los Angeles)
A similar experience on the way home, with it seemingly a hopeless case for an upgrade, yet I tried my best by doing all of the right things…again! So, I basically gave up hope.
It has to be said that the transition through LAX on the way out of the USA is incredible easy compared to when you enter the USA at that port. So, my love-hate relationship with LAX, which has developed over the last 23 years is in positive territory right now!
Okay, so now for the happy ending….
No, I wasn’t upgraded to either Business or even Premium Economy between Los Angeles and Brisbane. But I did have a lie flat bed! So how is that possible you ask???
Once again, I had a spare seat next to me, but as it turned out there was an entire spare row behind us. As luck would have it the last few people to board the plane did not sit in either row, so me and my fellow row-mate each took a row and I was left with 3 seats to myself. So yes, a lie-flat seat, Woo-hoo! Even though I couldn’t fully stretch out, I finally had a lie-flat seat on a long haul flight.
My obsession fulfilled? Well, not quite, but thanks to a bit of luck and possibly the Corona virus effect, I experienced my most comfortable long-haul flight.
So, until my next overseas adventure I am going to take this experience and be satisfied that sometimes things just work out – I didn’t pay for the upgrade and I am glad I didn’t.
Footnote – If I had paid for premium economy upgrade I couldn’t have laid across the seats as they have a solid armrest. Those poor people in Premium Economy!
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