Cheap Flight Tips

When I travel I have tried getting a free upgrade on many occasions and succeeded about 40-50% of the time.  OK, this is not 100% success rate but personally I consider this quite strong and here are some of the techniques I used to get those upgrades.

When you fly alone the chance of being upgraded against a group flying is much increased as upgrading one person is much easier.  Additionally they sometimes will upgrade you just to allow more people on the plane and sell on your economy seat.

Be a frequent flyer, well at least member

Be a member of a frequent flyer program as frequent flyers of the airline tend to be the first to be upgraded starting with the top tier members to lower members.  However during the holiday season you will find the majority of those on the plane do not even hold a frequent flyer card so the chance is you will be on the list to get an upgrade.

Ask, yes this does work!

It goes without saying if you do not ask, you do not get!

By asking when you check-in to see if there is a chance of an upgrade does work sometimes but remember to be polite and honest.  The check-in employees deserves respect and as long as you show them respect and behave better than the rest of the passengers then you stand a chance of them doing a favour for you.  You may wish to pose a question during check-in such as asking if there are any seats in business class, and asking if there are any upgrades available.  They may try and sell you a seat , but who knows.