How common are free flight upgrades?
Are the days of trying to sweet-talk check-in staff to get a free upgrade to premium economy, business, or first class, long gone? Many airlines now sell spare upgrade capacity at the desk. So we want to see how common free upgrades are. Please answer the closest to your situation for flights IN THE PAST TWO YEARS.
Are the days of trying to sweet-talk check-in staff to get a free upgrade to premium economy, business, or first class, long gone? Many airlines now sell spare upgrade capacity at the desk. So we want to see how common free upgrades are.
Please answer the closest to your situation for flights IN THE PAST TWO YEARS.
Results
| I've not flown in the past two years |  |
304 votes (29%) |
| I've only flown on airlines with one flight class (eg, budget airlines) | |
632 votes (60%) |
| I always pay to upgrade/fly a higher class anyway | |
118 votes (11%) |
| I've never asked/tried to get one | |
3491 votes (62%) |
| I've asked a few times but to no avail | |
1767 votes (31%) |
| Not had one even though I have significant status with its frequent flyer scheme | |
403 votes (7%) |
| The flight was overbooked, I agreed to wait so got an upgrade | |
97 votes (8%) |
| They gave me an upgrade - no questions asked | |
742 votes (61%) |
| When I got to my seat it was broken/someone was in it, so I was upgraded | |
61 votes (5%) |
| I have a friend/family member who works for the airline | |
80 votes (7%) |
| I was on my honeymoon/getting married/celebrating | |
64 votes (5%) |
| I asked, or simply talked them into it | |
94 votes (8%) |
| It’s happened a few times in a number of the ways above | |
76 votes (6%) |
| The flight was overbooked, I agreed to wait so got an upgrade | |
37 votes (6%) |
| They gave me an upgrade - no questions asked | |
415 votes (68%) |
| When I got to my seat it was broken/someone was in it, so I was upgraded | |
16 votes (3%) |
| I have a friend/family member who works for the airline | |
22 votes (4%) |
| I was on my honeymoon/getting married/celebrating | |
12 votes (2%) |
| I asked, or simply talked them into it | |
26 votes (4%) |
| It’s happened a few times in a number of the ways above | |
85 votes (14%) |
8,542 votes received.
We try to use technology to limit voting to one per person. Occasionally, this may erroneously block a few people's votes (eg, from shared offices). Apologies for that.
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