Sunday, October 5, 2008

The best method to obtain an upgrade

We flew Continental Airlines from New York to Amsterdam using a combination of payment and miles for the upgrade portion. I was at the top of the upgrade wait list. Then joyously, while walking out of the Presidents club, was able to see that my BusinessFirst seat had been confirmed. 'The gate agent was chatting with a passenger pal but I requested my boarding pass. She was about to print it when another agent interrupted to whisper that she wanted to give the upgrade to their friend. She then turned to inform me that there was no upgrade for me, so I respectfully produced proof of my confirmed upgrade, visible on my cell phone. Did not think that this could be disputed but she tried. A moment later I clicked on the refresh button and was astonished to see that the person that was previously behind me on the wait list had jumped over my name and was now positioned to get the seat that I had been allocated. I think that the supervisor was able to discover that her unethical preference for her friend was unmerited, because she unearthed my first class seat.
All was well and I was able to enjoy the scrumptious steak on board, prepared with direction from the Chef at Churrascos Restaurant. It is a restaurant I frequent in Houston.
I like happy endings…..so will leave it here for today but watch this space because I will elaborate on my growing suspicion that the best trick to obtaining an upgrade is to know the airline staff.

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