There are all kinds of ways to score a first or business class seat, aside from outright paying for it (either with cash or miles). Often you can use miles or upgrade instruments to secure a premium seat, while in other situations airlines offer complimentary upgrades to elite members.
There’s one other type of upgrade I don’t often talk about, which is arguably the most enjoyable kind of upgrade to get. Specifically, I’m talking about operational upgrades (often referred to as “op-ups”). In this post, I’d like to explain what that is in a bit more detail, and talk about how you can get one of these.
In this post:
The basics of airline operational upgrades
As you may have guessed based on the name, an operational upgrade is when you’re upgraded on a flight for operational reasons. This would be in situations where there’s no one left on the upgrade list, yet the airline still needs to move people forward, to first or business class.
The most common reason for this is because airlines oversell flights. An airline may be willing to oversell economy by a significant number of seats, if the airline knows that there are a lot of empty first and business class seats on the plane. After all, the airline would rather have some revenue for a seat than no revenue.
This is especially common among the Gulf carriers, where some routes have very strong demand in economy, but weak demand in premium cabins. So it could be that an airline oversells economy by 50 seats. There’s usually going to be some number of passengers who don’t show up or misconnect, and then any remaining passengers could be moved up to first or business class, pending availability.
There are some other potential reasons you may see operational upgrades, including:
- Sometimes people need to be moved around for weight and balance reasons; this is pretty rare on large aircraft, though
- It could be that a seat is inoperable at the last minute and there are no remaining economy seats, so someone needs to be moved up so that the seat isn’t used
How to score an operational upgrade on a flight
While it’s nice to get an upgrade when you’re on the upgrade waitlist, it’s even nicer to get an operational upgrade, since it’s not something you’re usually expecting. The first thing to understand is that operational upgrades are generally only offered after everyone has been cleared off the upgrade list.
It’s very rare to see operational upgrades on domestic flights within the United States, since typically you have a lot of elite members on the space available upgrade list (the exception is American’s three cabin A321Ts, which fly premium transcontinental routes).
So, how do you score an operational upgrade? No, it’s probably not going to be because you dress nice, or because you utter the words “revenue management.”
Rather, most airlines have very clear procedures in place for operational upgrades. While the policy varies by airline, generally speaking:
- Operational upgrades are prioritized by elite status and/or the fare type booked
- Some airlines go purely by elite status, while others will upgrade a full fare non-elite economy passenger ahead of an elite member
- While it sometimes happen, you can generally expect that airlines avoid double upgrading people; in other words, if you already upgraded from economy to business class, you’d be unlikely to be near the top of the operational upgrade list for first class
- In rare cases, operational upgrades might not follow this process — it could be that the person who checks in last gets an upgrade (because everyone else has already been assigned a seat), or it could be that you’re just at the right place at the right time, but it’s not something you want to count on (so no, don’t follow the TikTok advice that the key to getting a free upgrade is to check-in last without an assigned seat, because you’ll most likely just end up in a middle seat at the back of the plane)
As far as the timing for operational upgrades goes, it all depends on the airline and exact situation. Most commonly, operational upgrades happen at the gate shortly before departure. However, they can in some cases also happen at check-in, depending on just how oversold the flight is.
Bottom line
There’s a real satisfaction to getting an operational upgrade, whereby your seat on a flight is upgraded for operational reasons. This is most common when the cabin you’re flying in is oversold, and the airline has empty seats in a premium cabin.
Never count on an operational upgrade, though if you have elite status and/or paid a high fare, and if economy is oversold but a premium cabin is empty with no one on the upgrade list, you probably have good odds of scoring one of these.
Have you ever gotten an operational upgrade? If so, what was your experience like?
LH SEN here. Fly a fair amount of J for work, and mostly coach privately within Europe. On popular routes (e.g. FRA-BCN) and especially around the holiday season(s), it has happened to me a quite a few times to get an operational upgrade to Business upon scanning my boarding pass to get on the plane.
Gates in FRA have some small printers incorporated and you'll see your boarding pass being initially denied and then...
LH SEN here. Fly a fair amount of J for work, and mostly coach privately within Europe. On popular routes (e.g. FRA-BCN) and especially around the holiday season(s), it has happened to me a quite a few times to get an operational upgrade to Business upon scanning my boarding pass to get on the plane.
Gates in FRA have some small printers incorporated and you'll see your boarding pass being initially denied and then hear the printer producing a small sheet with your new seat. Really delightful!
I've only once gotten an operational upgrade- I was flying from Detroit to Shanghai on Delta. It was a surprise when it happened and I was absolutely delighted.
I have had a double upgrade from PE to first class on British Airways LHR-DFW. Before checkin for my connecting flight to LHR I could see that LHR-DFW would be in business and when I was onboard at Heathrow while passengers were boarding, a flight attendant came over and said they'd like to move me to first class. I think this was because they wanted two adjacent business class seats for a couple and I...
I have had a double upgrade from PE to first class on British Airways LHR-DFW. Before checkin for my connecting flight to LHR I could see that LHR-DFW would be in business and when I was onboard at Heathrow while passengers were boarding, a flight attendant came over and said they'd like to move me to first class. I think this was because they wanted two adjacent business class seats for a couple and I was a single traveller with empty seat next to me (this was upstairs on a 747 which had 2+2 seating).
Something to look out for too are op downgrades! Yes, these can happen too.
Will happen with a little more notice, giving you the opportunity to bail.
Totally false!
They do happen sometimes. Usually due to a last minute aircraft change to someone who had previously been upgraded.
Got a few op-ups on Cathay back in 2015-2019 timeframe. Usually when I booked a positioning flight in Y to take to/from HKG. Was oneworld emerald at that time and was almost always coming from/going onto a long haul flight in J/F.
Very rare today. Occasionally will occur with an RJ flight for weight and balance where coach has only a small number of passengers, usually a very short flight. No one should ever count on an operational upgrade.
Back when AA required paid/sticker upgrades for PLT and GLD they'd happen time from time. Always was a nice surprise.
My op ups, all on AA and during the Christmas holidays. All were on the 3-class 777-200ER before they had first removed.
Economy to business: DFW-LHR
Business to first: CDG-DFW, BCN-MIA
I get op-ups frequently on Qatar Airways on certain routes I frequent. I mostly fly those routes during peak demand times, so Economy is typically oversold with Business Class barely sold on that route. I get those upgrades as a lowly AAdvantage Gold with Oneworld Ruby Status, always traveling alone when I got the op-ups.
They typically assign me the last available J seat, so a couple times, I have ended up next to government...
I get op-ups frequently on Qatar Airways on certain routes I frequent. I mostly fly those routes during peak demand times, so Economy is typically oversold with Business Class barely sold on that route. I get those upgrades as a lowly AAdvantage Gold with Oneworld Ruby Status, always traveling alone when I got the op-ups.
They typically assign me the last available J seat, so a couple times, I have ended up next to government ministers and ambassadors (presumably because the seat next to them was blocked until the last minute). The conversations on those flights were always very interesting.
About 20 years ago, I had an operational upgrade on United from business to first (back when intl first existed) on a flight from AMS back to the US. I made some sort of comment on the upgrade on an FT thread and when I did, I thought to myself "that kid that goes by the name Lucky will probably congratulate me." And he (well, you) did! Funny how I still remember that.
The problem is these often see a NASTY case of CORRUPTION whereby the airline staffers give FREE upgrades to their friends and family. This could very easily be considered a criminal matter through IATA.
Criminal ?? Hardly. Nothing to do with IATA nor is it fraud. Industry discount tickets also allow upgrades or are available in premium cabins. Employees of supermarkets also get concessions for instore purchases.
Wrong, wrong, mostly wrong, irrelevant, irrelevant. I've been in this business a long time, walked the walk, and talked the talk. I know what I am saying.
Sure you do Jessica! (LOL)
QUIET, GLENN.
You don’t “score” an OP UPG.
It just happens. It depends on your FFP and your elite status. Most importantly, if the elite status of the FFP = the airline that you are flying with that day.
Stop sensationalizing your articles.
An op up is not always such good news when flying inside Europe. The last thing I need on flights up to a couple of hours long is getting kicked out of my nice exit row aisle seat and put into 4A, losing half of the leg space, having somebody reclining into me and needing to disturb my seatmate to go to the toilet.
On the bright side, it looks like airlines have listened...
An op up is not always such good news when flying inside Europe. The last thing I need on flights up to a couple of hours long is getting kicked out of my nice exit row aisle seat and put into 4A, losing half of the leg space, having somebody reclining into me and needing to disturb my seatmate to go to the toilet.
On the bright side, it looks like airlines have listened to customer feedback and enhanced their seating allocation policies, making exit rows chargeable even for elite flyers during OLCI so that they can pocket the extra money then deny a refund because of the 'free upgrade'.
IN B4 someone says that pax can always refuse the op-up. If there's something I need even less than their silly 'upgrade', that's a flight delay caused by switching seats with someone who boarded twenty minutes ago when I was busy surveying the whisky collection in the lounge.
I was flying non rev in the 1980s on Aloha Air from Maui to HNL. We were a party of 4 and the main cabin was full but first class was empty. My mother asked if it would be possible to upgrade other passengers into first so we could be accommodated. Jedi mind tricks. They let us have first class .
StarWarz Fan?
I've had such luck before on ANA in the last year. I booked into premium economy with seat selection blocked out in the hopes that it was being oversold and they had to upgrade *someone* and that someone might be me, or I'd end up with a middle seat.
Had Gold and checked in last and sure enough they delivered their apology for sticking me in a window seat in C. They also called me...
I've had such luck before on ANA in the last year. I booked into premium economy with seat selection blocked out in the hopes that it was being oversold and they had to upgrade *someone* and that someone might be me, or I'd end up with a middle seat.
Had Gold and checked in last and sure enough they delivered their apology for sticking me in a window seat in C. They also called me while I was on the way to the airport to ask if I was actually going to turn up too...
No luck this year. PE seems to stop selling once allocation is exhausted on the flights I wanted.
I would add that being alone on your booking helps a ton. Op ops for couples/families is rare. But I agree that it’s a nice feeling to scan the boarding pass at the gate and get upgraded. Obviously this does not apply to award bookings.
So this post literally told us nothing that we already know. Lame.
Seems honestly a bit disingenuous to be titling a story "how do you score them" when there's really no way other than 1) be high status and 2) be high paying. As if there are quick steps that anyone can take any more to even try. Probably the more accurate title would be "Operational upgrades: rare, and probably going to the top customers".
But that isn’t click-baity enough!
Careful Aaron, the two hyphened words you used are likely to lead to a disciplinary black mark against your login …. just ask 1990, allegedly he knows all about the website nuances …. :-)
I've gotten plenty of operational upgrades on CX. From birthdays to overbooked flights. I've gotten upgrades from economy to business before the days of premium economy and even economy straight to business on flights with premium economy along with economy to premium economy upgrades. I worked my way up from a lowly Green all the way up to Diamond and earned status by flying economy with some regional business and premium economy thrown in.
We got our most memorable upgrade on BA, from San Diego to London on Christmas Day. We had purchased Premium Economy and they called us up to the gate and gave us Business class seats. Of course that then spoiled us for flying economy ever since!
I have had at least 5 upgrades in international segments. The first one was with Delta, I used to be a Skyteam member then flying Continental and Air France. It was from Paris to Delhi( yes, Delta used to fly that segment) and Delta had cancelled the previous days flight from Paris. I was upgraded to business class. After that twice with United, from EWR to Delhi(both times overbooked) once in SIA ( Singapore to...
I have had at least 5 upgrades in international segments. The first one was with Delta, I used to be a Skyteam member then flying Continental and Air France. It was from Paris to Delhi( yes, Delta used to fly that segment) and Delta had cancelled the previous days flight from Paris. I was upgraded to business class. After that twice with United, from EWR to Delhi(both times overbooked) once in SIA ( Singapore to Cok, again overbooked ) and few months ago in LH ( Munich to DEL). Almost always, it has been when the flight is overbooked and I think my United Gold status helped in the last 4.
I’ve gotten a few operational upgrades as well. The last time was earlier this year on an MEA flight from BEY to FRA. Was upgraded at check-in from economy to business class. But that was alsoninteresting because I noticed 3 or 4 people who were in the economy check in line were also upgraded to business class as well.
On Emirates I have had 5 'op-ups' on SYD-AKL (economy to business class) on Emirates out of the 6 legs I flew (3 round trips) in 2016/2017. FWIW I am Qantas Platinum and Emirate seem to treat QF the same as their own members when flying on Emirates on most flights around the region and to Europe. On one of the trips I was travelling with a good friend on the same booking and they...
On Emirates I have had 5 'op-ups' on SYD-AKL (economy to business class) on Emirates out of the 6 legs I flew (3 round trips) in 2016/2017. FWIW I am Qantas Platinum and Emirate seem to treat QF the same as their own members when flying on Emirates on most flights around the region and to Europe. On one of the trips I was travelling with a good friend on the same booking and they upgraded him as well. So sad those a380 flights over to NZ have disappeared, was such a nice way to hop across the 'ditch'!
Weirdly the only one I’ve gotten in the last 5 years was on AA. Was flying AUS-RDU around New Years 2023 with a family of four (and thus not eligible for upgrades with my Plat status) and must have been a very elite light but coach heavy flight. All four of us sent up to F on the E175