Questions and Answers

Do flight attendants know if you’re a revenue passenger or if you redeemed through miles? I am flying Cathay Pacific on business class for the first time soon, so I was wondering if there would be a different treatment to those booking awards using miles. Would flight attendants have a list of names with corresponding booking fares/if booked through awards?

Regardless of how you obtained a ticket, all passengers in the same travel class should be treated equally.

I’d say a traveler is more likely to be treated better (recognition, orders taken first, etc) if they’re an elite member of that particular airline, or at least an elite member of the alliance the airline is in.

They know your elite status and also whether you are flying on an award ticket or an upgrade. I’ve flown with no status and top status in all classes of service, as well as premium cabin revenue tickets, awards and upgrades and have never felt like my treatment was any different given the situation.

Per Lucky it can depend on the airline: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/06/do-flight-attendants-know-if-you-redeemed-miles-for-your-seat/[/URL]

Just returned from eight biz/first flights and experienced this issue twice. First, Qantas bumped me out of biz to eco on a flight booked several months ago, selected my seat, confirmed, etc. They bumped me on site at the airport. The reason I got was that the flight was full and so since I was traveling on BA Executive points and not Q FF points I could be bumped. I chose the “Lucky recommended” strategy of calm diplomacy but still no change at the gate, was down in cattle class. Second, on JAL, they have an additional queue for boarding for elite members, so even first and biz board after (and, as evidenced on board, their FF elites received much better service).

For being downgraded, you should at least call BA and be refunded the different in Avios. However, I think they should have offered to rebook you onto another flight in biz, if you’re able to delay your travel.

Airlines do sometimes treat their elites better, but this isnt providing poor service because youre on an award ticket. If you were an elite JAL member on an award ticket, you would have been entitled to the elite boarding lane as well as the better service.