How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often
do airlines let the first class tickets go for a coach price? Seems
it is better to fill a
seat with a paying customer than to let it sit empty.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

In stonej writes:

If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often do airlines let the first class tickets go for a
coach price? Seems it is better to fill a seat with a paying
customer than to let it sit empty.

Never. The coach section is (usually) oversold anyway; so they'll
upgrade some people out of coach (status FF members, full fare payers,
etc), and then put the overbooked coach buyers into the freed up coach
seats.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:00:57 +0000 (UTC), David Pirmann wrote:

In stonej writes:

If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often do airlines let the first class tickets go for a
coach price? Seems it is better to fill a seat with a paying
customer than to let it sit empty.

Never. The coach section is (usually) oversold anyway; so they'll
upgrade some people out of coach (status FF members, full fare payers,
etc), and then put the overbooked coach buyers into the freed up coach
seats.

We have been upgraded from economy to first class twice without
asking, the first time was from San Francisco to London via
Minneapolis, we had to change at MSP and there was an Air Traffic
Controller's strike about to start in London, in the hurry to get
the plane off to beat the deadline several coach passengers ended
up in First Class, we did get all the benefits that went with it.

The second time was from Rome to New York on TWA, the counter agent
in Rome had just been harrased by some pushy nuns, when she saw
our patient smiling faces she put us in first as a little bonus.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:07:51 -0700, Irwell wrote:


We have been upgraded from economy to first class twice without
asking, the first time was from San Francisco to London via
Minneapolis, we had to change at MSP and there was an Air Traffic
Controller's strike about to start in London, in the hurry to get
the plane off to beat the deadline several coach passengers ended
up in First Class, we did get all the benefits that went with it.

The second time was from Rome to New York on TWA, the counter agent
in Rome had just been harrased by some pushy nuns, when she saw
our patient smiling faces she put us in first as a little bonus.

But that wasn't buying the first class ticket at coach prices. I think
the original poster was looking for something guaranteed.

Air Tran has had the possibility of upgrading from coach by paying a
relatively small additional amount. We haven't flown Air Tran in a few
years since they started charging for each bag. The destinations we
would have booked are either served also by Southwest, which has two
free bags, or by Delta where we get one free bag with the credit card.

We also flew to Rome on United. We were booked in business and were
given the option of upgrading to first class for about $250.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

"stonej" wrote in message
...
If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often
do airlines let the first class tickets go for a coach price? Seems
it is better to fill a
seat with a paying customer than to let it sit empty.

I'm not sure about economy to first but some European airlines have been
known to offer things like "buy a round trip business class and we'll
upgrade you one way to first". What does happen is that in the last few
days before travel, if they don't believe they will sell the higher class
seats they will add the number of higher class seats to the economy
inventory. I've seen flights that had 5 seats available in every single
class and when I booked a seat in any class all the others went down to 4 (I
tried booking both economy and later business). On the assumption that the
flight then sells out what then happens is that, on the day, they upgrade
some passengers. Generally the passengers upgraded will have paid higher
fares, be premium members of the frequent flyer club - in other words there
is a commercial reason for doing so. But not always and the old saw about
upgrading men who look like they are on business doesn't always apply. I
turned up for a flight from the US back to London on a very cheap economy
ticket, carrying a medium sized backpack and wearing a 49ers jacket (over a
neat but not visible sport coat and shirt with slacks) and got upgraded.
Last year I was booked in premium economy outbound and business home and got
upgraded on the way out with an even bigger (camera) pack and no frequent
flyer status which I have a feeling was because I was booked business on the
way back.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

Awwww irwell nice smiling and patient...


"Irwell" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
...

On Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:00:57 +0000 (UTC), David Pirmann wrote:

In
stonej writes:

If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often do airlines let the first class tickets go for a
coach price? Seems it is better to fill a seat with a paying
customer than to let it sit empty.

Never. The coach section is (usually) oversold anyway; so they'll
upgrade some people out of coach (status FF members, full fare payers,
etc), and then put the overbooked coach buyers into the freed up coach
seats.

We have been upgraded from economy to first class twice without
asking, the first time was from San Francisco to London via
Minneapolis, we had to change at MSP and there was an Air Traffic
Controller's strike about to start in London, in the hurry to get
the plane off to beat the deadline several coach passengers ended
up in First Class, we did get all the benefits that went with it.

The second time was from Rome to New York on TWA, the counter agent
in Rome had just been harrased by some pushy nuns, when she saw
our patient smiling faces she put us in first as a little bonus.

How often do airlines let first class seats sell at coach prices?
 

On 3/18/2011 7:57 AM, stonej wrote:
If a flight is sold out on coach and only a few first class tickets
remain how often
do airlines let the first class tickets go for a coach price? Seems
it is better to fill a
seat with a paying customer than to let it sit empty.

They sell more coach seats and upgrade their preferred passengers to
first class.