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 wanted 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 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 you can score an operational upgrade
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 commonly 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?
Talked my way into one a few years back on Delta. Nothing special, just a 717 from ECP to ATL where coach was obviously sold out/had a huge standby list. Zero people were on the upgrade list and many F seats were still open. I approached the gate agent nicely and said "hey, looks like you could use a few more seats in coach. I'll gladly 'take one for the team' and move into F...
Talked my way into one a few years back on Delta. Nothing special, just a 717 from ECP to ATL where coach was obviously sold out/had a huge standby list. Zero people were on the upgrade list and many F seats were still open. I approached the gate agent nicely and said "hey, looks like you could use a few more seats in coach. I'll gladly 'take one for the team' and move into F if you need someone to do that". She smiled, and 30 seconds later handed me an upgraded boarding pass.
Sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask!
Years ago when I was AA PLT I used to get Operational Upgrades on a somewhat consistent basis. But with upgrades no longer requiring stickers for AA PLT and GLD and monetizing the premium cabin the Operational Upgrade is nearly dead. Similar to other US domestic airlines.
Wife and I traveled YUL-LGA-YUL March 1 and March 4, with basic economy tickets. We were upgraded both ways. We are *gold on TK.
Wife and son were upgraded last July from IST to CGK. That was a nice one!
I estimate I am upgraded about 10% of the time when flying economy in North America.
Never had an op-up during OLCI or at physical check-in.
Just once, I was called forward pre-boarding, but all other times it was during boarding itself.
It happened to me on YPE-NRT-YVR itinerary as as operational upgrade to business from NRT on JL, probably 8-9 years ago. I presume it was a classic case of a cattle class being oversold, as I have received my business class boarding card in Taipei already.
The funny thing is I was flying back home having stayed over Lunar New Year in Taiwan. Some virus got better of me right after the celebrations. It...
It happened to me on YPE-NRT-YVR itinerary as as operational upgrade to business from NRT on JL, probably 8-9 years ago. I presume it was a classic case of a cattle class being oversold, as I have received my business class boarding card in Taipei already.
The funny thing is I was flying back home having stayed over Lunar New Year in Taiwan. Some virus got better of me right after the celebrations. It forced me to be bedridden and drained me of all the energy. I started feeling slightly better on the actual departure day. That upgrade was a real godsend! The problem was I could not drink, being still relatively unwell. I managed just one glass of champagne. However, I still remember the most delicious beef tongue in a sauce was included in the Japanese set menu I've picked. The recliner seat (akin to regional AC in Asia) on 767 wasn't great, though...
I arrived at the check in gate and I was given an upgrade from Y to J. The agent was very surprised to see me because I arrived very late for check in. I remembered her saying that the flight will depart in 30 minutes. She can give me this seat if I can quickly get to the gate and she made sure that I only had a carry on.
I arrived late because...
I arrived at the check in gate and I was given an upgrade from Y to J. The agent was very surprised to see me because I arrived very late for check in. I remembered her saying that the flight will depart in 30 minutes. She can give me this seat if I can quickly get to the gate and she made sure that I only had a carry on.
I arrived late because of heavy traffic even though I left hours before the flight so the traffic in Seoul can get quite bad. This was from ICN to NRT on JAL. It was such a nice and pleasant surprise. The cabin manager was so nice because she said that she will offer me a business class meal if there were any extras and I sure did get to enjoy the Japanese option for business class meal.
I agree that most op-ups occur at the gate. The only time it happened at check-in for me was flying Cathay Pacific from HKG-NRT nonstop. I arrived at the airport early and the check-in agent offered me to fly HKG-TPE-NRT instead in business class since my nonstop flight was overbooked in Y. Of course I took it!
Happened to me over Christmas! I am a lowly United Premier Silver and booked a one-way from SFO to KIX using miles. Paid $300 to upgrade to Premium Plus, which was oversold, and was upgraded along with my companion who has no status to Polaris. Was so surprised!
If it generally has to do with status but many people have the same status then they probably need to look deeper at other details.
I get op-ups all the time on Qatar Airways on specific routes. I fly to Pakistan often from the U.S., and their Islamabad route has a lot of Economy Class demand but very little premium demand. As a result, the flights is often oversold, even outside of peak holiday periods (where it is almost guaranteed for me to get an op-up). I have gotten these upgrades as a Oneworld Emerald, Sapphire, and even a Ruby...
I get op-ups all the time on Qatar Airways on specific routes. I fly to Pakistan often from the U.S., and their Islamabad route has a lot of Economy Class demand but very little premium demand. As a result, the flights is often oversold, even outside of peak holiday periods (where it is almost guaranteed for me to get an op-up). I have gotten these upgrades as a Oneworld Emerald, Sapphire, and even a Ruby (all through AA)! My two most recent ones were with OW Ruby status!
The best odds for this are to be a solo traveler with Oneworld status. Nowadays I always try to fly QR when flying to Pakistan over the holidays, just for the chance at an upgrade lol.
This happened to me about 10 years ago. I was flying LHR-IAD. I was in paid business class (for work) and extended my trip for a few days and flew back with my partner who was booked in Economy on my miles. I was 1K at the time and this was back when companions booked on your miles inherited your United status for the trip. I didn't know this at the time, but the LHR-IAD...
This happened to me about 10 years ago. I was flying LHR-IAD. I was in paid business class (for work) and extended my trip for a few days and flew back with my partner who was booked in Economy on my miles. I was 1K at the time and this was back when companions booked on your miles inherited your United status for the trip. I didn't know this at the time, but the LHR-IAD flight earlier in the day had cancelled, so they had to accommodate as many of those passengers as possible onto my flight.
When my partner and I scanned our boarding passes, we got the "beep" and received new boarding passes. I was initially upset because I went from having a window seat to an aisle until I realized my seat was in First class. My partner also went from having a window to an aisle and moved from Economy to Business class. United was still flying its 2-4-2 business class cabins, so first class was a significant improvement. And, of course, business class is always a significant improvement over economy regardless of the cabin. It was a great surprise that I still think back fondly on.
Saddest thing is when you get the upgrade and then there’s something wrong with the aircraft so they have to switch to a smaller one and you lose the upgrade. Was gonna be my first time in an angle flat seat about 16 years ago. At least didn’t get bumped from the flight I suppose
Cathay always upgraded me on my anniversary month joining MarcoPolo (23years w them) The sweetest such upgrade was from Eco to First, pre-covid.
What are those upgrades called? Loyalty upgrade?
P2 and I were flying on a LATAM on LIM-Cusco and had booked using a local rate which we technically didn’t qualify for since we were backpacking in college. We were worried about it the entire time only for us to get called up to the gate as boarding was ending and receive an upgrade to J. It was a short 30 minute puddle jump but enough time for some Johnie Walker Black and ultimately...
P2 and I were flying on a LATAM on LIM-Cusco and had booked using a local rate which we technically didn’t qualify for since we were backpacking in college. We were worried about it the entire time only for us to get called up to the gate as boarding was ending and receive an upgrade to J. It was a short 30 minute puddle jump but enough time for some Johnie Walker Black and ultimately got us hooked on premium travel. 7 years later and countless F/J trips together, I still fondly look back at this flight and trip together.
There is no "local" rate. There are different fares for point of sale in Peru but anyone is allowed to purchase it.
Several years ago the wife and I walked up to the gate to board BA economy flight LHR to LAX. Handed over our paper boarding passes and the person at the desk ripped them in half. We were both shocked and then she smiled and said: “Don’t worry, there are 60 school kids in your part of economy section and we need your seats. You’ve been upgraded to Business Class. Have a nice flight”. We both skipped down the jetway and had a lovely 11 hours in J.
Yeah this happened to our family LHR to EWR some years ago at Christmas. We checked in at Heathrow and the agent told us rather flatly that they had to change our seats and printed new BPs. I was about to complain since I'd chosen us primo seats in Y but another employee watching on mouthed "don't say anything!" to me. Upgraded to J. Great flight and a nice surprise for the holidays.
My op-ups, all on AA 777-200ER back in the day when AA had F and J on their 777-200ER.
1) Y to J, DFW-LHR on December 25, 2013
2) Y to J to F, CDG-DFW on January 1, 2015. Booked Y, used miles+copay to upgrade to J. Then at the gate got op-up to F.
3) J to F, BCN-MIA on January 1, 2016.
Common link: flying on the holidays where not much business travel but lots of leisure travel.
A few years back I was lucky on a LH service from MIA to FRA. When I scanned the boarding pass at the departure gate and got a paper slip saying "New seat assignment". I usually hate things like this as I select my seats consciously and like the LH business class on the upper deck of the 747. However, the new seat was 2A - which on that plane was First. Sometimes it pays off to be a loyal customer as lifetime LH*Gold (Senator) and HON Circle member (not back then).
We got an op-up on DL from SYD-LAX once. ATC radar was out in Cairns the day before, so the airport was closed and all the DL pax missed the daily flight so needed to be accommodated on our flight. We both were Platinum Medallion at that time and got the bump to J at check-in. Spectacular score!!!
I got an OpUp on QR from Economy to QSuites. I think Economy was oversold. I had OneWorld Emerald status that might have helped.
I got one on DL a few weeks ago. Full Y, full PS, not full Delta One. I was in Comfort+ from ATL-DUB, I got upgraded at the gate, nicest surprise ever
I bet Delta op-ups by fare class and not status. In law school, my roommate was DL Silver Medallion, yet got a transpacific op-up. Or maybe he was 6'5" and the gate agent took pity?
Dang, there goes my plan to utter the words "revenue management" X-D
Years ago my then-home airport of Seattle was hammered by a rare snowstorm. I had flights with Virgin America to BOS, and it was increasingly clear I wasn't going to make my connection, or at all that day. I was polite and understanding with the gate agents through several inquiries with them. Amazingly, while it was hours behind schedule (and the flight to BOS had been moved to the next day), my flight was one...
Years ago my then-home airport of Seattle was hammered by a rare snowstorm. I had flights with Virgin America to BOS, and it was increasingly clear I wasn't going to make my connection, or at all that day. I was polite and understanding with the gate agents through several inquiries with them. Amazingly, while it was hours behind schedule (and the flight to BOS had been moved to the next day), my flight was one of the only ones to depart Seattle that night.
When I checked with the gate agent to verify my seat assignments they smiled. "I'm sorry but we did have to move your seats due to other passengers being added from the earlier cancelled flight. I hope your new seats are okay. Thank you for your patience." And handed be boarding passes in biz all the way to BOS.
A couple years ago, we had a last minute trip from Europe to Australia just before Christmas, as my Mom went very sick. Flew with Emirates in Business and paid a high fare. On our way back, there was a storm during the night before in Dubai which disruptet their flight plans and they had to rebook a lot of passengers. So upon boarding my boarding pass was denied (my wife had already cleared) and...
A couple years ago, we had a last minute trip from Europe to Australia just before Christmas, as my Mom went very sick. Flew with Emirates in Business and paid a high fare. On our way back, there was a storm during the night before in Dubai which disruptet their flight plans and they had to rebook a lot of passengers. So upon boarding my boarding pass was denied (my wife had already cleared) and they called her back. The agent did not say a word while he was typing in his computer. After a couple of minutes, we were both upgraded to First in the A380 from Dubai to Frankfurt.
hopefully your mom is okay.
did you book j to australia because it was all that was available or you normally fly J?
on your return were you booked in J as well or were you in economy?
Hi Derek
thx for asking, but my Mom passed away a couple of weeks after our visit (cancer is a SOB).
We booked J both ways because Y was very expensive as well, as a lot of Aussies travel home for Xmas. The only cheap option was from Frankfurt to Moscow then onwards to China and down to Australia with overnight layovers at each stop. As time to arrive in Australia was crucial,...
Hi Derek
thx for asking, but my Mom passed away a couple of weeks after our visit (cancer is a SOB).
We booked J both ways because Y was very expensive as well, as a lot of Aussies travel home for Xmas. The only cheap option was from Frankfurt to Moscow then onwards to China and down to Australia with overnight layovers at each stop. As time to arrive in Australia was crucial, we took the J-Fare (Mom paid way more for rising us kids, I guess). And of course about the comfort, as it was all the way on the A380 and not the awful EK 777-angled beds. So it was a no-brainer in the end.