- No more free upgrades.
- Airlines are getting smarter about pricing their premium cabins.
- You can pay for an upgrade, use miles, or purchase a seat with extra legroom.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, and no matter what the internet may say, free airline upgrades basically don’t exist anymore either.
You can’t “invade” the nose of the plane by wearing a collared shirt or flirting with a flight attendant, you won’t get a fully flat bed even if you politely ask at the gate, and no one is going to offer you a bottle of Dom Pérignon as a pre-flight drink because they think your check-in time is strategic.
“That’s just not going to happen,” Brett Snyder, author of the blog Cranky Flier and owner of the travel agency Cranky Concierge, told me.
Part of the problem is that planes are becoming more full than they used to be, and airlines are getting smarter about how they price seats.
“First-class fares used to be so expensive that people weren’t going to buy them. Instead, there were tons of elite upgrades, and various people sitting there didn’t pay for them, they got them as a perk,” Snyder said. “At some point, airlines realized they could get people to actually pay for these seats if they priced it as a fare upsell. Now there are significantly fewer upgradeable seats available because people are buying them.”
As someone who has paid cash for upgrades many times, I can vouch for this: If the price is right and I’m feeling generous with myself at the check-in counter, then I’ll happily pay the extra money to get a more comfortable seat, especially on a long flight.
The opposite is also true. I once took an overnight flight from New York to Paris and was willing to pay a few hundred dollars to upgrade to a lie-flat seat at the gate if the option was available. The airline quoted me about $1,000 for the upgrade, and the seat ended up being used for free by a passenger who worked for the airline. In terms of the airline’s revenue and my own comfort, it was mispriced.
“If they have too much room to upgrade travelers (for free) at the gate, that’s probably a missed opportunity for them,” Snyder said.
So how do you upgrade? There’s no hack, but my advice is:
pay
“The best way to get a premium seat is to pay for it. It’s not difficult, it’s basic,” Sunainder told me. “At the end of the day, that’s what it all comes down to. The majority of seats and the majority of people who sit in the forward cabin pay the fee. That’s the surest way to ensure you get a seat.”
While many people are willing and able to pay for luxury, it’s unreasonable to expect an upgrade. Airlines are also now more generous with their pricing for premium cabins. While business travel has yet to fully return to pre-pandemic levels, there is strong and steady demand in the premium leisure sector, and airlines are noticing. They are pricing in a way that entices people to buy luxury items while traveling solo, even if the company isn’t covering the cost.
Sure, you could always buy a premium ticket when you first book your flight and pay at the beginning of your booking, but you should also keep your eye out for cash upgrade offers until just before you depart – you never know what the airline revenue management gods have to offer.
Pay (but in different ways)
“But Zach, I’m an ultra-elite frequent flyer, so I always get free upgrades,” I can hear you say.
To which I say, “No, that’s not true.”
You may not have to pay for upgrades at the gate out of your own pocket, but that doesn’t mean you don’t pay for them at all: To earn frequent flyer status, you’ll either have to spend a lot of money with the airline or spend even more on a co-branded credit card, which probably has a high annual fee.
Cruising altitude:If you’re such a traveler, you don’t need to worry about airline loyalty programs.
Either way, you’ll end up paying for that upgrade, even if not directly.
Frequent flyers usually have a lot of loyalty points, and while you still have to pay to earn them, those points or miles can help you secure upgrades.
“Even if you don’t have status, you can still get an upgrade using miles,” Snyder says. In addition to cash upgrades, airlines often allow you to use miles to upgrade to premium cabins.
Pay (but only a small amount)
If you decide upgrading to business class is too much hassle or too much of a financial burden, that’s okay – there are other options.
“You can always pay for extra legroom seats, but depending on the airline, it can be a very subtle upsell,” Snyder said.
It usually doesn’t cost much to upgrade from a regular economy seat to an extra-legroom economy seat, and if you’re only concerned about a little more knee room, this is a good option.
Have Hope
“Don’t expect to game the system and find a magic loophole — it’s not going to happen, so think about what you’re comfortable with and make those arrangements before you get to the airport,” Snyder says. “If you’re booking something you absolutely can’t stand — like if you’re 7 feet tall and you’re booking economy class on Spirit Airlines — don’t do that.”
If you’re determined not to pay more than the minimum economy fare, you’ll just have to hope that the seat next to you is free.
Zach Wichter is a New York-based travel writer for USA TODAY. He can be reached at zwichter@usatoday.com.
