I recently wrote about a free business class upgrade on Emirates…just for asking. Now I have another chapter to add to that story, this time on Lufthansa.
John and I were traveling from Milan Malpensa to Frankfurt last week. When we showed up to the airport, we received news that our 7:30p flight had been cancelled due to high winds in Frankfurt. I was booked in business class and John in economy class (using miles).
The 6:30p flight to Frankfurt was delayed till 7:30p. We asked to be placed on the delayed flight, but was told it was full. After 15 years of flying, I know how the game works and just asked the agent to keep refreshing the availability…I knew that with many missed connection in Frankfurt, other passengers would be rebooked on other routes.
Sure enough, it only took five minutes before both John and I had a confirmed seat on the flight. Both of us were placed in economy class. For such a short flight, I really did not care about the downgrade: I just wanted to get to Frankfurt.
The Upgrade
We encountered a further delay until 8:15p. At the gate, I noticed the duty manager was present and not busy. I approached him, mentioned I originally had a confirmed business class seat, and asked if any business class seats had opened on this flight.
He replied, “Ah, Mr. Klint. I’ve been looking for you. Yes, I have to move a couple passengers up to business and I have a new boarding pass for you.” He had already printed it and exchanged my economy class boarding pass for a business class one.
I thanked him, then said, “You mentioned that you have to upgrade another person. Would it be possible to upgrade my colleague, who is traveling with me on a separate ticket?”
The duty manager asked for John’s name, I provided it, and he proceeded to upgrade him to business class.
“It’s your lucky night,” he said. “It never hurts to ask.”
CONCLUSION
The flight was operated by Lufthansa CityLine using a CRJ-900. The 2-2 seating on that aircraft in business class is identical to economy class, except you get both seats. I’ll review this flight and the very crowded Lufthansa lounge in Milan next week.
Lesson learned once again: it never hurts to ask for an upgrade. Just don’t expect it.
As always, empathy and courtesy are sometimes rewarded. And as my grandmother taught me, the answer to the unasked question is always “no”, so it never hurts to ask.
Matthew, just curious, when you engage LH staff in Germany or in Europe in general do address them in English or German?
Onboard, I try to speak only in German. At MXP in this case, I spoke in English (though I later heard the duty manager speak perfect German…I should have known).
Rules of the internet learnt this week:
– All aviation blogs are run by the Germans
– All geography blogs are run by the Dutch
And as far as upgrades go, last year was my best one so far. I was flying from AMS to GYE (Guayaquil, Ecuador), and requested to be upgraded using miles or cash, however their iPads weren’t working, and the business cabin was mostly empty, so the purser just told me to pick a seat, that this time it was a gift from KLM. I do hold status with them so I don’t know how likely that situation would be for everyone.
My aviation blog is run by an American. 😉
Had the same experience with SAS from Stockholm to Beijing. Even the on the return flight I got a free business class upgrade.
Nothing new here.. happens all the time on LH. It’s probably the most professional and consistent airline flying.
However, the only way .. the only way you can be upgraded is based on status.. I assume the writer had status with a Star Alliance airline such as LH or United. LH has strict rules.. if a LH Senator card holder is on the passenger list they get upgraded first.. it’s all computerized, the upgrades are based on status. No way a regular no status passenger gets upgraded before the frequent flyer.
I was moved to exit row seat for free on Finnair (usually it costs extra if you reserve that seat) on Helsinki-Barcelona flight, it was nice to get extra legroom and even got “extra meal” for free because passagner who were suppose to sit next to me never came to plane so I had 3 seats all for my self
So a few years ago I was flying VCE-FRA-YYZ-home with my spouse, with the first two segments on LH, then connecting to AC. I had mid-level status on AC. We arrived in FRA and checked with the Senator lounge agent to see if something could be done about our seat assignment, as we had been put in the middle 2 of 4 seats way in the back. Was there an aisle seat available? We were told to check back in 15 minutes. When I went back, the agent apologized, but the flight was full and there was nothing to be done. So I thanked her for trying. “Air Canada should treat its FFs better,” she opined. Again I said thank you and went to wait for boarding. At boarding time we handed our passes to the gate agent, who scanned them and informed us we’d been upgraded to J! Nice! Needless to say we had a much more comfortable flight across the Atlantic than we had been anticipating.
Boarding the last flight home in YYZ, the AC gate agent looked a little puzzled when scanning our boarding passes. We’d been upgraded to J again! The GA didn’t understand why, but I knew instantly. It was the agent in the Senator lounge back in FRA.
So sometimes you get the upgrade even without asking.
I’ll never forget that Senator lounge agent.
I have been a Lufthansa Senator for some time and I have never been upgraded. I’ve been on plenty of flights where the business class was half empty, but they would still not upgrade me just for being a loyal customer. I travel a lot for business and have now switched most of my travel to a different airline who regularly upgrade me if seats are available. Before doing so, I checked with Lufthansa to confirm their policy. The Lufthansa policy is to not provide complimentary upgrades unless the class one booked is overbooked.
I am TK*G OZ*G and I fly regularly with LH (30 flights a year). I have never in my life got an upgrade from Lufthansa. Not even to premium economy in the long haul. I thought to become a Senator, but what´s the point to lose other status on airlines that they really upgrade you if Lufthansa will not upgrade me even being a Senator.