Is it possible to sit at a seat of higher class, for free, after boarding a flight?

score:18

Accepted answer

You are not permitted to sit in a different cabin from your ticketed cabin unless you are moved there by the cabin crew (say, there is a medical problem and extra seats are needed mid-flight— though you'd still probably get reseated in crew seats instead of in business class). "Self-upgraders" will be discovered very quickly and removed as a matter of policy on any airline.

Why not allow people to move to empty seats? One might as well ask why not allow people at the gate to fill empty seats in the economy cabin. The plane is leaving one way or the other, so those seats would be "wasted" too. But the airline must protect its revenue and minimize its costs. If it tolerated people moving up without paying, it would both disincent people from purchasing premium fares (whether revenue or award), and also incur costs that it would not otherwise have had to bear.

Seats on an airplane are priced according to how the airline believes it can make a profit, taking many factors into consideration. Premium cabin prices reflect the premium people (or rather more often, their employers) are willing to pay for a more comfortable flight and a more exclusive cabin, as well as the higher costs of operating:

  • There are fewer seats for the given space, so each seat must cost more to make the equivalent revenue
  • There is a higher grade of service in those cabins; for example, there is a higher ratio of flight attendants to passengers, and the flight attendants have more responsibilities (e.g. addressing passengers by name, distributing pajamas). Flight attendants are expensive.
  • The amenities in premium cabins are more expensive, not only to purchase but to prepare. In economy, your meal probably comes on trays that come straight out of the oven. In international first, you would expect your meal to be plated, which takes much more time and effort.

It is already the case that when the economy cabin is full, gate agents will upgrade people who are high status frequent flyers and/or on very high fare tickets, according to each airline's rules and procedures (operational upgrades). American, Delta, and United indeed offer "automatic" upgrades to their elite frequent flyers on domestic flights. But even in these cases, some seats may go out empty. For example, the airline may be unable to cater enough meals for a full premium cabin, and the airline would not want to risk upsetting a paying customer by failing to deliver the promised level of service.

Upvote:3

I and two family members traveling together were once upgraded from "last class" to first class (in a 747) flying from Seattle to London. This was 1989, so YMMV.

We arrived at the Seattle departure desk about 40 minutes before the cut-off time 45(?) minutes before departure, but had to join a long queue. At right about the cut-off time, we got to the desk. The agent told me the flight is full. I glanced at the clock and said "Well, we're here on time; what are you going to do about it?" She seemed none-too-pleased, but clacked away at the keyboard for a minute or two. I was extremely curious what she was doing, but uncharacteristically remained quiet. She then provided three new tickets (which was how boarding passes were done then), and said "I'm upgrading you to first class. Have a nice flight."

I had negotiated aggressively months before for excellent fares; likely we paid among the least of anyone on that flight, approximately $375 (round trip) per person for a late August two week trip when the going rate was $675–750. My mom was seated next to a highly opinionated London businessman. When they got to discussing ticket prices he asked for proof and then harangued a flight attendant mercilessly for charging him $3,500 for a one way ticket and being seated next to someone paying less than a tenth of what he did.

I expected that for the low fare we paid, we'd still get coach food service, but no: we got all the goodies (travel kit, complementary towel, etc.), food, and drink—like free c**ktails and wine—just like all the other first class passengers.

No such luck on the return flight, and it hasn't happened to me since even after traveling for more than four million miles.

Upvote:5

"Those empty seats feel wasteful." Ultimately, moving someone from economy to premium economy or to business once the plane is loaded doesn't change the number of empty seats, it only changes the location of the empty seats. The plane is still just as full as before and the airline's revenue is the same, so there is no real motivation for the airline to move you.

There are cases where someone maybe assigned a premium economy seat without paying for it, when the plane is full and the only remaining empty seats when they check in are in the premium section. But that is done by ground staff out of necessity, not out of kindness once the airplane is boarded.

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