I am a Flying Club gold member and fly with work in Upper and use my miles to upgrade when travelling for pleasure. Due to the current economic situation I am being prudent with my miles and for my next trip on Jan 1st I am flying in PE to SFO and returning on Jan 8th. What are the chances of being upgraded to Upper either at the airport on when on the plane. Does my gold memebership help. Your opinions on my chances are welcomed.
I regularly fly to SFO in PE for the last 2 years while being a Gold member and never got upgraded, although colleagues of mine have been luckier than me.
Rarely would you be upgraded on the plane as the FSM has much limited power according to conversations I've had with FSMs and crew.
Apparently the Ground Crew make the decision, and my experience is that if you happen to be in the right place at the right time you may strike it lucky.
In 42 flights I only got 1 complimentary upgrade to Upper, and that was on an oversold PE flight to Boston. With the SFO flight it is my experience that Virgin Oversell Economy and sell upgrades into PE.
Mark