Paying to upgrade class at check-in.

[vtgts300kw]

Flying to Bangkok on Tuesday. Will they be insulted if I try to "negotiate" with them? What's a fair price to offer? Full price upgrade for 2 would likely be around £3,000 above the tickets I've already purchased.

[touching cloth]

Who are you flying with, a lot of airlines are doing this now anyway, with the "at checkin" price usually a lot less than paying in advance to guarantee a particular cabin. They will have a tariff to work from, on the whole the checkin staff do not themselves have a huge amount of say in what they can charge.

[vtgts300kw]

touching cloth said:

Who are you flying with, a lot of airlines are doing this now anyway, with the "at checkin" price usually a lot less than paying in advance to guarantee a particular cabin. They will have a tariff to work from, on the whole the checkin staff do not themselves have a huge amount of say in what they can charge.

Thai Airways. Any idea of the " typical " discount the checking price offers?

[nocarjames]

not much help sorry, but I recently flew thai air from ko samui to bangkok and while it was only a short flight I was rather impressed with economy - provided with a meal and drink on a 55min flight.

etihad economy from heathrow to bangkok via abu dabi on the other hand was horrific - took them 3 1/2 hours before we were served a drink or food, along with 5 couples with young babies screaming away, I almost lost my temper.

if you have amex platinum you will get access to the thai airways lounge and might help with your upgrade.

[touching cloth]

vtgts300kw said:

touching cloth said:

Who are you flying with, a lot of airlines are doing this now anyway, with the "at checkin" price usually a lot less than paying in advance to guarantee a particular cabin. They will have a tariff to work from, on the whole the checkin staff do not themselves have a huge amount of say in what they can charge.

Thai Airways. Any idea of the " typical " discount the checking price offers?

Hmmn, no idea with Thai am afraid but if they follow the concept of the others who do it I'd imagine less than half the normal price difference. Gotta be worth an ask, end of the day you are offering them money not asking for a comp upgrade.

[cjs]

BA offered me Economy to Club for $500 when I flew back from LA.

[havoc]

Two comments (in general, not Thai Airways specifically):-
- If you're part of their frequent-flyer club you'll stand a better chance than if you're just a casual customer.
- If they've still got quite a few seats left you'll stand a better chance...only a few and they'll probably be priced quite steeply.

Helps if you turn up early too...

[Steve@oms]

We took this flight to Bangkok about 4 weeks ago and it was £750 each to upgrade from economy to business. We didn't do it and it's not worth it IMO because Thai seats are quite spacious and service pretty good in economy anyway.

Upgrade to first might be worth it but not sure on cost.

[vtgts300kw]

Steve@oms said:

We took this flight to Bangkok about 4 weeks ago and it was £750 each to upgrade from economy to business. We didn't do it and it's not worth it IMO because Thai seats are quite spacious and service pretty good in economy anyway.

Upgrade to first might be worth it but not sure on cost.

I'm going AKL - BGK so basically the same flight time. And your right, economy is great, but my back ruined my last flight which is why I asked the question. £750 is where I imagined it would be, worth it I think at that price.