Upgrade policies? Flying BA from LHR to FCO on June 11th

Hi. My first time flying non-rev on BA....hope someone can help.

Flying from LHR to FCO on June 11th. If coach is full, and seats open in business, does BA normally give a non-BA standby traveler the business class seat? Obviously I'll be dressed properly...and 7 months pregnant as well!

Thanks again for your help.

Just a warning ... if you are over 28 weeks pregnant you may need a doctors letter to say the pregnancy has no complications
see ... http://www.britishairways.com/travel/healt...en_gb#pregnancy

Thanks Paul. I am almost 27 weeks so thanks for the tip.

Any idea on the upgrade policies?

Depends on the gate coordinator agent(s). My personal preference is that revenue pax should be upgraded always first if need arises for upgrading situation.

martink01 ....... That's not very staff friendly if it's something you personally have control over.
Fortunately in 24 years ofl flying interline if there are seats in a higher class, I have always been onloaded as such.
Can't recall a gate agent having the luxury of time nor inclination finding a suitable revenue Y class passenger to upgrade, then onloading the sub load.

Anyone else have any experiences ??????????????

I agree. Why make a big deal about upgrading a non-rev who is dressed appropriately when seats are available? Non-revs are typically boarded last anyway. Moreover, I'm reminded of how hotels frequently upgrade crews on layovers when they are booked near capacity. Hotel managers believe it is better to upgrade crew members than revenue guests so that revenue guests (especially those booked through discount websites) don't get unrealistic ideas of what to expect. The logic makes sense...you get what you pay for. Whatever is left, we get!

wow--I disagree about hotel upgrades, based on logic. Why would a hotel upgrade a crew member who will be guaranteed a room, reg or upgraded, as opposed to upgrading a loyal customer, who is paying far more for that room and will likely recall the upgrade when they book the next time, and maybe spend some more $ at that hotel?

I also disagree about seat upgrades, which has not necessarily made me popular here. Some airlines charge their employees more for business class--they can not, in good faith, upgrade OAL employees, to take the seat they do not offer to their employees w/out paying extra.
I have also amassed lots of miles which on my own airline, when I cash in, do not buy me an upgrade unless I spend extra--why would I expect the gate agent or flight crew upgrade an OAL employee to a business seat, when I am not entitled to that seat? AT least, a revenue pax with loyalty, would get a ahot at that seat instead of either of us??For example: I would not be entitled to a biz class seat on Northwest, nor would any OAL .
Discount online bookings are not particularly popular with hotels--in the upgrade realm, unless they are members of affinity programs, etc--Starwood, Marriott, etc. They seldom ever upgrade those customers because of their lack of loyalty--they want cheap $, they get cheap results.
My opinion...

I needed to digest all that !

For revenue passengers in North America, I would disagree.
They have been spoilt for years. I can't recall seeing as many people approach a gate agent asking for an upgrade as I have seen in North America.
Want to sit in C class - buy a c class ticket.

I have seen, on not one, but several occasions, passengers arrive from a ORD flight into a European city and approach another airline asking if they can pay for an upgrade to C class.
The response is, " sure, recalulate the fare and that's 2,000 Euros ... " WHAT?! " I just paid $500 and travelled c class "
' Yes, North American carriers are trying to generate instant cash and offer a fixed price upgrade, unfortunately, we recalculate the fare ".
Take away that cheap upgrade and see how quickly that passenger shows their loyalty if another carrier offers them the same - even if they have to jump through 3 connections !

The other point you make regarding travelling on your own airline is very valid and another angle to take into consideration.
I would imagine that many airlines charge based upon the class of service they wish to travel, or deducted from their payroll after the event, as is the case with us too.
However, if you had a Y class ticket on another carrier and they seated you in the C class cabin, would you angle, ' No, I paid for Y class and Y class it should be ' ?????

The hotel upgrade policy I disagree with.
Airlines are amongst their bread and butter for crew. Airlines have a daily allocation, spend good money at major chains - when they are experiencing their lean period, those crew rooms are still being occupied. So I say THAT's loyalty !

During the 9/11 period when the general public feared flying for a demonstrative period unless they needed to, airlines still required crew to operate the flights and the same airlines took the same number of rooms as they did on 9/10 !

All I can say is, if I were a gate Agent , regardless what fare you paid, if I had the opportunity to allow you C class travel, I would not hesitate - providing you were dressed accordingly and smiled ..... I would hope that upon your return you would tell your colleagues, who, if they were in a position to do the same for me, would.

I'm not implying that the expectation is to buy an interline ticket in Y and expect to travel C, if a C class facility is there, I pays my money for C ... but, at a gate situation, where only C class is left ..................

All good points. At CO we don't upgrade revenue pax to a business seat without payment ever. It decreases the value of business class. That is why we are asked to dress appropriately when we list in that cabin. So that we don't look any different than the revenue pax.