Different rules in Asia?

Or simply a fact of not knowing the rules?

I fly on ID-tickets a lot to SIN, sometimes via BKK, from Europe.

One thing I've noticed more and more during my trips there is that in Europe the airlines will put you in any seat that's still available on the plane. Ticket and check-in agents also tell you if economy is full but there are seats availble up front.

But in Asia upgrading ID-travellers doesn't seem to exist. If they don't have economy seats they won't let you on the flight...
And this has been on airlines like LH, OS, BA, QF, KL that normally when going the other way have no problems putting you in either business or first.

Anyone have similar experiences or know the resons for it being like this? http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emotic...n_confused.gif

This is good question. The culture of premium cabin seats for non-revs seems to vary widely around the world. I would like to also hear from everyone out there how your airlines handle this.

I know that many airlines only allow economy standby (F/C/J only if Y is full), some airlines allow you to pay extra to board up front, and some (like Delta) automatically start boarding nonrevs up front and only overflow into economy when F/C/J is full (and thats regardless of what fare your ticket is issued in).

As for Asia, I have not heard if the rules or the culture is different. What does everyone else know????

That Delta non-rev policy sounds really nice! http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Think I'll have to try them out next time I'm going across the pond!

I've also heard from a friend of mine who's gone to Miami a few times that Virgin Atlantic is quite generous with upgrading non-revs!

I hope some more people can share their knowledge how airlines in other parts of the world handle non-revs! http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

But going back to my original post...
Last week I was flying SIN-STO with my gf and first we tried LH out of SIN but after a long wait the check-in agent said there were no seats for us.
But on a hunch I called a friend in Sweden who can check LH reservations and he said the flight left with both C and F seats available.
Then we went to try OS and they say it doesn't look like we can get on the flight because it's full.
But after a long wait we got two seats in economy. Then as we board the plane we go through business and see that it's not even half full.

At least an airline could have the same policy for non-revs no matter what airport you fly out from...

There are several factors that I think come into play here:
a) In general you find that most carriers will upgrade their own staff into premium cabins if economy is full to accomodate other airlines staff but normally will not upgrade those other airlines staff.
b) There also the matter of dress code which may prevent carriers from upgrading. From what I have seen when travelling on our flights out of LHR the standard of dress that many ( not all ) US staff turn up to travel in is far more shall we say 'casual' that most of our own staff would consider appropriate in anything other than economy and so would not be upgraded.
c) in a similar vein I think that for most non-Asian carriers in Asia the check-in process is contracted out to agencies/other airlines and as such they have to justify to the contracting airline the additional cost to the airline carrying an upgraded staff passenger in a premium cabin, regardless of who they work for however the justification may be easier if the pax is one of the contracting airlines own staff.
d) as a general observation I think that filling from economy up rather than premium down is the norm with most carries and if you work for one of the exceptions consider yourself fortunate.

For reference over 20ish years I have been upgraded on AC to business both Internationally and domestically ( also on one occasion by CP with whom we had no agreement but took my ID 90 when AC took my bag but not me ). Never been upgraded on any US carrier even on ID50 firm tickets. Was not allowed on Air NZ out of HNL once although they had business seats left ( CO kindly uplifted us .. again at a time when we had no agreement with them. Was also one of 3 members of a airline sports team left behind in YVR when MY OWN airline refused to take us when RTB and they had 4 seats empty in First.

So basically its all a lottery .. just always take loads of back-ups!!!!

Thanks for the info Britski99!

Especially the stuff about non-asian airlines having agencies doing their check-ins seems to be what I've observed as well!

Dress code shouldn't be a problem for me since I wear business suit and tie most of the time when I'm non-reving!

Fortunately my own airline has now increased the frequency to SIN from 3 to 6 weekly flights so next time I go there I hope I can fly with them both ways! http://www.nonrev.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif