Upgrades

[NoChanceToDance]

Am I correct in thinking Singapore never/very rarely give upgrades from Y to J? I have flown more times with SQ than I care to remember over the last couple of years, although never once been offered an upgrade.

Perhaps I got lucky with Emirates, during one year of flying between MEL and LHR/LGW with them I was twice presented with a J boarding pass (after purchasing a Y ticket) on the longer sector between DXB and MEL. Lucky? Or do Emirates offer upgrades for Y passengers on a more regular basis?

Perhaps a stupid question? But I'd like to hear other peoples' views/experiences.

[SQueeze]

Am I correct in thinking Singapore never/very rarely give upgrades from Y to J? I have flown more times with SQ than I care to remember over the last couple of years, although never once been offered an upgrade.

Perhaps I got lucky with Emirates, during one year of flying between MEL and LHR/LGW with them I was twice presented with a J boarding pass (after purchasing a Y ticket) on the longer sector between DXB and MEL. Lucky? Or do Emirates offer upgrades for Y passengers on a more regular basis?

Perhaps a stupid question? But I'd like to hear other peoples' views/experiences.

I have been upgraded about 7-8x on the following sectors over 5 years or so on overbooked flights to SGN, MAA, HYD and ATQ. These are generally Y-heavy sectors and J-light. Can forget about upgrading out of sectors like BOM where J is overbooked frequently and J-pax has to waitlist themselves.

[MEL-World]

In 15 years of happy SQ travel, the only times I have had a voluntary upgrade on SQ - usually from J to F - have been around Christmas when they are overbooked in Y so move some J to F and then some Y to J. This has maybe happened on 4 or 5 occasions. On the second last SQ 747 flight from MEL-SIN, there was a technical fault in the Y cabin so they moved as many possible people to F but offered us J catering. They could then move 12 people to J and only had to off-load around 100 Y pax!

So the short story.... do not expect or wait for an upgrade for free - they are like hen's teeth on SQ.

[NoChanceToDance]

Thanks for the responses, It's what I had guessed I suppose. Despite the less than likely voluntary upgrade, SIA is still the airline I will use when possible. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to acquire KF elite miles on VA flight to the US from MEL as it's too much hassle to fly MEL-SIN-NRT-LAX.

[638love]

Thanks for the responses, It's what I had guessed I suppose. Despite the less than likely voluntary upgrade, SIA is still the airline I will use when possible. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to acquire KF elite miles on VA flight to the US from MEL as it's too much hassle to fly MEL-SIN-NRT-LAX.

From what i know, the PPS members on the flights which are overbooked will usually get the first priority on the upgrades, so, status does help in such upgrades.