Work smarter, not harder.
Most people pine for a business class upgrade their entire lives and never get one. But while the rest of us (fruitlessly) debate the right clothes to wear to get an upgrade and stare jealously at the souls at the pointy end, another savvy, in-the-know group is swooping in and scoring astonishingly cheap deals left right and centre.
It’s not just standard ‘bidding for upgrades’ either (Escape understands that one Virgin Australia customer has been upgraded no less than 60 times just by bidding for an upgrade). No. One Aussie traveller says there is actually a better – and cheaper – way to get your mitts on that illustrious, silver striped ticket.
That technique? We’ll let that traveller, who goes by the name of Steph G, take it from here. “I have cracked the code to getting upgraded to business class,” Steph told her followers on TikTok.
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“Let me explain how. This strategy applies to domestic flights with Rex. When you book a flight you usually get sent an opportunity to bid for an upgrade. This is where you can put a bid of $100 or $50. Don’t do this. Wait until you get to the airport and get there early and go up to the desk and ask: ‘how is business going?'”
“They’ll usually say there’s one seat or two seats available; you can bid if you want.”
“Because it’s so close to the flight, usually all the people who’ve already bidded [online] will be outbidded or [will have] already got their seats. But because you’re checking in and the flight is about an hour away, whatever bid you place is likely to get accepted.”
“I placed a $20 bid and an hour later I had gotten the flight.”
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Commenters were duly impressed, tagging their friends (and suggesting they try it) and making remarks like: “Doing this Sunday.” Not everyone thought it was worth it, however, with one TikTok user sarcastically writing: “wow, business class for a 1 hour flight.”
Whatever you think of stumping up for business class on a domestic flight, you’ve got to admit, when it comes to upgrades, fortune favours the brave…