How To Upgrade Your Flight in 2025

Are you tired of cramped seats and lacklustre service? Or dreading that overnight flight in Economy? All is not lost! In this comprehensive guide on how to Upgrade your flight in 2025 – I’ll show you how to transform your journey from a potential nightmare into an unforgettable experience with some of the world’s top airlines.

Imagine this: instead of wrestling for an armrest, you’re reclining in a spacious seat that converts into a fully flat bed, sipping champagne, and savouring gourmet meals, all while enjoying impeccable service. Sounds like a dream? Let’s turn it into a reality!

How To Upgrade Your Flight in 2025?

So, is there a magic trick to scoring that coveted flatbed seat in Business or First Class? The short answer: yes and no. Here’s the hard truth:

Forget the Myths – Flirting with ground staff or flashing a charming smile and dressing sharp won’t land you a free upgrade. That’s an outdated fantasy. Airlines today are laser-focused on maximizing revenue.

Upgrades are rarely handed out for free unless operational needs demand it, such as an oversold Economy cabin.

Status/Loyalty Means Less Than You May Think

Aiming for a shiny Gold or Platinum status card? – sorry you be break it to you – loyalty means little these days. I should know, I’ve held top status with all 3 major airline alliances over many years.

Loyalty programs are evolving to diminishing returns or going through drastic over-hauls to reduce status members like BA. While perks like lounge access and priority boarding are great, upgrades are increasingly reserved for those who pay or bid for them.

Airlines such as American and United offer complimentary upgrades for certain level of status – this is generally a fast disappearing perk – and often apply for domestic flights.

However, should the airline need to upgrade customers for operational reasons -likely either oversold Economy or aircraft switch – status is a data point they may decide to look at.

In my 15+ years of flying as an adult, this happened to me a grand total of 3 times. Yes, 3 out of over a 1000 flights that I have taken! These upgrades were all short-haul, where I am most likely to be in Economy in the first place. However, I have gained valuable insights into the process flying long-haul Premium Economy ( intentionally content with for specific flights )

Never have I been upgraded from Business to First Class, but I did manage to pay for upgrades to international First Class for reasonable upcharges. See below on how you may do so to.

How to Upgrade on British Airways

There are a number of ways to be upgraded with BA, if you cannot book the cabin you want for cash outright.

Book & Upgrade Tool

If you have enough Avios – the best way to do this all in one go is to use their “Book & Upgrade” tool. You need to be logged into your BA Club account to do this.

Here you book and pay for the standard price of the lower cabin ( i.e Economy/Premium ) and then immediately upgrade to next cabin up, to Business or First ). You will be charged the difference of Avios points between the two cabins. Upgrading via this method especially from Premium to Club World can represent an excellent way to way use your points.

Other other method, as you may see from the screenshot of my account is too use an “Upgrade Voucher” – this works by enabling you to book and pay with Avios for a Premium Economy seat and immediately upgrade yourself to Club World.

In both the above scenarios, there needs to be reward seat availability for your route and dates.

If it is not possible to do this at time of booking – it may still be possible later when a seat opens up. This can either show up in the App, or you may have to proactively call BA to upgrade when you know there is Avios availability.

Cash Offers

British Airways can send cash offers – though this has never happened to me. You can also possibly upgrade with cash at the airport. If available, there would be a fixed price offer.

How To Upgrade With Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic offers several routes to upgrading your seat. Whilst there is no direct book and upgrade tool available on the website like BA, you can do so on the phone with a new booking – i.e book Economy/Premium in cash and then use Virgin points to upgrade your ticket straight way..

Upgrade With Points

Virgin allows you to upgrade with points at any time – either via the chat feature when you are logged into Manage My Booking or calling.

The only caveat now, is there is no longer any fixed points structure since Virgin moved to a dynamic reward pricing. So the Virgin Points required will change with demand.

There are tools like SeatSpy/FlightRewardFinder as well as Virgin’s own Reward Seat Finder that can help you determine how many points will be required for your route and date. As well as needing award availability, you will have to pay any tax/surcharge differences.

You may also face some oddities with the dynamic system pricing your Premium seat higher than an Upper Class seat ! In this case – Virgin states it would use the maximum “Reward saver” rate for the cabin you are upgrading from.

Upgrade With Reward Voucher

Like British Airways – you can also earn Virgin Reward vouchers which can either be used as a “Companion Voucher” – which allows you to book a second seat for free or half the cost (depending on your Virgin status ) or a “Upgrade Voucher” – which allows you to upgrade your ticket one cabin class up for free.

These vouchers are either earned through spend on a Virgin Atlantic branded credit card or through achieving Flying Club Gold status.

The process is identical to upgrading with points process above – except this time, you do not have to pay any additional points under your Reward Voucher threshold 

Bid For An Upgrade

Virgin has partnered with PlusGrade, to enable customer to bid for an upgrade with their direct bidding page, simply enter your PNR and name and it should allow you to put in a bid. Usually there are minimum amounts set, depending on what your current ticket is.

Pay for Instant Upgrade Online or At Airport ( if available )

Last but not least – there is one more way upgrade, which can either work out quite expensive or a steal depending on your luck !

Virgin now allows you to simply select a seat in a higher cabin in Manage Your Booking. This will essentially should you what the instant upgrade price would be.

Alternatively – is is possible to still upgrade at the airport ticketing desk or check-in. If the flight is undersold in the cabin you want to upgrade to or oversold in the cabin you want to upgrade from, you may very well be in luck with a very generous offer of upgrade.

Because the alternative is the airline will be forced to upgrade someone for free otherwise. The best upgrade price data point? Premium to Upper Class for £300 on red-eye Barbados to London route !

So whilst this may be THE CHEAPEST possible way to UPGRADE – the chances are not very high.

So if the upgraded seat is very important to you – upgrade in advance via the other methods available. Otherwise, be prepared that this is a big gamble.

How to Upgrade on Emirates

There are a couple of main ways to upgrade on your next Emirates flight. Emirates even allows you to upgrade all the way to their luxurious First Class product.

Upgrade With Miles

You can upgrade with miles if your Emirates flights are upgradable – Emirates shows which fares are upgradable and what the standard points at point of booking.

These can then me upgraded immediately after booking your ticket. You would need to have the miles available on your account.

If the flight is not upgradable at that point in time – you can wait and see if one opens up. You can either routinely check this on the app or set an alert. Emirates even lets you opt-in to “Auto-upgrade” as soon as a upgradable seat becomes available. Again you would need to ensure you have miles in your account for that or it would fail!

Pro tip: The points required to upgrade can fluctuate from time to time and may or may not present a great value when compared to an outright redemption to that cabin. So bear this in mind.

Cash Offers

If available – Emirates shows you cash upgrade offers in the app or sometimes emails you a certain number of day’s ahead of your trip.

Unlike the bidding system, you have no control of the pricing point.  If you get a good price at this point – my advice would be to take it! There is no guarantee it will get any cheaper or even be available at all later on! I’ve experienced this first hand, where flight/cabin was fully booked with 10 days to go!

Pro tip: Emirates cash offer apply to all segments of your journey so from JFK-DXB-BKK, you cannot just upgrade just one sector such as JFK-DXB with these cash offers. In this situation you will need to ask at airport – or after landing in Dubai via transfer desk.

Promotional Upgrades

Finally, Emirates also has a method which can be the most lucrative but also the least chance of success… 72 hours before your flight – Emirates can offer promotional upgrade rates on select flight and routes.

Naturally, the conditions that dictate the offer price will vary depending on the route, seasons, and how well other cabins have sold.

Another aspect of promotional upgrades is you are no longer bound by the upgrade one class only rule. You could very well get a offer to upgrade from Economy straight to Business or Premium Economy to First Class !

Just how low can upgrade prices go you ask? Well some data points I’ve collected directly as well as from others I know:

£550-750 offer to upgrade from Economy to Business Class on Dubai to London/Manchester route.

£625 offer to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business Class on Singapore-London – yes for both sectors !

These are all fantastic offers- but remember, there is no guarantee, especially for London routes in peak travel periods where Emirates is almost always full in their Premium cabin classes!

Upgrade At Airport

Emirates check-in or ticketing desks at the airport can process upgrades – but here is another tip – airport upgrade prices are almost certainly going to be higher than advanced promotional upgrades and most likely higher than any earlier cash offers on the app.

Example data point: $1800 USD to upgrade Singapore to Dubai from Premium Economy to Business ! That is the same flight that earlier had an offer of £625 for upgrade all the way to London! Ouch!

How to Upgrade on Etihad

Etihad offers numerous ways to upgrade you flight – including a bidding platform that can fluctuate like the wind !

Upgrade with Guest Miles

Unsurprisingly, this is the easiest approach. Etihad even has a handy miles calculator to help you determine how many miles you need ( yes, it’s fixed per route, unlike Emirates ).

However, note you will probably get the best bang for your buck ( well in this case miles ) if upgrading from Business to First or from a higher class Economy to Business. Below you can see the options on their flagship Abu Dhabi – London route..

If you’ve booked the cheapest Etihad Economy fare, you may be out of luck.

Bid for Upgrade

Etihad also allows you do bid for an upgrade to move up a class. After booking, you can go visit the dedicated Bid for Upgrade page to enter your booking and place your bid.

Etihad will have minimum bid – which would vary for each route and demand at the time. I have seen this minimum bid amount increase closer to a flight !They also have a nice visual chart that indicates how strong your bid level is. The colour level changes from dark Red ( weak bid ) to dark green ( strong bid ).

I’ve very recently had success with this method upgrading from Business to the Etihad A380 First Class Apartment.

Instant Airport Upgrade

If the other routes did not bear fruit – you may have one last chance at the airport.

How to Upgrade on United

You can upgrade your United flight in two main ways, with a third possible avenue that may not be worth it.

Upgrade direct with Cash or miles: App is King

Your best bet is to simply go on the App, find you booking and see what upgrade prices are. By default you will see the upgrade price for the next cabin up, so from Economy to Premium etc

But United does not restrict these cash upgrade – you can simply book Economy ( note basic economy tickets are excluded ) go to manage my booking or select your seat and simply select a seat in Polaris cabin – the price will be shown there and then.

Alongside cash upgrades – you can off course upgrade with your United miles. There are two options here: MileagePlus Travel Award – where you upgrade your Economy to a better seat in same cabin or Request a MileagePlus Upgrade Award – these are for upgrades from Economy to a premium cabin ( cabin change )

Request a Star Alliance Upgrade Award

This is not for United metal – however if you’ve booked a Star Alliance flight with other carriers you can request an upgrade with your United miles. There are specific fare bucket conditions for upgrade and this excludes most Singapore Airlines long haul flights.

United Complimentary Premier Upgrades (CPUs)

United status holders from Silver Premier to United 1K are eligible for space available upgrades. With highest status holders receiving highest priority.

There are most likely to happen on domestic flights but can be possible on long international flights too. United App even shows how many people are eligible for this upgrades – and crucially who is ahead of you !

Last Minute Airport Offers

United does make upgrade offers at the airport. Depending on your route and availability – it can be very enticing

Data points I have are: $899 for 15 hour flights to Sydney, $449 to select Europe routes to $199 for Domestic First Class on a 4 hour flight !

Again, it’s wise to remember these are not typical offers by any stretch of the imagine – I’ve seen upgrade offer from London-Houston for $2900 for example

How To Upgrade on Air France

Air France can show upgrade offers on your booking page. These are fixed offers and can often be rather high in advance. These offers can also appear at online check-in time for better prices.

You can use your Flying Blue miles to upgrade one cabin up – if there is availability.

Air France also allows last minute cash or mile upgrade at the airport. Again sometimes these can be lucrative – such a 600-800 Euros to upgrade one-way from France to the States. or even 1500 Euro to upgrade from Business to their spectacular First Class ! 

Delta SkyMiles

Since they are SkyTeam partners – if you have Delta SkyMiles you can use them to upgrade your Air France ticket. However, there are some restrictions with booking classes as well as being available only for USA-France trips.

How To Upgrade with American

American may offer you cash upgrade offers during booking, during online check-in or at the airport last minute.

Complimentary upgrades Within North America

American is only just few amongst the big airlines to offer complimentary upgrades to AAdvantage status holders. These again, are only space available. What is great is they even will upgrade 1 companion if on the same booking too!

How To Upgrade On Turkish Airlines

Turkish allows you to use your Miles&Smiles account to book with points at any point after booking either online or via the phone.

Elite Plus Complimentary Business Upgrade

Turkish unique among carriers that offers its high tier status members complimentary upgrades with no restrictions to long haul international routes. These upgrades are limited to 2 per year and can be used for family members also. As with almost every other case – there needs to be availability.

Tips To Increase Your Upgrade Success

If you get a good offer, take it! The chances are the airline is offering this to enough people who would take it – and then last minute

Consider What An Upgrade Is Worth To You

What is X/Y/Z upgrade worth? Or should I upgrade for $$$ amount, is one of the most frequently asked questions I see – whether that is in various Avgeek forums or directly on my Instagram DM.

Some like to put rough figures out there, say anything under $100 an hour – and use that as a guide.

My answer had always been what is it worth to you? But in a recent conversion something came up that really twists that on its head.

If an upgrade price was say 800 USD, ask yourself, if you were already in the flat bed Business seat you wanted, and someone offered to pay you 800 USD to downgrade to Economy – would you do it?

This will answer if you should pull the upgrade trigger or not.

How to Maximise Your Chance Via Bids

For best chance of success with bidding for airlines that have this system, I would say, bid for something like 11% above the minimum – especially if you are in a popular route.

Let me explain why – these bids are maybe considered at most a week out ( likely if your bid was strong ) or in most cases between 72-48 hours before your flight.

If only 5 seats are left for upgrade and 10 people have placed bids on it, the airline will naturally pick the 5 highest bidders. There will always be someone who is willing to pay more because they know their value and thus bids 15% or maybe even 20%. The rest are likely to be in the range of 5-10%. By going just over the psychological barrier of 10%, you are greatly increasing your odds by only a marginal increase of cost.

Again, do you research on the airline and route in questions to gauge what might be a good value – something free and simple as Google Flights shows fare history. If you already paid 1200 for an Economy ticket and a Business ticket can be booked for a similar peak/off-peak period for 2000 on your route, you already have a maximum ceiling price on what your upgrade is worth.

What To Be Expect With Upgrades

Once you have secured your upgrade, beware there are some perks that may not be available to you compared to those that paid for right fare outright. If you upgrade on Emirates – you are not eligible for lounge access unless your original ticket did.

Etihad did not used to offer lounge access to last minute upgrades – but now they do. Turkish Airlines allows lounge access for those that upgrade with miles in advance, but not those that upgrade with cash.

Onboard experience will be the same for everyone – whichever way you got there. The difference between Economy and Business Class can be night and day, especially on long-haul flights. Upgrading isn’t just about comfort; it’s about arriving at your destination well-rested and ready to hit the ground running.

Finally – in almost every airline – you will only earn the miles of your original booking.

Overall Thoughts

I’m a firm believer in booking the seat and cabin you want – upfront. Whether that means taking advantage of pre-set options by the airline in question that lets you book and upgrade right away with your airmiles or upfront cash.

Off-course that does not mean paying £15,000 for a ticket outright that most attention seeking vloggers like to clickbait you with. Because the truth is almost NOBODY pays that at a personal level. Here’s an open secret – even most rich/wealthy folk like to save money. How else do you think they got to get and stay rich? We all love a good deal!

If you have any more data-points or suggestions, please share them in comments below. Would you like me to cover more airlines in a follow up post?