Can You Ask A Flight Attendant For A Seat Upgrade? (And When To Ask For One To Boost Your Chances)

There are plenty of things that you can politely ask your flight attendant for when you're flying economy, from extra snacks to a pillow. With little asks like these, flight attendants may be able to help you out if you're friendly and they have enough passenger perks to share with you, but what about a seat upgrade? Can a flight attendant help you snag an upgrade to first class on your next flight? Sadly, the answer is no. Islands exclusively spoke to Barbi, a veteran flight attendant and journalist, and she let us know that if you're already on the flight, it's too late to ask for an upgrade. If you're going to try to ask for an upgrade in person, you're better off checking with the gate agent before boarding.

"Unfortunately that isn't an area we flight attendants have any say over anymore," Barbi explained. "It's all done by the gate agents at the gate and/or electronically." If you're determined to try to snag an upgraded seat, this is one of those unexpected instances where checking in early for your flight might be a bad call — or at least where boarding right away might be. When things are quiet, politely ask the gate agent if there are any upgrades available for a single passenger. It's still a long shot, but if you keep your expectations low, it doesn't hurt to ask and see if they invite you to wait at the gate until they know if they have any empty seats you could use.

Simply put, you shouldn't bother asking flight attendants for a seat upgrade. As experienced flight attendant Barbi told us, the era of making friends with the flight attendant or sharing that you're on your honeymoon to try to get upgraded to an empty seat in first class is over, at least on major U.S. airlines. Frustratingly, the cabin crew could even get in trouble for moving you to a nicer seat than the one you paid for. While asking the gate agent right before boarding might be your best chance if you want to speak to someone in person on the day of your flight, in general, upgrades aren't determined that way. They're given out by an algorithm.

Barbi shared that frequent flyers who have racked up a lot of points with the airline get first pick of any available upgrades. In some cases, airlines even auction off their available upgrades, allowing passengers to bid as much as they're willing to pay for a better seat. While the seats typically end up going for lower prices than they were originally sold at, air carriers do make a decent amount of the money off the upgrades — which means they're unlikely to be handing them out for free, unless you happen to have elite status with the airline.