For the first time in many years, I scored an operational upgrade from economy class to business class, this time on Ethiopian Airlines on a flight from London to Addis Ababa. I’m not sure I have a repeatable strategy that can be followed, but I thought it would be helpful to outline my experience.

Business Class Upgrade On Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines is a carrier that does a poor job of monetizing its premium cabins on tickets issued by partners (here, my ticket was issued by United Airlines). I was booked in economy class on the 7-hour flight and hoped to secure an upgrade at check-in…and I was willing to pay for it.

We had to hit the ground running in Addis and a good night’s rest would be greatly appreciated. 

I inquired at the counter and was told that Cloud 9 (what Ethiopian calls its business class was full). I shook my head and showed them the seat map…the cabin was only about 1/2 full and we were now minutes from boarding (not like people still had not assigned seats). Furthermore, Ethiopian was still selling at least 9 business class seats. The agent shook her head and said, “Full.”

What can you say to that?

Before boarding, I asked another agent who asked her supervisor. I explained we were looking to buy upgrades. He again said, “Full.”

Maybe something was lost in translation, but I just wasn’t going to argue with someone lying to my face.

Oh well, I’d survive. I boarded and found my seat in economy class. My friend, also a United 1K, was seated on the other side of the cabin.

As boarding neared completion, the supervisor came onboard and signaled for me to follow him. He was holding a business class boarding pass with my name on it. He also had a boarding pass for my friend.

“Economy class full,” he explained. “We need your seats and moved you to business class because you are Star Gold.”

Thank you very much, indeed.

CONCLUSION

It appears my Star Alliance Gold status (or maybe my persistence?) led to an operational upgrade on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from London to Addis.

It’s a tad ironic that I would have been willing to pay several hundred dollars for the seat, but ended up instead with a free upgrade, but I’m certainly not complaining.

My advice: ask about upgrades. I’m really not sure if that had anything to do with our op-ups, but I expect that it did.

You can read about my prior op-up on Emirates here.

> Read More: An Upgrade To Business Class On Emirates…Just For Asking

Next: an Ethiopian Airlines A350-900 business class flight review.