I quickly earned elite status once I knew what it was, about a year after college when I was first traveling for work. I thought I knew the ins and outs like nobody’s business, and I thought I was a true road warrior. After all I had flown over 25,000 miles on United in a year, and I had Premier status!

As a top tier (100,000 mile flyer) I worry less about strategizing to get domestic upgrades. A 1K on United might not always clear the upgrade list, at least living in a high revenue hub like San Francisco or a government flyer hub like Washington DC (since government YCA fares let 25,000 mile flyers trump 100,000 mile folks flying mid-tier fares). But an American Executive Platinum will usually clear the upgrade list except on the most elite-heavy of routes or routes with a rare concentration of paid first class.

But back in the day I worried extensively about how I’d get to fly upfront. And since it was novel to me, and something I grew up thinking would never happen in my lifetime – since I was a kid I was flying regularly between the coasts with divorced parents and would look up at the forward cabin wondering what kind of people those were – I went to lengths to try to maximize my chances.

I was asked the other day about ways to make it more likely you’ll get the upgrade. And I thought I’d share the basic idea here.

Recognize though that this isn’t “dress nice and ask, preferably with a good excuse like it’s your honeymoon” post. And this isn’t a “tip the gate agent or trick the computer” type of post. Those are usually quite silly.

This is just about how to pick flights and times that you’re more likely to clear an upgrade list that you are actually entitled to be on. Mostly that means elite frequent flyers, and mostly domestic although fo rhte most prat the principles apply to international as well but the specific dates and times are different there.

Have the highest status possible. This likely goes without saying, but a 25,000 mile flyer on a discount fare (with airlines where fares matter in terms of upgrade priority) isn’t going to get upgraded a lot in most cases. It’s always a nice surprise. By all means strategize, but don’t be unhappy when the upgrade doesn’t come through. Your perk, generally, is a shot at an extra legroom coach seat.

Fly when business travelers aren’t. The end of December and beginning of January tend to be great for upgrades, even though those are the most elite heavy times of year (everyone who was an elite for the full year, plus everyone who qualified during the year, and no one has been weeded out with expiring status yet).

That’s because business travelers are the most elite heavy bunch, the people you’re competing with for upgrades (and who may be on higher fares).

The worst times to fly are Monday morning, Thursday evening, and all day Friday. That’s when most business travelers head out for the week, and come come. Sometimes they have to fly out Sunday night, too. Flying mid-day is great. Flying midweek is great. Flying Saturdays is great. Your chances are almost never better than noon on a Wednesday.

Back 15 years ago when I was ‘just a Premier’ I used to get upgraded most of the time. But I had the flexibility to game my flight times. I wouldn’t take the non-stop from Washington Dulles to San Francisco (competing against elites in both cities, flying “hub to hub”). Instead I would take the noon Boeing 777 flight through Denver. On Wednesday. I wanted the upgrade that badly.

Avoid 6:00am – 9:30am on Monday, Thursdays 4pm onward, Friday morning and Friday evening, and Sunday evening if you can.

Pick flights with the highest percentage of premium cabin seats. The simplest notion is that the plane with the most first class seats is going to give you the best chance of upgrade. That may be true, and most of the time it works, but I find what I really want is the plane with the greatest proportion of premium cabin seats. A smaller plane with smaller first class cabin is fine, I just want to be in the top 15% of the plane’s passengers in terms of upgrade priority.

When I had to fly out in the evening, and indeed even on a Thursday evening, I’d use this strategy to get my upgrade. Flying to Phoenix as a United premier I’d avoid the Washington Dulles – Phoenix Boeing 757 non-stop flight, even though it had 24 first class seats. Back then United flew a Boeing 747 to Los Angeles with (if I recall correctly) 86 business class seats and a first class cabin. So I’d overshoot Phoenix and fly DC – Los Angeles – Phoenix and get upgraded the whole way.

Other techniques.

The three things above are the basic strategies. There are other things you can do of course. I use pay service Expert Flyer to send me email alerts when seats are dwindling up front. Specifically with American domestic flights, such as cross country flights where I may really care about the upgrade, I’ll set an alert for when there’s less than 3 or 4 upgrade (“A” inventory) seats. Then I have the option of confirming the upgrade before that option goes away, so I don’t have to take my chances at the gate.

Some people — not me, that’s not the wallet I’ve been dealt — will buy up to full fare or to a confirmable upgrade fare to get higher priority as well.

With American Airlines, domestic upgrades are prioritized based on first whether you are a connecting passenger — and that applies only to your connecting flight not your initial flight segment. When I fly Washington National – Dallas – Los Angeles, I have priority above other passengers with my status as a connecting passenger on the Dallas – Los Angeles flight (but not on Washington to Dallas). If I book Washington National – New York JFK – Los Angeles then I would have upgrade priority for JFK – Los Angeles. Placing yourself as a connecting rather than originating passenger for the long flight you want to upgrade boosts your chances. The next American Airlines tie-breaker is the time you booked your ticket, if you book far in advance you have a better shot at the upgrade.

US Airways has very broken IT systems, and like United’s junk computers they do not run upgrade lists continually. Instead certain actions ‘trigger’ the upgrade list, if they get triggered at all. Checking in for your flight though will prompt the system to see if there are upgrade seats available. And generally any first class seats within 24 hours of departure are upgradable. So if you haven’t been upgraded, check first class availability. If there are first class seats you have a good chance of being upgraded into one. If there aren’t, keep checking. Wait until a first class seat appears to check in. If one shows up you may be able to ‘jump the queue’ just by being the next passenger to check in. (And if you check in and don’t get offered the seat, you might even want to get offloaded so you can try checking in again later.)

But for the most part you do just fine by having as high an elite status as possible and picking planes and flights where your chances are the greatest.

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