1. Ottawa - London. A couple of days before the flight, I called good old AirCanada to reconfirm my seat. The confuzzled lady said she could only see the Ottawa-London portion of my itinerary, since that was the only one on AirCanada. The other two segments were on Lufthansa, but booked on the same ticket. In conclusion, she said I would have to pick up my bags at Heathrow and re-check-in. That made me fly into a panic, because I need a visa for the UK and in order to get your bags, you need to go through La Migra. Not good!!!
I called again the next day, and the gent saw my whole itinerary, said that the Heathrow pick-up was bollox, and confirmed what I've always known to be true: bags are sent directly to destination.
Armed with a complaint, when I got to the Ottawa check-in, I explained the trials and tribulations of the previous few days. I did not ask for an upgrade and made sure I was super-nice to the counter lady.
The result: Ottawa-London, economy class, three seats for myself, since the nice lady placed me in an unoccupied row
2. London-Munich. I didn't ask for anything.
The result: economy class, crappy back seat, squished in the middle.
3. Munich-Bucharest
My boarding pass said I was getting yet another crappy back seat. I went to the Lufthansa flight centre and asked if I could be moved just a few seats up, since I'd been on the road for 24 hours and my carry-on was just a hand-bag - the logic was getting off the plane faster. They said the plane was full, but I could ask the gate agent in case someone didn't show up.
Schlepped back to the gate, asked the agent, she took down my name, and then she said the Flight Centre had already called. I immediately praised their efficiency and re-explained the situation. She said I should wait until everyone boards and she'll call me in case something comes up.
I wait quiet as a mouse. She does call me and asks, "is this close enough to the front?" Lo and behold, FIRST SEAT IN BUSINESS CLASS :-4 I wanted to hug her.
Here I used my countrypeople's bad manners to my advantage: they tend to be pretty loud and rude, and their English is pretty thickly-accented. The gate lady didn't look at my passport, so she probably thought I was Canadian. Note to self: until one gets a real Canadian passport (2010 if we are lucky), it pays to act Canadian :wah:
4, 5, 6. I just used the pretext of my small carry-on to ask to be moved up.
The result: first seat in economy, just behind business class, on all three flights.
The only conclusion I can draw is that small carry-ons, politeness, and tugging on the right heart-strings if you can document your issue (i.e. 24 hours of travel are pretty taxing, so they'll be understanding) are usually what gets you a better seat. Won't be business at all times, but three seats for yourself or being at the front of the plane isn't too shabby.
Oh yes, and I forgot the most important part: ALWAYS ASK. The only time I didn't ask (for the sake of experimentation, 90-minute flight, so it wasn't a big deal) was the only time I ended up with a really crappy seat.
What things have worked for you? I'd be very interested in tips since we're flying to Europe again next summer to get married there (religious ceremony). Do you think the newly-weds thing works? We'll have a relatively recent marriage certificate by then.