Dunno. The issue is that it’s hard to upgrade on my own dime. That’s not part of the approved work flow.
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I flew spirit once, it was fine.
The potential for cancellations with budget carriers is a huge problem.
Most people I find who complain do so because they didn’t see some of the fine print, particularly needing to pay get access the overhead bins, or for flair to pay to check in at the airport.
Honestly the duopoly of Canadian carriers often aren’t much better, they overbook, you pay to check bags, for food on flight etc.
I upgraded to first class once using miles right when I bought the ticket. I printed out enough documentation to show that the dollars I paid matched the dollars for a coach ticket and showed how I also paid mileage for the upgrade. Accounts Payable didn’t question it… I think they always automatically got something from our travel department showing what the ticket should have cost for every flight anyone requested reimbursement for, and it would have matched what they sent.
And on numerous occasions I’ve paid for the upgrade (with either points or miles) after the ticket was purchased.
Nowadays it seems like you get a better deal if you do it right when you purchase… probably trying to hose the business travelers. The time I used the miles right at the purchase it was definitely a good deal on how few miles I needed, and I was going cross country and I did not want to lose that deal™.
Yes, I had cancelled flights with both WestJet and Air Canada last year but they have enough planes that rebooking does not take several days.
The main challenge to the duopoly in Canada may be Porter Airlines. They are starting long haul flights from Pearson after only operating propeller planes out of the Toronto Island Airport for many years. Their Vancouver-Toronto flights will cost less than the duopoly and they will serve free food and drinks plus offer no middle seats. May try them on next trip to TO.
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And with some airlines the overhead is too small and literally everyone with a rollarboard has to gate check.
For the two business trips involving air travel I’ve taken since we emerged from lockdown, I just pulled up my reservation on the airline websites / from my frequent flyer account, and bought the upgrade.
I followed the approved corporate workflow to get the underlying ticket (i.e. book through the corporate travel website, ticket bought using the designated corporate account), so there wasn’t an issue getting that part of the expense covered.
I suppose there could be an issue if the trip had been canceled, and something had to be done with the resulting flight credit. I suppose I’ll need to think about that in the future…
I don’t get points on flights i get through the corporate system. My employer gets those, and it translates into an overall discount on fares.
I might be able to upgrade on my own credit card after buying the flight through the corporate travel agent. Next time i fly on business I’ll look into that. It didn’t make as much difference back when i was flying regularly on business, but there are more classes now.
Cool. I’ve flown Porter Air to Toronto Island several times, and I’ve loved their customer service.
I had a funny experience with Air Canada. They lost our checked luggage flying to Alberta. They gave us each a t-shirt and some toiletries (my son’s first razor!) and delivered the bags to our hotel at 3am the next morning. So far, so good.
But they didn’t flag in their system that the bags had been delivered. So they kept trying to call me to arrange delivery. Or maybe to tell me they’d lost them, the messages weren’t super explicit. Except my phone only worked when i was in WiFi, so everytime i got to WiFi i had a new message from them, but if i called, i couldn’t reach the right person. This went on for days, before i finally reached someone to say, “you already delivered them, it’s fine.”
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If I have stuffed my bag to the point that I need a shoehorn to fit it into a typical overhead compartment then I’m ok with gate checking it. Then I’m in no rush to try to board the plane and a few minutes less of cramping myself into my seat is not a bad thing. My home airport is so massive that by the time I reach baggage claim it’s usually there for the taking.
Not sure I’ll do this for the flight I’m taking this weekend. There will be a connection, which presents a risk that the bag doesn’t make the connection. I will likely have to check the bag for the second leg because I’ll be on an Embraer - but as long as it’s a gate check I should be fine. This will be on United, though, which I don’t often fly. I had a pretty bad experience checking a bag on it a few years ago when they made everyone at the carousel wait at least 30 minutes despite the fact that we were the only plane that had landed at that hour.
Porter provides service that was just the norm when I started flying in the 1970’s. They stand out now because everyone else now is horrible. It is interesting to compare their economy services with other airlines: and they are less expensive. Will check them out on my next Vancouver to Toronto flight if only for their 2-2 seating arrangement that guarantees that neither my wife nor I get a middle seat.
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On my flight going back to lga. I put my backpack and coat in the overhead and the two combined take up less space than one rollerboard. Southwest rather than delta. Nobody cared
Bite me
I took an aisle seat and 2 chicks decided they wanted the window and middle seats next to me when there are empty rows behind us. Wtf?
I just moved myself to an empty row. Thats pretty rude imo
Any insignificant signals from these chicks??? 
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Dunno, my significant signal was that i don’t want someone in the middle seat next to me so i moved
But there were two chicks at the same time, riiiiiiiiiiiight??? Were they hawt???
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Got to see one of the new Porter jets yesterday, while my flight into Pearson was stuck on the apron for 15 minutes, waiting to be marshalled into the gate. I think my grandboss said he was flying in on Porter from Calgary.
I managed to break 3 of the Canadian immigration kiosks (as in all 3 had red “out of service” notifications when I left them), before clearing the border the old fashioned way.
(I hope I don’t need to come up again before spring. I think I prefer driving the 2 hours to catch Porter into YTZ, instead of flying from my local airport and getting 3 hour layovers at LGA.)
Most flights are full, obviously yours wasn’t so no reason for anyone to care. Not sure what exactly was bothering you - if you’re sitting in the aisle on the left side of the plane what’s wrong with 2 people sitting in the aisle/window on the right side of the plane? If they were occupying the 2 other seats in your group of 3 then I could understand that would be unpleasant, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It was that or try 40 minute layovers at Detroit