Do you dress for success when flying?

[jmbklj]

Dressing For Success When You Fly

Do you dress for success when flying hoping to get an upgrade? I thought that happened only in "the old days". From the article:

"When a friend of mine recently checked in for a flight from San Francisco to Vancouver, he was surprised when the Air Canada gate agent handed him a first-class boarding pass as he was about to get on his flight. What was so unusual about this? Several things. He had bought an economy-class ticket, he rarely flies on Air Canada and thus has no frequent-flier status on the airline, and even more unusually, the flight was half empty so this wasn't an oversell upgrade situation. So why the extra love?

Because he was wearing a suit. Yep, my pal asked the gate agent why he was so blessed and she answered, "Our station manager noticed how well-dressed you were and told me to upgrade you."

kyshel, I'd be interested in your perspective on this article. There is still a dress code isn't there when flying on an airline pass (or buddy pass if that's different)?

I normally dress nicely and often must do so since I'm traveling for business. I've received upgrades because of elite status but never otherwise because of dressing for success.

[omegaet]

We live in the land of guayaberas, tee shirts, surfer shorts and flip-flops....even when flying into and out of FLL, can't recall the last time I saw a business suit and tie on anyone in f/c other than possibly an attorney.

[kyshel]

Sad to say, that one major airline no longer has a dress code for pass travel. They have a video to advise. The only no-nos are dirty/torn clothing, sleepwear/lingerie/nudity and obscene slogans.
We used to have a separate set of clothing for any trip--slacks, collared shirt, loafers for me, and smart casual for ladies--NO Jeans/sneakers. It was a pain to repack at suitcase bottom to wear on return but we always looked professional. We still don't wear sneakers (never travel w/them--too bulky) but now travel lighter since our pass clothes only had one wearing each way. A no-no for us for long trips--must wear 3 times or launder. We don't check luggage--critical for standby.
All that said, we seldom travel in coach (well, domestic is different) so we expect to present a positive image if anyone discovers we're employees.
This same airline used to allow standbys from other airlines to be upgraded as a courtesy, but that's not the procedure anymore. (they didn't upgrade us at all) I believe it's the cost factor of providing business fare/bev that stopped this practice more than anything.
I think it was nice to upgrade the gentleman in the suit. Yep, I think it very rare. I see alot of suits in coach and those in front are usually frequent flyers with milles out the wazoo who receive automatic upgrades on coach tickets. Ive noticed when we travel internationally, that if coach is oversold but business elite is open, pax are upgraded buy ticket price/FF status to accommodate all revenue standby/overbooks. When they shift some pax to BE and fill coach, then they clear pass standbys into BE.
I just saw this on a flight from Dublin and about 20 happy passengers found themsleves being wined and dined in business class.

PS--We still joke about whenever we see a guy in khakis, cordovans and collar shirt--PILOT!!

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I rarely see anyone in a suit these days, although, I have to say both times I went to Lima I did see many guys in suits. We do not dress up to travel but we do look clean and neat - never been upgraded unless we used miles or paid extra. The past few flights we got really good prices on business 1st to Latin America so we could not pass up the deals - I have found really nice prices 1st/business to Costa Rica from Newark so we will probably take advantage of it - we got such a nice deal on the packages that we can splurge on the airfare

[bonniejoy03]

Yikes...I dress very casually! I have to dress everyday for work. My "vacation" is away from stuffy! Hey D....any tips on finding deals for 1st/business travel? Everytime I look, prices are soooooo high!

[LL_Travelfan]

Since being retired, we have not dressed in business attire when flying. However, we make it a point to dress smartly. No jeans and sneakers for us. I guess we are still of the old school who dressed up when taking a flight. Unfortunately, no airline agent ever gave us an upgrade just for looking nice and being friendly....

[thepiranha]

Casual and comfortable, just like at home. Shorts or cargo pants with a tee shirt and possibly a sweatshirt.

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BJ - it depends on where you are going - Continental has really good business/first class deals to Latin America out of Newark - it only takes us 1 1/2 hours to drive there so it is worth it for us - I just found all 1st to costa Rica from Newark for around 899

[LL_Travelfan]

Sounds like a great fare, go for it!

[bonniejoy03]

Thanks for the tip D...I will start watching for those prices. Newark is just a little further for us. I also should check for 1st out of Dulles...that is the same distance as Newark for us. Have you heard back from Xandari about splitting?