Kuala Lumpur - lets party ;)

[location: Singapore]
[mood: tired]

*sad* ... *cry* ...
The world cup is over and in the end Germany did not win the cup ... *sad* ...
*kidding*
I am still impressed with the german team and officially congratulate them to their success. The way they played was strong and smart. Very impressive games! I haven't seen such games in a long time. The fact that they lost against Italy was unfortunate, but I think all-in-all fair.
I watched the first game (Germany - Argentina) in KL with friends. For the Italy game, I stood up to watch it in my hotel room. (3am!!) Still ... good game - bad finish :D

As mentioned above, we (10 people from Singapore) went for a party weekend to Kuala Lumpur. Arrived at the airport and took a cab to the city ... Checked into the hotel and watched the rest of the game. In the end, it was already 2:30 until we left the hotel to go clubbing. I was a bit disapointed to realize that the clubs all close at around 3 - 3:30 ... I am not kidding!! We lived straight across from the 'Zouk' - prolly the best known night club in KL - and we got kicked out at 3:30 ...
Even in Singapore the clubs are open longer hours!! Nevertheless, had a relaxing saturday and went shopping. Watched the England game on sat night and was shocked to see them losing! What a pity! On the other hand, the penalties were really bad!

Sunday was close and I had to leave for my next trip to HongKong. I packed my stuff in a hurry and went to the airport. Arrived there and had a nice chat with the lady at the check in counter. I went inside, to discover another bright spot of human intelligence ... I was quite hungover, so I bought myself a coffee & orange juice at a cafe inside the airport, just to realize that they don't accept credit cards and ONLY local currency. Isn't everybody always trying to get rid of all the foreign currency, in order NOT to take it with you back home?? An international location (an AIRPORT!!) should allow credit card payments.
In the end, I had to withdraw money (as u can imagine, the minimum amount was way higher than the actual prize for the coffee plus a huge transaction fee on top.) It was propably the most expensive coffee ever ;)

So quite unhappy about that, I went to the flight counter and hey ... life is beautiful. Upgrade waiting for me *yippie* ... In my new company all flights below 5 hrs are always Economy class, so I happily surprised to see an airline employee waiting for me handing me the new ticket over. *g* ...

This again shows me that I can't be that wrong with my following theory:

HOW-TO get upgrades on a flight: (Assuming there is a need to perform upgrades due to overbooking etc)
- Be sensible with ur choice of clothes: It is a tough statement, but I'd say that wearing a suit will double ur chances of getting upgraded. For the simple reason, that people around you would think you are flying business class anyway. Sitting in the plane with shorts and flip flops would be bad for the other 'paying' guests - as they'd question why they paid for that extra.
- Be nice at the check-in counter: People working there hate the 'wanna-be important' people. Don't ask about upgrades etc. Especially never mention 'Hey i am super gold diamond ultra member - i neeeed to get upgrades' - or 'all other airlines upgrade me as well!' ... won't work! I'll promise!!
Just being nice at the counter and to make her smile - will increase your chances of her adding the 'Recommended for upgrade' comment to ur booking. (The ladies at the boarding gate will use these information if there is a need for upgrades)
- Don't expect to get upgrades to first or business, if you've bought the super-cheap-saver flight ticket for 90$. Every ticket belongs to a certain class and only some of them allow upgrades.
- In general, upgrades only work for one category. It has to be a verrrrry special case, to get upgraded to first class from economy. Don't expect that.
- Upgrades obviously depend on availablity. If there are no seats - there are no upgrades! Easy!
- Frequent flyer miles & status will help! The lady at the ticket counter will see immediately that you are a FF and make ur life easier ;)

Just a short list of things I've experienced so far. And at least for me (I don't really care about flying eco) it worked quite often. At least 65% of my past flights (within 6 months) have been upgraded. I figured, that especially the ladies at the check-in are amazingly powerful. Don't ask them out on a date, but flirting a bit will for sure make her day.

That's it ... Ste