Here’s how you can actually get a free upgrade on a flight

It's worth a try.

We've all tried to get upgrades on flights by pulling the birthday or anniversary card out as a bargaining tool. But of all the times we've attempted to get bumped up to business class it never usually works. Sometimes if you're lucky you get moved to a "better seat" which ends up being the exact same as the one you had before. Apparently, though, there is a one way to guarantee that you get an upgrade on your flight. Travel blogger Gilbert Ott has been sharing his wisdom with Metro about how to ensure you get an upgrade and it involves taking a chance on oversold flights. He says:

"Despite the (urban myth) advice, opting for oversold flights is really the only practical tip to get an upgrade. "One thing that’s consistent with oversold flights is that someone will need to be bumped, and when someone is bumped, they are owed compensation, an upgrade or both. "That compensation can make a paid trip into a free flight, or provide a future free flight, and assuming there’s room up front on the next flight, it’s not at all uncommon to get the upgrade as a “thanks for being flexible".

He added that it has worked for him in the past:

"My biggest successes were always during peak travel periods – the winter holidays, summer and spring breaks, times when planes are flying full and it’s chaos. "Sometimes you can get lucky during peak business travel – Mondays and Thursdays when elite flyers are flying and airlines are happily booting a one-off paying customer to accommodate one of their 100k miles-a-year flyers."

It's worth keeping in mind the next time you're flying someone further away.