Whether you love or loathe flying, you can’t argue with the fact that a seat upgrade is a very good thing! Especially on long-haul flights, air travel in cattle class can be a grueling undertaking.

Sometimes an upgrade can fall into your lap, like if a flight is overbooked and the airline needs to move some passengers up into the next cabin. But most of the time it’s going to take work on your part to score an affordable upgrade. Here are the best ways to upgrade your seat on a flight cheaply.

Join a frequent flyer program

This is one area where loyalty definitely pays off; here are a few tips for getting the most out of these programs. Even if you don’t travel all that often, there’s no harm in signing up to your preferred frequent-flyer club. Most are free to join and members are more likely to get upgraded than non-members, while getting to top-level status will catapult you to the front of the queue.

You can easily sign up to a few different programs, but in order to maximize the number of points you can collect it may pay to pick one airline (or a few within the same alliance) and stick with it. There are three major airline alliances: Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance and they have most of the airlines in the world covered between them.

Also look into signing up to their affiliated credit card. Often you’ll receive bonus points for doing so, but watch out for fees and any minimum required spend.

You’ll then be able to use those points later to nab yourself an upgrade…

Buy an upgrade

Once those air miles and points start piling up, you can use them towards an upgrade. You might be surprised at how little it costs to upgrade to business class using points (once you’ve purchased a basic fare).

Some airlines run online auctions, where you can bid on upgraded seats. For example, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Etihad allow you to make cash bids to upgrade from economy tickets on eligible flights.

It may also be worth checking out Optiontown, a website that offers massive discounts on upgrades of up to 75% with its partner airlines, which include KLM, British Airways and AirFrance.

And of course, keep an eye out for emails from your favorite airlines. Often they’ll send out last-minute opportunities to upgrade your seat for a discount, but you’ll need to be on top of your inbox!

Check prices at check-in time

When you check in for your flight, ask how much an upgrade will cost. Depending on availability, that could be less than you think if there’s a lot of spare room on the plane. There’s only one way to find out!

Failing that, even if you’ve gotten this far, all is not necessarily lost. Once you’re at the airport you just might get lucky and get upgraded for free…

Just try asking

Sometimes all you have to do is ask to be considered if an upgrade is available. If on the off chance there are upgrades available, there probably won’t be many, so it pays to check in early for your best shot.

On the flip side, turning up late can work in your favor – if the flight is overbooked and all the economy seats have been filled, you might get upgraded to a better seat for free. On the other hand, if it is oversold you may not be able to get on the plane at all, so cutting it close is a gamble you’ll need to weigh up!

Volunteer

When flights are full, staff may be looking for people to bump off onto the next available one. If you’re not in a hurry, you could volunteer to give up your seat – tell you’d be happy to defer if they’ll upgrade you on the next flight. It goes without saying, but be polite! A friendly smile can go a long way.

Time your flight right

Business travelers fly during the week, so weekend flights tend to have more business class seats up for the taking, not to mention less competition with those frequent flyers who will be light years ahead of you in the queue for any incentives. Choose off-peak days and times and you have a better shot at getting an upgrade. Steer clear of Monday morning and Friday afternoon routes; Tuesday and Wednesdays are a better bet, along with Saturdays.

Peak time flights (for example, flying to a holiday hotspot during school break) are more likely to be oversold, and therefore the odds of the airline offering upgrades in order to make room for all the passengers are a little higher.  And finally, you might also have better luck when traveling alone, as there usually aren’t many spare seats available in business or first class.