Airlines are getting a bad rap these days, but it's always nice to find a story of customer service done right.

For a trip in May, my original plan was to fly Continental by buying a regular seat and then upgrading. However, when I called to ask about availability, they said that the cheapest ticket eligible for an upgrade would be more than double the price of the one I planned on getting. (They do get credit for volunteering this in advance.)

So I went to American, where I have mountains of miles available. This is largely because I have a credit card tied to the account and I fly them often, but hardly ever go anywhere worth using the miles for. (I'm not going to use miles to avoid a $130 fare to Fort Lauderdale.)

With American, the low fare I booked online would indeed be eligible for an upgrade. And when I called back to upgrade, the overall wait time was around 15 seconds. So (and unexpectedly) easy.

I asked a knowledgeable friend of mine about this, and he said that eligibility for an upgrade is beyond any reason or logic. It depends on the day, even within airlines. But for now, while Continental has a great ad campaign, it was American that made things easy. I'm glad most of my miles are with them.