Virgin crew reveals the most ridiculous attempts ever at scoring an upgrade

Scoring a hotel upgrade is not incredibly difficult (in fact, sometimes it only takes a $20 bill). Getting upgraded on a flight? Unless you have elite status, good luck, my friend. You can make up all the reasons you want, but as Virgin Atlantic has revealed, the airline has already heard it all.

The airline polled 1,000 of its crew members to hear the wackiest reasons people give for snagging a free upgrade, and according to Virgin Atlantic's blog, the most common reasons to try to get a free flight upgrade included birthdays, honeymoons and needing extra leg space due to being tall.

Surely, in-flight crew often get an earful of complaints from troubled passengers who feel the airline owes them an olive branch for mishandled luggage or a delayed flight, but these attempts truly take the cake! As airlines have made it more difficult to get upgrades, passengers seem to be getting bolder and braver — in addition to claiming birthdays and honeymoons, the carrier says passengers have made the following pleas:

"My wife is pregnant; I need an upgrade as it is a really stressful time for me"'

"My newborn baby has claustrophobia, she is in counselling and we really need an upgrade so she has more space."

"Sir Richard Branson is my friend"

"Sir Richard Branson promised me an upgrade"

Sorry, I have to go now. I have to meet Sir Richard Branson for lunch.