glcarter

My 17 year old daughter was flying to DCA (CO 358) yesterday for one of those Future Leader Conferences things. Although she is a very experienced flyer, this was her first time flying on her own. She wasn't particularly nervous about it -her mother and I were a different story, however.

By the time I booked her flight, I had to go with an H fare, so it was not cheap. I then used 15k to waitlist her for the upgrade. I did this to hopefully make her first trip flying alone a little more special for her.

Checked her in right at the 24 hour mark and noted she was #1 on the list. The list pretty much remained 8/6/6 right up until the flight departure time approached. Sure enough, around ten minutes before departure, the pda shows she's in 2B.

The door was shut, and my wife and I were waiting for the plane to depart the gate before going to our car. The Nervous Parent Gene lead me to ask the gate agent something along the lines of "Just curious, did the last minute upgrade for my daughter go okay?"

The two agents stopped, looked at each other, and immediately scrambled down the jetway to the plane. They were gone maybe five minutes before coming back to the desk at which point they both furiously typed away AND talked on the phone at the same time.

So, this time I asked, "Is there a problem with my daughter's upgrade - the one shown here on the Continental pda site?" as I held up "CAR, M. 2B" in front of them.

Then, I first heard the phrase that would dominate the next hour's discussion..."Someone told me she used points." This from the GA who seemed to have initiated the shenanigans. After maybe 20 minutes of back and forth (due to an obvious discomfort on both their parts,) I finally gleaned what she was trying to get me to believe: "Someone" told her my daughter was travelling on a reward ticket and therefore she should NOT be upgradeable. She, the GA, should ignore all information on the screen in front of her, all protocol, training, system architecture, and whatever else. "Someone" told her my daughter used points...

I insisted on speaking with a Red Coat. After almost a 20 minute wait, he showed up with a printout showing me he had upgraded my daughter on her return from EWR. Told him I didn't want that because my wife and oldest were going to meet the youngest in NYC at the end of her conference and would all be sitting together in the back on that flight. (Yes, her conference began in DC and ends in NYC.) Much more importantly, I demanded to know what happened to the outbound. I stood there incredulously as he spent the next ten to fifteen minutes on variations of "Someone told her she used points."

It was an H fare waitlisted with 15k miles! He admitted that all systems, lists, records, whatever reflected that fact, but that the GA somehow felt entitled to ignore it because of something she heard.

He asked us to wait and excused himself. He showed up fifteen minutes later with a printout showing the wife and both daughters upgraded on EWR return in a couple of weeks. A BIG gesture, to be sure. I, like most of you here, know the value of an EWR/IAH upgrade - let alone 3. So I am more than happy for my family to have that pleasure.

And, I told him that. But, while he wants to chalk it up as a learning experience (a "teachable moment" he called it), I want it to at least be looked at through my eyes.

While I could be way off, my view is that whomever was processing upgrades saw a non-status name heading the list and further saw that non-status flyer appeared to be a teenaged girl flying alone. She assumed my daughter would never know the difference.

The shock in those GA's eyes when I first approached them was palpable.

I intend to share with Scott. This should NEVER happen, but it does too often.

I am most pissed that she will never have a "first flight alone" again and a special experience was stolen from her.