mre5765

On AA5797 DFW to COS. CR9 American Eagle operated by Mesa. Has a US Airways logo but seems to be operating as an AA flight.

Two of us board in F.

One pax in coach notices the six empty seats and asks how much it would cost to upgrade. FA explains they are not set up to sell upgrades.

Pax then asks if he can leave plane to talk to GA. FA says she isn't supposed to let pax off the plane.

He grumbles for several minutes.

FAs discuss. Then tell pax he is free to sit in F.

If I had only known that whining would get one upgraded to F, I would not have busted my butt to get 100K EQPs last year.

UAdbaCO has ToDs. Mesa-dba-AA has ToWs.

AlwaysAisle

A flight attendant on one of EAAgle CR7 flight said that at AA only ground agents can process moving passengers form Y to F and flight crews, including pilots, are not allowed upgrade passengers on flights. This policy is strictly enforced. Obviously, operational reasons such as weight and balance are excluded.

This flight attendants said especially when EAAgle started to introduce F in CR7 some flight attendants were not totally aware of how strictly prohibited at AA to move passengers form Y to F. It is pretty much flight attendants fault since the policy was clearly communicated, but many may not bother to read policies provided by corporate. This flight attendant said some flight attendants were fired because of moving passengers form Y to F.

This conversation came about when a passenger in F asked if his colleague sitting in Y can came up to F and sit with him. The passenger in F mentioned that his colleague will not drink or eat F service items.

If this is true then American corporate lurking this site likely can identify the flight attendant involved form the information OP provided, and the flight attendant can get into big trouble.

boss315

Thnx! Need the laugh of the day with ToW's!

adambrock

What are ToDs and ToWs?

arollins

I would commented out loud how I fly to earn status and enjoy the benefits that come with it, while others are given the benefit without any merit. That would have made a nice flight.

FWAAA

One would hope that with the proliferation of two-class RJs, and the advancement of hand-held technology, flight attendants at the mainline and regional operators would eventually be able to sell that passenger an upgrade or communicate with the gate agents to sell that passenger an upgrade.

Easy solution would have been for the FA to let the passenger go back to the podium and buy an upgrade even though the FA said "they weren't supposed to let them do that."

Most of us already have mileage-earning credit cards, so that sales pitch is useless for many of us, but upgrades into empty seats are something that everyone might buy again and again (any flight where they see an empty seat and a POS/COS squeezing them in their steerage seat).

Exec_Plat

1. Whatwever. I dont care too much about other people's whining. Agree FA should have let GA deal with it.

2. The FA works for Mesa. What are MESA's rules????

3. FAs on AA planes can be accused of 'theft' by allowing pax to sit in C or F. Ive had it done once, and purser said "please dont write in and mention this- we can get in trouble"

JDiver

Mesa is a provider under contract to American; they're to enforce American's rules, not anyone else's.

But yeah, others' whining just isn't worth a milistress unit.

CMK10

ToD started on the United board, it stands for Tens of Dollars, a term meant to describe a cheap upgrade, particularly one that was sold out from under an elite on the list.

I believe the joke is that ToW would be Tens of Whines

mre5765

ToD actually started on the CO board. When I was a 1K, our new elite friends from CO warned us that the 90% upgrade rate we were seeing (you know, like an EXP gets) would plummet post-merger because of ToDs. So it did.

The question is, if an FA grants a ToW, and a GA upgrades a late arriving pax at the gate to that seat, will the ToW upgrade stand or not?

It is a legitimate security issue. The FA has no idea what checked (normal or red tag) bags the pax has checked, or what stuff he might be leaving on board when he leaves the plane.

The only time I've asked to leave the plane of a plane I planned on flying was when I realized I'd left my passport in the gate area. The FA wasn't going to let me go, but I made it clear she I'd cancel my reservation if she didn't. All ended well; the passport was still there, and I made my international connection just fine.

The easy solution would have been for the pax to ask the GA about an upgrade before boarding.

dat4life

When I was an EXP a couple of years ago, an Eagle flight attendant came to me and asked why I wasn't seated in First since I was EXP. I was flying on an Avios award ticket so no dice on the upgrade. No big deal since it was a super short flight (ORD-MSN). She invited me to go ahead and take any seat up front since there was only one other pax in First. I declined since it was such a short flight.