hughw

I hope you said that with a smile. In my view, getting back the milage for an upgrade that didn't happen is not compensation, it's standard practice. As to the 3 upgrades on the return flight, perhaps you could call that compensation, perhaps you could call it a payoff, perhaps you could call it a bribe in the hope it wouldn't go any further.

And in my view, it's shenanigans whoever was assigned the upgrade after the fact. If it was a buddy of the agent or a non-rev, it was shenanigans; if it was a plat. and the gate agent thought she was "doing the right thing" by reordering the list to take away an upgrade from a non-elite and give it to an elite -- that's still shenanigans. ANd they obviously knew it with the offer of 3 upgrades on the return trip.

nova08

One thing I sometimes do is once my name appears on the Upgraded list i keep that webpage open on my pda. There's only maybe 10 minutes between when I board and when I end up turning it off so I just keep it handy.


Yesterday on my IAH-ORD flight (anything to ORD seems to be getting harder for an upgrade) they held half the F seats on a 753 for battlefield, with 5 minutes before boarding there were 3 seats left and I was number 3. I spoke with the GAs who were very pleasant and they said a few more minutes. Then they saw me checking my pda every 10 seconds and so they called me over a minute later and upgraded me.

I think it also helps that more and more GAs know that we know about the pda site.


My one question is how would someone know that she was using miles?

DiverDave

Great post. :-:

Reminds me of the detective in "Intolerable Cruelty" and his line:

`I'm gonna' nail your @ss!'

David

cjermain

CO stole those miles from the OP, just as if a retailer charged a customer real $$ for goods they never delivered. Many of us use credit cards that buy miles from CO at $0.01 to $0.02 per mile---that's real money. If CO takes my 15,000 miles for nothing, they have effectively taken $150-$300 from my CC company (and hence from my pocket) without providing anything in return. I don't call it "compensation" for the OP to want those miles back.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Do your eyes deceive you?

JFKSFOLAX_friend

And, do your eyes deceive you?

sfogate

Because it's documented in your PNR. A good GA should be checking into why someone without status is on the upgrade list. You want to make sure that this person has been placed on the list correctly.

Scott6067

Refundable ticket or PC gate pass. Either one works if an agent is unwillingly to help you get a gate pass.

I would think that this would have been a great time for the Red coat to call the receiveing station and have a Red coat there go on board and find out who was in that seat once at the gate.

channa

You're assuming the Red Coat wasn't buddies with the GA's. It's possible his generous upgrades for the OP's family were an attempt to settle this issue immediately and put it to bed, so as not to raise further awareness.

Remember these shenanigans have been going on for several years. If CO wanted to do something about it, they could have by now.

glcarter

Can you name me ONE potential reason for that GA to disregard EVERYTHING in the record and the system and override the upgrade???

I would love to hear just ONE potential reasonable way this happened.

EDIT: SFO, you're one of the good guys. So, you must understand how upset I am that this moment was taken away from my youngest child, a really good kid, because of incompetence, malfeasance, or whatever. I know the rules, she was #1 on that list for a reason, and it was stolen from her - that's bullcrap.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Wow. How many hours ago was the flight? You are still this fired up?

ConciergeMike

It means something to him, as well it should. For many, flying is a way to get somewhere. I look at it as nothing short of a technological marvel and it amazes me every time I watch an airliner take off. In your head, you know the physics that make powered flight possible...but that does not necessarily mean that you can't be awed by it despite having done it hundreds or thousands of times.

John Gillespie Magee hit it out of the park back in 1941. There is something to be said for slipping "the surly bonds of earth".

Many FTers take that purist view toward aviation in general, and if you share that view, having your offspring experience it for the first time by themselves is something to be cherished. glcarter wanted his daughter's flight to go a certain way and it didn't. He has every right to be pissed off.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

I never said it isn't important, did I?

Did I say he didn't have a right to be pissed off?

Did you read my post?

ConciergeMike

Yes.

warreng24

I suspect that this is the best theory. The GA saw that it was a non-status person flying (upgrade with points) and figured the person would not know any better. GA wanted to upgrade a friend, co-worker, non-rev, someone's cello, etc...