Plat downgrade onboard by Gate Agent - and more DL Shenanigans
Mar 31, 2015, 5:23 pm
#31
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There is a real value in making rules and then sticking to them. The # of rants on FT from people who "always travel with an over-sized carry-on and are never required to check it until [TODAY]", "always have a GA board to pull them from steerage to F until [TODAY], or any number of other issues, goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.
To OP's question, yes it is entirely possible that the F pax connecting from HI did not have seat assignments. Not all systems are perfect. Those people paid for their seats while OP did not. If DL downgrades those people, it is required by the COC to refund the fare difference to them. If DL downgrades a freebie, it may choose to toss a few miles / a small voucher, but it need not.
Given that GA's can't create seats, someone is getting the boot. The GA made the call for the guy who paid over the guy who didn't.
To OP's question, yes it is entirely possible that the F pax connecting from HI did not have seat assignments. Not all systems are perfect. Those people paid for their seats while OP did not. If DL downgrades those people, it is required by the COC to refund the fare difference to them. If DL downgrades a freebie, it may choose to toss a few miles / a small voucher, but it need not.
Given that GA's can't create seats, someone is getting the boot. The GA made the call for the guy who paid over the guy who didn't.
Mar 31, 2015, 5:59 pm
#32
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 97
NW had a VERY strict policy as to the integrity of the UG list, and the GAs knew they would get in serious trouble if the did anything to circumvent the process. They were instructed to pull from Y up to F, and it did NOT delay flights. Same on CO, as I remember. It absolutely CAN be done without delays.
In my opinion, the only reason NOT to pull from Y, is to create this gray area of ambiguity that exists now, so that the GAs have a loophole to "take care of their own". You board - you lose. Perfect. Everybody boarded and lost, so now I can UG my fellow employees.
In my opinion, the only reason NOT to pull from Y, is to create this gray area of ambiguity that exists now, so that the GAs have a loophole to "take care of their own". You board - you lose. Perfect. Everybody boarded and lost, so now I can UG my fellow employees.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:02 pm
#33
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 97
There is a real value in making rules and then sticking to them. The # of rants on FT from people who "always travel with an over-sized carry-on and are never required to check it until [TODAY]", "always have a GA board to pull them from steerage to F until [TODAY], or any number of other issues, goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.
To OP's question, yes it is entirely possible that the F pax connecting from HI did not have seat assignments. Not all systems are perfect. Those people paid for their seats while OP did not. If DL downgrades those people, it is required by the COC to refund the fare difference to them. If DL downgrades a freebie, it may choose to toss a few miles / a small voucher, but it need not.
Given that GA's can't create seats, someone is getting the boot. The GA made the call for the guy who paid over the guy who didn't.
To OP's question, yes it is entirely possible that the F pax connecting from HI did not have seat assignments. Not all systems are perfect. Those people paid for their seats while OP did not. If DL downgrades those people, it is required by the COC to refund the fare difference to them. If DL downgrades a freebie, it may choose to toss a few miles / a small voucher, but it need not.
Given that GA's can't create seats, someone is getting the boot. The GA made the call for the guy who paid over the guy who didn't.
If Delta wanted Gate Agents to process upgrades after boarding, then they would publish that and not the opposite.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:20 pm
#34
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Mar 31, 2015, 6:24 pm
#35
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I've been pulled from the back at least a half dozen times. This was the policy of NWA as well as other airlines. Pulling people from the back doesn't take any extra time and it's the most fair way of doing it as opposed to the slackers waiting around in the gate for a no show.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:26 pm
#36
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Must be something about HI, last year my wife and I took VDBs because a mother and child only had assigned seats on their HI-LAX did not have assigned seats on their LAX-SEA leg. The gate agent only realized this right before boarding was about to start and AFTER he said that everyone had a seat and they wouldn't need volunteers.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:31 pm
#37
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NW had a VERY strict policy as to the integrity of the UG list, and the GAs knew they would get in serious trouble if the did anything to circumvent the process. They were instructed to pull from Y up to F, and it did NOT delay flights. Same on CO, as I remember. It absolutely CAN be done without delays.
In my opinion, the only reason NOT to pull from Y, is to create this gray area of ambiguity that exists now, so that the GAs have a loophole to "take care of their own". You board - you lose. Perfect. Everybody boarded and lost, so now I can UG my fellow employees.
In my opinion, the only reason NOT to pull from Y, is to create this gray area of ambiguity that exists now, so that the GAs have a loophole to "take care of their own". You board - you lose. Perfect. Everybody boarded and lost, so now I can UG my fellow employees.
Also, these upgrades did not delay flights. Sometimes the GA would instruct the upgraded passenger to leave carry on bags until after takeoff when the seatbelt sign was turned off. Other times the FAs would have carved out some bin space in FC for either the late boarder in FC or the upgraded person.
It worked.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:33 pm
#38
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I agree.
Also, these upgrades did not delay flights. Sometimes the GA would instruct the upgraded passenger to leave carry on bags until after takeoff when the seatbelt sign was turned off. Other times the FAs would have carved out some bin space in FC for either the late boarder in FC or the upgraded person.
It worked.
Also, these upgrades did not delay flights. Sometimes the GA would instruct the upgraded passenger to leave carry on bags until after takeoff when the seatbelt sign was turned off. Other times the FAs would have carved out some bin space in FC for either the late boarder in FC or the upgraded person.
It worked.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:34 pm
#39
Join Date: Mar 2015
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Delta's Contract of Carriage defines waitlist in such a way that a passenger's standby upgrade becomes invalid after boarding unless that passenger deplanes himself from his confirmed seat.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:34 pm
#40
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To OP's question, yes it is entirely possible that the F pax connecting from HI did not have seat assignments. Not all systems are perfect. Those people paid for their seats while OP did not. If DL downgrades those people, it is required by the COC to refund the fare difference to them. If DL downgrades a freebie, it may choose to toss a few miles / a small voucher, but it need not.
Given that GA's can't create seats, someone is getting the boot. The GA made the call for the guy who paid over the guy who didn't.
If that were the case though, wouldn't the system take 3 seats out of the upgrade inventory? Surely you can't upgrade 3 people into a cabin that doesn't have 3 seats to sell/upgrade, even if 3 existing 1st class reservations didn't have seat assignments?
Mar 31, 2015, 6:39 pm
#41
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If you or anyone knows where this language is in the CoC, by all means - - PLEASE post it!!!
Mar 31, 2015, 6:39 pm
#42
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 97
I have no problem with people who paid for their seats (even those who paid $150 FCM for a 1st class seat) getting their seats.
If that were the case though, wouldn't the system take 3 seats out of the upgrade inventory? Surely you can't upgrade 3 people into a cabin that doesn't have 3 seats to sell/upgrade, even if 3 existing 1st class reservations didn't have seat assignments?
If that were the case though, wouldn't the system take 3 seats out of the upgrade inventory? Surely you can't upgrade 3 people into a cabin that doesn't have 3 seats to sell/upgrade, even if 3 existing 1st class reservations didn't have seat assignments?
It's also possible that those F seats were sold after you were upgraded. Since your ticket was still an economy fare, your new seat assignment wouldn't adjust any inventory.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:42 pm
#43
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 97
Of all the posts here about "You board, you lose" here over the years, the closest thing I have ever seen to something that might be official was when someone said they had an eMail from customer service that stated this was the policy.
If you or anyone knows where this language is in the CoC, by all means - - PLEASE post it!!!
If you or anyone knows where this language is in the CoC, by all means - - PLEASE post it!!!
That's the only public information that's available regarding Delta's upgrade policy.
Mar 31, 2015, 6:58 pm
#44
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It's in the definitions section of the COC. That's as close as it gets, and the definition of waitlist makes a pretty clear exclusion for processing standby reservations after boarding. You can't occupy two seats, so if you take your confirmed seat, then the standby reservation goes away.
That's the only public information that's available regarding Delta's upgrade policy.
That's the only public information that's available regarding Delta's upgrade policy.
Mar 31, 2015, 7:13 pm
#45
Join Date: Sep 2003
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WFBF...if you don't BF, you are an unpaid guest in that cabin. Enjoy what you get (for which you didn't pay). If you are moved for somebody that paid for that space and you didn't pay for that space, the right person got the seat.
And the policy IS - you board, you lose. 150 seats departing on time is FAR MORE important than anyone getting an unpaid upgrade.
And the policy IS - you board, you lose. 150 seats departing on time is FAR MORE important than anyone getting an unpaid upgrade.