charlesdemar

On a flight ATL-AUS and sitting in 11C as this unfortunate day I was about 11 of 34 on the upgrade list for three seats. A minor comes on board; he looks probably to be 11 or 12 years old. Comes to row 10 and then heads back to the lead FA holding his ticket. Mrs. 10D and Mr. 10C are obviously together. The FA comes back to row 10 with the minor and tells 10D said minor has a ticket for her seat. Turns out, she got the upgrade to the front of the bus, but, she didn’t want to leave her beau alone in coach.

The FA confirms with 10D she is sure she wants to give her upgrade to the minor (exact words) and then sends the minor to her first class seat. Now, I can only assume the next person on the UG list was sitting within earshot since we were in C+ (perhaps not) and potentially saw this go down. Perhaps blissfully unaware as they wear their headphones and read their phone. But yeah, that just happened.

If you were next on the list, would you say something and potentially push a kid out of the seat? Just thought it was an interesting situation that I hadn’t seen happen before.

Of course, all this assumes the kid didn’t have the next spot on the upgrade list 

Zorak

This is sorta interesting... although, suppose a couple A and B are traveling together, A has status, B doesn't, A gets upgraded but chooses to sit in Y and give the upgrade to partner B instead. I think most people don't have a problem with this situation; so does it matter if A and B are strangers?

MSPeconomist

If I had been next on the upgrade list, I would have complained. The person entitled to the upgrade gave it up and it isn't either hers or the FA's to give to some random person.

DLFan2

In my mind it is a bit different to allow a spouse or companion to take your upgrade than to do what happened here. The person who wanted to stay with her companion should have declined the upgrade with the GA or had her name removed from the upgrade standby list before UGs were processed.

luv2ctheworld

This is an interesting situation. I would typically be unhappy if the upgraded passenger was a no-show and the GA or FA decided to give the seat to someone else not on the upgrade list.

However, the upgraded passenger was there, but decided not to take it and instead give the seat to the minor. In this case, the seat was still under the decision of the upgraded passenger (who is present) and chose someone else to sit in the seat. I can see from the upgraded passengers point of view that as a compensation to the guy now assigned to the supposed vacant seat, a swap for her upgraded seat was an equitable trade.

I can't really argue with that because the original upgraded passenger can still claim it as hers. I don't see this as being any different from a passenger who got upgraded, and then decided to give his/her seat to a uniformed military person (which I've seen a couple of times in the past).

If someone complained, I could easily see the upgraded passenger just take the upgrade and shut down the complainer; either way, the next person on the list wasn't going to get it.

NotHamSarnie

The child had something the upgraded pax wanted: a seat next to her partner. She opted to trade her F seat for one she thought more desirable and the child thought it was a fair deal and sat up-front - a perfectly valid transaction. The next person on the UG list did not have something the upgraded pax wanted, so no deal.

fly7b2

Technically it's her upgrade, so shouldn't she be entitled to give it to someone else? I think so. Just bad luck that she was one spot higher than you on the list. It's not your upgrade until it's no longer hers.

Oshkosh105

I'll actually side with the woman who received, but declined, the upgrade. While there is a different cabin in play, I feel that upgrade (seat) is the woman's and she can feel free to do what she wants with the seat. If she wants to trade with a passenger in coach, that is her choice. It's totally different if she was a no show, but she was on board the flight - it was her seat. This is coming from someone who has been #1 for 0 seats countless times this year.

Also keep in mind, it would have been a lot more work to change her seat assignment back to what she had, upgrade the next passenger, and there would still be the shuffling of seats so she could sit next to her companion, just that it would have happened in the same cabin.

xolinlevh

Was the minor traveling as a "unaccompanied minor" with Delta? Or just flying solo. If he was a UM I'd have expected there would have been stricter regulations about where he could sit.

luv2ctheworld

Well, technically, had the upgraded pax went to the gate originally and decline, she theoretically could have had her same seat, AND allowed the next person on the list to be upgraded.

However, that is assuming the economy seat assignment she wanted was not reassigned and/or she could have gotten it back easily.

Plus this is assuming the person she wants to sit next to was not just a spontaneous connection and she decided at that moment to sit there. We don't know whether or not she was aware her upgrade went through.

emrdoc

Well said...completely agree.

MSPeconomist

The story sounds like the woman simply poached the UM's seat rather than proposing a swap. it was the FA that gave the upgrade to the UM, not the person whom DL upgraded.

luv2ctheworld

But it was at the woman's discretion that allowed the FA to give the upgrade to the UM. She was present for the flight; and that upgraded seat.

She could have also chosen at that moment to go sit up front, and leave the UM in the designated seat; which would have made this a non-event.

charlesdemar

A couple of points I gathered from observation to clarify some questions. To the quote above, I'm uncertain, albeit, I'm presuming unaccompanied. Regardless, he was alone.

The minor did not "accept" the seat. He was told that's his new seat.

Thirdly, she turned down the UG knowing she received it before she got to the seat.

While I tend to agree that if you have an UG and want to give it to someone (e.g. a vet) I've declined upgrades in the past (both pre and post boarding) due to reasons like traveling with my wife, etc and the next person gets the upgrade - I watch them pick them right out of the row in front or behind me and push them up to the front. I'm pretty sure if I tried to appoint a person not traveling on my itin the FA would have declined my request.

I'm happy for the kid (as was most of us who gave him verbal high fives as he walked up there), but, I'm inclined to think this was an anomaly.

MSPeconomist

I think it was wrong. Some elite almost certainly earned that upgrade and was entitled to it, unless the kid was next on the upgrade list which is unlikely.