Op Up? No, pay up.
Aug 27, 2006, 11:15 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: FLL. AA PLT 2.7MM, UA Gold MM, Delta Gold Medallion & Lifetime SC, Hilton GVIP, SGP, Hertz 5 Star
Posts: 961
Op Up? No, pay up.
We recently traveled to DFW from a smaller Western airport. Pre-chose 20A/B in the exit row on an MD-80. I checked in online the night before.
My partner tried to check in online the morning of departure, and discovered he had been re-assigned to 3F. No upgrade had ever been requested, though he had enough stickers if he'd wished to do so.
We were puzzled. A call to the PLT desk revealed only that the airport ops had upgraded him that morning, which was odd, as the flight was not oversold. And we're both PLT, but only he was moved up.
The ticket agent at the airport could not figure it out, but said it didn't look like a freebie. She called Ops. The manager said that she had taken it upon herself to "protect" my partner in a First seat -- which he was still expected to pay for with stickers -- because in her experience most all of "her" PLTs (we'd never used this airport before!) wanted to upgrade, and she took the liberty of moving him up before he even got to the airport. He was upgraded instead of me because it was noted that 20A does not recline.
At that point we were given 2 choices: add my name to the upgrade list, take our chances of being seated together, and take 3 stickers out of each account; or downgrade my partner back into Economy, assuming the seat next to me was still open. We opted for the latter.
Moving my partner without his request seemed like a nice, if bizarre and somewhat presumptuous, gesture. We could easily have found ourselves in the unfortunate position of being seated apart for 3.5 hours and unable to work together.
The airport seemed genuinely surprised that we opted to remain together in Economy, but reaccommodated us pleasantly. Has anyone else had AA do this for (to) them? How did you handle it?
My partner tried to check in online the morning of departure, and discovered he had been re-assigned to 3F. No upgrade had ever been requested, though he had enough stickers if he'd wished to do so.
We were puzzled. A call to the PLT desk revealed only that the airport ops had upgraded him that morning, which was odd, as the flight was not oversold. And we're both PLT, but only he was moved up.
The ticket agent at the airport could not figure it out, but said it didn't look like a freebie. She called Ops. The manager said that she had taken it upon herself to "protect" my partner in a First seat -- which he was still expected to pay for with stickers -- because in her experience most all of "her" PLTs (we'd never used this airport before!) wanted to upgrade, and she took the liberty of moving him up before he even got to the airport. He was upgraded instead of me because it was noted that 20A does not recline.
At that point we were given 2 choices: add my name to the upgrade list, take our chances of being seated together, and take 3 stickers out of each account; or downgrade my partner back into Economy, assuming the seat next to me was still open. We opted for the latter.
Moving my partner without his request seemed like a nice, if bizarre and somewhat presumptuous, gesture. We could easily have found ourselves in the unfortunate position of being seated apart for 3.5 hours and unable to work together.
The airport seemed genuinely surprised that we opted to remain together in Economy, but reaccommodated us pleasantly. Has anyone else had AA do this for (to) them? How did you handle it?
Aug 27, 2006, 11:23 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX; AA EXP, MM; HH Gold
Posts: 31,789
Odd. Perhaps this is AA's latest scheme for enhancing revenue?
Never happened to me. Here's a thread from earlier today with a similar bizarre upgrade:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595089
Never happened to me. Here's a thread from earlier today with a similar bizarre upgrade:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595089
Aug 28, 2006, 7:44 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSY (finally); previously NYC, BOS, AUH
Programs: AA EXP, 6MM; BA GLD
Posts: 17,251
I wonder if sticker upgrades count towards the station's P&L. Maybe this was the station manager's way of trying to improve her numbers!
Aug 28, 2006, 8:05 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 316
Happened to me at Mia for the short flight to MCO. GA called me and gave me a BP for FC. I assumed it was an Op Up. Flight was full with a standby waiting list.
Didn't find out until I checked my account a few days later that a sticker had been used.
Called AA and enquired if this was normal procedure, but didn't complain, and had the sticker added back to my account.
Didn't find out until I checked my account a few days later that a sticker had been used.
Called AA and enquired if this was normal procedure, but didn't complain, and had the sticker added back to my account.
Aug 28, 2006, 8:09 am
#5
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS
Posts: 781
Every time I've had a (domestic) op-up, I've had to call to get stickers reinstated in my account. Next time, if you want the upgrade, no need to enquire. Just take it then call AA CS afterward and tell them that you never requested the upgrade. Stickers will reappear in your account.
Michael
Michael