adastra

I just flew CO494 from LAX to IAH and had a confusing and unpleasant experience at boarding. I did OLCI at the 24-hour mark and didn't get upgraded then, but I remained #1 on the upgrade standby list every time I checked. The number of available first class seats fluctuated, but I wasn't particularly surprised when I got a ticket for 6F at the airport check-in kiosk.

When I went to board, the agent stopped me and asked, "Where did you get this ticket? Who gave you this upgrade? When did you get this?" She told me that I had been "accidentally" upgraded and put my boarding pass on the podium, asking me to wait in the gate area until passenger boarding was completed. I stood by the counter, awaiting further information or instructions (and a boarding pass, which I was now lacking). Meanwhile, another passenger came up to the gate and demanded first class seating. He wasn't confirmed on the flight and threw an impressive tantrum as the agent explained that first class was full. It was an ugly scene. But a few minutes later, he had a seat in F.

As the final boarding call neared, I was nervous about being in the gate area without a boarding pass. I approached the agent and received a ticket for 22A, my original seat from OLCI. She apologized but said that my seat in F had been taken away for another customer. I could see myself on the PDA site the whole time, first with seat 6F and later with seat 22A. I'm still on the upgraded list, in fact: " MIT, S. 22A" The person after me on the standby list, FRI, R., was also upgraded and then put back into coach.

Does Continental frequently have "accidental upgrades" and then take them back? I found the whole experience strange and uncomfortable, especially when I was being grilled by the first agent about where the upgrade came from. Has this happened to others?

J.Edward

Sorry to hear of your troubles, adastra.

For this you might want to PM CO Insider over as he's been interested in past issues with downgrades and upgrade irregularities.

ralfp

MIT, S. 22A
FRI, R. 10A

Row 22 is F? Sweet! CO really upped the size of the 753 F cabin.

It looks like the GA really liked T. DAV. and someone else. At least you didn't get shafted as much as R.FRI.

The GA knows the secret to suppressing dissent: accuse the victim of wrongdoing.

UA Insider

Hi adastra, sorry to hear about this. We are looking in to why this happened, and will follow up as soon as we know more.

colpuck

bad beat sir, bad beat.

ContinentalFan

I don't know if it's frequent, but it did happen to me this year--it has never happened before on CO (or on AA or DL, for that matter). A lot of strange things have happened this year, so I am putting it down to a software glitch that they'll ultimately fix.

cova

I am not sure I understand. If the kiosk upgraded you and you had a seat that was not assigned to anyone else - then you should have been able to keep that seat.

Sounds like the system was open for upgrades and the gate agents did not process them - because they were holding them. In this case the CO system should have the ability to know that there are misconnects and hold off on upgrades.

When 2 of us were arriving from GRU on a delayed flight due to a mechanical stop on the way to IAH - the BF concierge agent on arrival just said - "I assume you just wanted to continue and fly coach and that the one seat left was being held for a possible crew member".

We got the one seat when we went to a non-BF concierge agent (the concierges are completely useless and a waste of CO money). The agent did not downgrade someone so that we could get second seat on a paid FC ticket.

Sounds like to me that the agent gave up the seat to a displaced FC customer.

channa

This is the most disturbing part, IMO. How is it that the CO agent can get away with talking like that to an Elite member? I understand he's only Silver, but he is still a regular, frequent flyer in CO's loyalty program. It's almost as if the agent is suggesting the customer did something wrong.

I know that CO management likes to fawn over their employees, talk about how great they are, and how great CO is. This type of attitude towards a regular customer is a direct consequence of that.

OPFlyer

Let's hope CO Insider can see why this happened.

ScottCLE

This just happened to me last week! On Sun April 6, I was flying from CLE to SEA. I was next on the upgrade standby list when I left for the airport. But, when I checked in, I got the upgrade.

Of course, on a 4 1/2 hour flight I was psyched. What a surprise when I handed my boarding pass over just to have it ripped out of my hand. The gate agent said I had a new seat.

All they said was that there was some sort of mistake. I just had to wonder what happened. She said it was her fault. I assumed that meant someone else was entitled to the seat for whatever reason, but you just never know.

Scott

PS - this is my first post. I found this site a few months ago and have been reading nearly daily.

spartacus

Do you have any right to 'refuse' the downgrade and insist upon using your CO-issued seemingly-legitimate seat in first? I would have had them get the station manager to the gate immediately and would not have been sugar-and-spice about it!

rjque

I doubt you have the right to refuse. However, given CO's miserable seat pitch in Y, I might insist on my original Y exit row seat or try to reschedule if possible.

LAhatetofly

It sounds like the GAs are trying to control the upgrades, instead of what the computer system assigns? It's as if they don't realize that we have visibility now into the computer system. Maybe once the gates all have the pda info displayed they'll realize they can't do this...

ContinentalFan

If you refuse, your only option is not to fly! The station manager is probably going to back the GA--I would. I think that in this case, options are limited.

adastra

Thank you, Scott. I look forward to knowing a little more - it was all very confusing and opaque at the gate.

I will give the agent a bit of credit - she seemed to be trying to figure out how she had two passengers assigned to 6F. But it was in front of the entire line of boarding passengers, and I didn't really know what to say. I don't think she meant it to sound like an accusation, but it felt a bit like one. Where did I get the upgrade? From Continental!

By the end of boarding, I was simply worried about having no boarding pass at all! I have never seen definitive information about the rights of an upgraded passenger. I figure upgrades are a privilege, I enjoy them, but they are given (and perhaps taken away) at the discretion of CO's employees. It would be easier to 'fight' if I knew the rules.