Yesterday, I was booked DCA-MIA-LAX-SAN. My upgrade for the MIA-LAX segment had come through. I'm waiting for the flight, and the GA calls me up because a later DCA-MIA flight is cancelled and they desperately need seats. I explain that I need the extra miles for EXP this year. She finds a routing, DCA-JFK-LAX-SAN, which is about three hundred miles short of the trip I had planned, but there's no upgrade available to LAX. She offers to put me into paid first and reduce the voucher from $300 to $200. I agree. So, the first question is, should I get the EQM bonus as I was booked into paid first even though I only "paid" $100?

So, of course, the DCA-JFK flight is late (weather). I rush to the gate. Flight is still there, and door open although it's 5 minutes before scheduled departure. In fact, the flight notification I receive says the flight is delayed 35 minutes. GA refuses to let me board. I stand there looking at my flight for 20 minutes while the GA rebooks me on a later flight that gets me into SAN at 11:30 instead of 6:30. Second question, what's up with this? Am I missing something? I've often been sitting on planes past scheduled departure time as more people board. Is there a reasonable explanation for this?