This will be a bit long, so bear with me…

I (Plat) and a coworker (Silver) were flying this morning on a 738 on low fare class tickets. I got the EUA email at the 5-day window. At T-60 mins, there were 8/16 F booked and 6 on the UG list, one including my coworker at space 2 or 3. At T-~45 as we walked to the gate, the GA ran the EUA list and it then showed 11/16 booked with 3 on the UG list (the crew was already on the plane at this time). My coworker went for his new BP & I politely went to the agent and asked if there were definitively more open seats in F than on the UG list. She said, “Maaaaaybe” with a look wondering if I were going to sweet talk her. I explained I was a Plat and would use my companion upgrade only if the seat would otherwise go out empty. She said that there would be more seats than people on the list, and asked who I wanted to UG (after asking how I knew of it and seeing the PDA site on my phone, she was VERY impressed with CO’s site… but concerned it gave out too much info). I first asked if there were any employees that I could give the seat to and she said (after thanking me for my generosity) that the only ones were on Vacation Passes (the 3 still remaining on the UG list for the 5 seats) and that she couldn’t clear them before it was time to close the door. I then turned to an elderly lady in a wheelchair who was by herself and offered her a seat in F.

The GA I was talking to turned around to make an announcement, so I gave the lady’s BP to GA2 and asked to upgrade her as my companion. The lady was tickled and all was well…

On the flight, the lady leaned to the FA in F and started to explain how nice I was for giving her a seat in F (she tried to be quiet, but I could hear her). The FA had an aggressive tone and asked me how I could do that. I explained that as a Plat, I used my companion to UG her. The FA then told me that because of what I did, her daughter (a “Plat on NW who flies CO constantly”) was forced to sit in 5A. She then told me what I did was against policy since we weren’t on the same record (she was very hostile the whole time while I tried to calmly explain the policy over my breakfast). I explained that the Gold/Plat companions can be for ANYONE on the same flight, whether we’re related, best friends or random strangers. She said that’s “just wrong” and was going to report it to CO so it could be changed immediately. She then said that there were other hard-working employees on the flight who should have gotten the UG before “random strangers.” I explained that I even asked the GA about this, and the FA said there’s a captain in the exit row who should be up front, too. I then explained the “vacation pass” as the GA explained it to me and she was hot that the GA “should never give that info to passengers.” She was so worked up that the lady next to me felt VERY bad about taking the seat (offering to switch with her daughter) and was concerned she got me in trouble.

I explained the PDA site and that her daughter wasn’t on it (she gave me her initials and I knew the initials of the 3 remaining on it, who were cleared at T-15). She said her daughter “boarded the flight with [her]” (obviously before the T-45) so she was obviously checked in before then. She was very worked up over it (it was a 2 hr flight for God’s sake). She also “knew the GA well and knew that she wouldn’t do anything” to deny her daughter a FC seat, so she was convinced it was my fault. I even explained that my coworker (on a cheap fare class) should have been UG after her daughter, as a NW plat. She just kept going on that it was b/c of my gate date.

And when I put the elderly lady’s bag up top, I looked & F was full, so someone got seat 16/16.

Toward the end of the flight, the FA’s attitude did a 180 and she stood talking to us for a while, without issue! She even said how much she appreciates “[us] regular travelers” because we make her job easier and more fun.

There were lots of other issues, but I won’t get into them all here… if any CO employees want to look into the issue, I can provide you full info to help determine why the FA’s daugher didn’t get the UG.

A few questions came out of my “conversation” with the FA and lady today:
1. Is it true that someone on a “vacation pass” cannot get a companion upgrade?
2. Do employees ever fly for free? The lady said something about “flying for free” to the FA since she used to work for the airlines and the FA said, “People are all wrong about that. We never fly for free. Usually, it’s cheaper for us to buy a ticket than to try to use our benefits.” She also said that if they want to use a Buddy Pass for a family member, it’s very difficult and ridiculous because they “significantly raised the prices of that” recently… any truth to this, either?
3. Is there a policy forbidding the GA from telling me who is on a vacation pass?
4. If there are open seats in F remaining after all possible UG’s, how are the empty seats in F handled? The FA told me that the GA will give the seats out to anyone with a OP account, so I shouldn’t be upgrading strangers… I told her that my companion benefit was a perk that CO give me (whether I or she agrees with the policy, I just followed the rules of what I’m allowed to do). She also said that if the GA doesn’t dole out the UGs, it’s “her job” to do it as the FA… truth to this?