Originally Posted by
EWRBound
I notice that after the miles ug passes and everyone is successfully upgraded to BF, that a lot of other customers (non mile ug) have gotten into the cabin and the flight generally leaves full in BF.
Do they have "space available" seating in bf for plats or high fare classes but unannounced? I always wonder how the cabin ends up full when after all mile ug's process there should be about 7-8 seats open.
Well, I don't know how you know when the "miles ug passes and everyone is successfully upgraded to BF". Mileage upgrades that don't clear the waitlist by the 24 hour mark then transfer over the the upgrade standby list. Those names certainly could be mileage upgrade requests.
But yes, often there are others that are upgraded from the standby list at the airport. Usually you'll see a bunch of names on both the upgrade standby list
and the "flight standby list." I believe that's a rather sure indication that it is a non-revenue traveler (NRSA, I think), usually an employee or friend/family of employee. I believe they can request BusinessFirst if it's available, though I don't know how much extra they have to pay, if anything).