plagwate

June 17 Flight 86 ATL-FLL - I checked-in online at 24-hours. The next day when I got to the airport, I checked my bag with the Ticketing Agent and verified that I was first in line for Elite upgrade. The bad news - there's only one seat left in BC. So I go through security and proceed to the gate area, settle in and open up the online seating map on my smartphone. 1F is still available. Fingers crossed. At T-40 minutes, I approach the Gate Agent and ask about the upgrade. Very curtly she replies, "Business Class is full". I tell her that I've been watching the map and that 1F appears to be open. She snaps back, "Business Class is full" as if I didn't hear her the first time. Before I can say "but..." there also happens to be a FA standing behind her who butts in "she says Business Class is full".

Annoyed after being spoken to like a child, I walk around the corner to Customer Service (we were at C-20). This time, the Customer Service Agent took the time to investigate and said that the main screen showed BC as full but the specific seat assignment for 1F was open. "Must be a computer glitch but that seat should be available for you", he says, "I'll have to call over to the gate." Well of course he gets Ms. Attitude on the phone and she snaps at him "Business Class is full". Customer Service Agent apologizes and says he tried. So I go back to the gate, board my assigned seat in Coach and watch to see if BC fills. Once the aircraft door shuts, the lead FA (the one who butted in at the counter), approaches a uniformed crew member (pilot) seated two rows ahead of me, taps him on the shoulder and motions him forward. Non-rev upgraded, paying Elite screwed over. Needless to say, I was peeved.

So today I call AirTran Customer Relations and explained the entire story to them. The person I spoke with listened and was apologetic for the experience. She took some time to investigate and got back to me. She could not verify the non-revenue upgrade but as compensation for the experience, she automatically upgraded me for my return flight on Sunday. Don't know if I would have gotten the upgrade already (to date there are 11 seats available) but it was a nice gesture and saves me the hassle. She also made note of the need for training with the GA (pretty standard line, don't know if that actually happens).

So what do my fellow FTers think? Shouldn't there be a policy (if there isn't one already) stating that open BC seats assigned by the FAs should be given to Elites first? I've seen this done on DL several times where Medallions get pulled from coach and moved up to FC. Even uniformed military are given upgrades before employees. It shouldn't be too difficult to provide this information on the on-board manifest if it isn't already.