Originally Posted by
SOBE ER DOC
It would be Better to let you take your seat in Y and then move you to F just prior to shutting the door if the other pax fails to make it. Then there's no harm, no fowl.
I hope the profusely apologized to you and offered something for service recovery.
I have long discussed with GA's that when there is a questionable UG, allow the pax to sit in Y and see what happens just before the boarding door closes. In practice, seen this happen only a couple times. One time saw that 2 pax were called up from Y but there was only 1 seat. Very embarassing for everyone.
It appears to me this is GA discretion, not DL policy. Some will allow a potential UG to board in Y, then move them up (it's happened to me). Others use the older(?) rule of holding back potential UG's until the last minute. Of course if you lose the UG, there will be no o/h space available.
Yes, DL was very generous about the error in my case and it may be in part why I am seeing more gate UG's get filled at the very last moment after general pax are boarded.