Flying to SIN today, I only had a 45 minute layover in ATL. Doable, but not great. I went to the airport early to get on an earlier flight to ATL. This is an M ticket that was actually upgraded "all the way".

I explained to the (very friendly) checkin person that I would like to get on an earlier flight to ATL. She told me that there are seats but she didn't exactly know how to deal with it given the international itinerary. She called someone (Atlanta?) and after quite a bit of hold time told me that she could only put me on standby even though there are plenty of seats (of course, I expect to be on the earlier flight so it is not a big deal. #6 out of 8 on the upgrade list right now, and 13 or so open seats.

Is this a new policy? She told me to get SDC would have been $250. I am Platinum SM, but have done similar changes as recent as a couple months ago. You would think they are happy to have me on my way vs. having me miss a connection due to some hickup with weather, mechanical or whatever.