Several are complaining about the behavior of the companion. I think that is misguided. Most of us have a long "learning
curve" about dealing with airlines and airline situations, and that is why FLYERTALK is so useful. I'm guessing this companion did not appreciate what was going on. The upgrade process is obscure, I am sure, to most flyers. He heard his name called, and was given a new boarding pass. Up to this point, it just sounds like an honest mistake on American's part. If they'd thought about it, they would have given KMiami the choice who would get the upgrade in this situation. They didn't. So far its just an easy mistake. The fault lies in what happened next:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by KMiami:
I inquired about this and was told that there was only one unclaimed seat in Business and that he (my colleague) was first on the list and this was the policy.
</font>
This wasn't any policy. This was a gate agent who didn't realize the situation, either due to ignorance or was too busy with something else at the time. I think that American should consider returning the stickers.