Originally Posted by
jamienbaker
Not to add insult to injury, but for those 16 that made it up front, this was an upgrade; a business elite-equipped 757. I'm flying to Hawaii soon and hoping for sort of the same thing, but naturally don't want to be among the unlucky downgrades. Does anybody know how the downgrades are determined? I'm guessing as a DM I'd be spared, but I'm traveling with 2 kids on award tix in a separate PNR, who have no status. I'm guessing they'd be reseated...and that would be a problem.
Good luck with compensation, I'll be curious how this works out for you. Best, Jamie
Not sure how the downgrades are determined, but I had the same substitution happen to me on a LIH-LAX leg in 2009. I was a GM flying on a K fare with miles to get into G. My S/O was on an R ticket for the return. So, obviously we were on separate PNRs. We originally had 4CD, but upon check in I was still in 4D but she was moved to 3D. S/O was not happy with not being together, but at least we were both in F. The agent stated that at least we weren't the 3 unlucky people bumped into Y. I assume that being GM spared me as an unlucky person and having the PNRs tied together might have helped her or else they picked the 3 non status people who used miles to upgrade.
In the end it never mattered since the flight was canceled and my s/o and I flew LIH-SFO on UA the next day instead of LIH-LAX-SJC on DL/MQ. I'd hate to be the people on LIH-LAX the next night to find out that they were downgraded since there was a potential for up to 39 people who thought they were in F with 16 seats available.