Flew to TPA for the weekend with my husband. Flying Continental, I got my Platinum FC upgrade at 12:01 am, 3 days before the flight. Unfortunately, my husband is Silver so he had to wait until day of to upgrade.
On the day of flight, CO reports that the flight is soldout in FC, oh well, we'll try the waiting list at the airport. Unfortunately, my husband was caught up in the old infamous Holland Tunnel for almost two hours (I took the PATH from WTC), and arrived only 45 minutes before flight time. But I try the Platinum Upgrade for companions routine, to see what happens. The SR in the Presidents Club spends a good five minutes putting him on the list, and then its time for a quick beer before we head to the gate.
We pre-board the flight, he taking 7C and I bunk in FC, and we wait. About 5 minutes before flight time (with one FC seat left), the red coat boards the flight and calls a passenger for upgrade. She never answers (they start to wonder if she ever boarded...is this scary or what?). He then starts to walk the plane and as he passes me, he mumbles that he needs to get a couple on the flight. He fixates on some little blond powderpuff sitting in first row coach, and decides to upgrade her (good thing I am in last row FC). Before she can jump out of her seat, I announce to him that my husband was waiting for a Platinum upgrade. He then turn 2 shades of red and tells me there are no platinums waiting for upgrades. Once I explained to him about the PC upgrade list, he immediately apologized and moved my husband into FC. Phew!!!...by the hairs of our teeth. And we are off. The rest of the flight was uneventful. Dinner was a choice of pasta alfredo or steak. Nice green salad to start, sourdough rolls and a cheesecake/apple crumb dessert.
The return flight was a different matter. No upgrades because the filght is overbooked. Hmmmmm......could we be bumped we think....so.....We arrived about an hour before flight and went to the FC check-in. There was red coat there and she waved us over. "Well you are platinum I see", she says. She then proceeds to tell us that the flight is oversold by 22 people and they are in a position at check-in to offer us $300 in vouchers each, hotel and food, including FC tickets on a flight out tomorrow. We negotiate it to $400 plus an upgrade of the hotel to the Marriott in the Airport (from the Ramada Inn).
Well, we take it and book ourselves on the 7am flight out. Excellent deal, considering the tickets only cost us $200 each.
Hotel was a typical airport hotel, nice outdoor pool, and very convenient because it is attached to the airport (no shuttles).
The return flight is uneventful, typical breakfast choices of cereal,fruit,yogurt or omelette and fruit.
I'm at work by 10:30 am....excellent weekend!