Originally Posted by sts603

Does a passenger occasionally decline an upgrade on board? Yes. Rarely. But it does happen. But most of those instances would be on short flights with a relatively empty Y cabin. Neither of those was the case with AA 1561. Would a passenger decline an on-board upgrade ORD-SFO? Maybe once in a blue moon. But the chances of two passengers declining? About that of me winning the Powerball. Three? Winning the Powerball twice. My point is that the chances of the GA needing to check with even more than one person , nevertheless more than two, to perform an onboard upgrade on a 4+ hour flight is exceptionally low.

What is so concerning to me and I'm sure other FTers here is your non-nonchalant attitude as an AA employee. You as the FA should be in the position to remind a GA that a seat is empty in F. Instead, you are washing your hands of the situation and treating a customers' upgrade as if its no-big-deal. I can assure you it is. We are entitle to our upgrades as per the rules of the program.

I absolutely want AA to sell those seats - it will lead to a healthier and more robust airline. But when those seats aren't sold, the upgrade program is part of what I am purchasing when I purchase an AA ticket. That is the mindset of at least most elites on any airline. When that is breached, its a breach of an implicit contract and an insult to my loyalty to AA and the money that I pump into its coffers every year. There are bad apple employees in every business. They should be reported, disciplined and fired for repeat offenses. Employees like you should be helping to rectify the situation rather than washing your hands of it. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. I think you've shown which category you fall into.