Originally Posted by
Fitch7600
I guess it varies by the gate agent. Last week I was connecting in DFW en route to LAX. My DFW-LAX upgrade cleared right at 100 hours, which was great. My inbound flight was quite early, allowing me to stand by for an earlier flight to LAX, thus saving myself 2.5 hours. In that case I was perfectly willing to grab a coach seat to get to LAX quicker. As an added bonus, the Admiral's club Angel was able to clear me on the flight immediately, and mentioned that I was also first on the upgrade list with one unsold seat (3A) remaining. Even though I was technically standby, there was no one else remaining on the list (pretty rare for an evening flight to LAX I would imagine).
When I get to the gate, I am the only one on the upgrade list. As they cleared the standby list, including a pilot in uniform, first class suddenly had checked in full. And when I board, I see the non-rev pilot now in seat 3A. And yes, I know he was originally flying standby. I saw and heard him get called up to the desk.
Were you on the standby list or the upgrade list? Granted it's all one list as far as the agents are concerned (Priority List) but did the Admirals Club confirm you on to the flight and you were on the List for an Upgrade (code on the list of UPG or UPG1, etc.) or were you merely on the standby list (R, DRX, etc., depending on type of ticket)?
If you were already confirmed on the flight requesting an upgrade then no category of non-rev should have received an upgrade before you did.
Originally Posted by
TWA884
I understand and appreciate your point of view; however, I must correct a misconception. Deadheading crews are not classified as non-revenue passengers; they travel on company business. Non-rev travel, by definition, is for personal purpose.
Your correction merely adds confusion and your definitions are wrong. Company business travel is most certainly non-revenue. Non-revenue travel need not be for personal reasons and it need not be space available.
Broadly, non-revving can be segmented into either NRSA (Non Revenue Space Available) or NRPS (Non Revenue Positive Space). Deadheading crews and other forms of employee travel on official company business would, of course, be NRPS. And while NRPS travel is positive space, in all but a select few classifications, AA NRPS travelers don't get to confirm first class seats; if they want an upgrade to F, they are supposed to get it after all revenue passengers requesting upgrades.
Originally Posted by
MauiTigerShark
I didn't know the classification so thank you for letting me know. However, AA can classify it however they like, Deadheading crews are still not paying for the seat and are not earning AA any money. So, while they obviously need to be accommodated on aircraft to get them to where they're going (no argument there) I still can't think of an instance when they should get priority seating over paying pax.
See my explanation above (and don't be too hasty in thanking TWA884 for incorrect definitions). Deadheading crews are supposed to get their upgrades after revenue passengers requesting upgrades. There is a system flaw though that on the Priority List you need to actually be confirmed on a specific flight to have the proper position on the List.