Originally Posted by
CJKatl
I've sat next to people in F who have no idea how they were chosen to sit in F when the flight is full. Not often, but it happens.
My curiousity, though... Why would that be unfair to those who paid to be in a preferred seat? When he/she chose to purchase an F seat, the expectation was an F seat, free drinks, early boarding, etc, all of which still applies. What difference does it make if those sitting next to the pax are paying customers, medallions on UGs, airline employees or ordinary kettles who paid for a seat? How does that, in any way, change what the person who paid for F expected from DL?
There are many ways to "pay" for the seat, and miles, status, airline employee perk, etc are all legitimate forms of payment.
But if someone randomly gets upgraded to preferred, EC, or F, then indeed I feel it is "unfair" to those who paid for it or legitimately earned it, even though it may be common practice on many airlines.
Which is why some airlines like SQ almost NEVER upgrade people for free, even for ops reasons. It devalues the product for those who pay for it, and increases expectations for "free" upgrades and thereby potentially dilutes revenue too.
Note that I am not suggesting those who paid should be compensated or refunded except perhaps in egregious situations. But I was just curious as to how Delta would handle the more subtle preferred seating freebie situation.
Also, is there any mechanism in place to prevent people from moving from non-preferred seats to preferred seats on light flights?