Originally Posted by
airtran1
A lot of agents do not "blindly" do upgrades at T-40. I call Elites up by name in order of check-in. If you don't respond I move on to the next one. I have to many examples of Elites not wanting the upgrade because I only had the 1st row available or they were traveling with someone on a different reservation and wanted to keep their seat. Now I have upgraded them, they don't want it and I can't get their old seat back. I do not upgrade until I have them in front of me so no, your boarding pass will not be waiting for you in some cases.
An Elite business traveller travelling with someone on a different PNR is likely going to be upset if they were upgraded blindly.. I've seen many turn down the UG to sit with their travel partner(s).
I've upgraded an Elite to a window seat and had them want their exit row aisle back... which luckily was still available.
There is nothing automatic about UGs. And blind upgrade can carry a host of issues. Airtran1 IMHO seems to address all issues properly with a face to face first.