Originally Posted by
Baze
Positive. There were 4 unassigned seats in F scattered throughout the F cabin. Monitor said 20 booked Checked in full. F unavailable. The GA announces they have 4 F seats for sale from $109 to $249. Saw 2 people walk up and flash credit cards. Monitor went to 22 Booked, checked in full F unavailable. GA makes announcement again and same thing happens with another person going up and flashing credit card. 5 minutes before boarding starts GA again makes announcement and a 4th person walks up and flashes credit card. Now F says 24 booked, checked in full F unavailable. We board. Guess there was 1 misconnect as GA came on board with BP and gives it to a person who looks shocked and they go up to F. All during this time I was #1 on the upgrade list thinking to myself maybe i will get my first CPU as a Gold in the last 30 or so flights. And I watch the seats get sold to people who had obviously never been in F before and had no status (could see their BP's). So yes, I am positive on how this unfolded. I even sent a message to UA Insider about the practice and got no response. So they are definitely trying whatever they can to sell the seat before giving it to an elite who may have paid more than the buy up person.
OK, I believe you. But to me, this is a bit of a different situation than what was being described. I think UA plays all sorts of games with upsells to F. I've seen a family member #1 on the overhead monitor, and then been told by the GA that they are really #7 on their screen. (after #2 and #3 on the overhead monitor got the UG.)
I would expect that it's an entirely different 'ancillary' system that handles E- and E+ upsells. Maybe there's shenanigans going on there too. But my guess is that Jeffy Jeff knows the most money is to be made in the front cabin, and that's where he really wants them to play games.