Originally Posted by
Rebelyell
Actually, this isn't true. The hotel clerk who said their were no rooms available knew s/he was lying. The gate agent who said "first class has checked in full" had a screen in front of her telling her that isn't the case. People deny benefits like this because their superiors encourage them to or because they want to confer the benefits on some personal friend.
And they lie to do it.
Focusing on the gate agent for the moment. In your earlier post you said the flight went off with an empty seat in FC. So the GA clearly didn't offer the seat to a friend. What is the GAs motivation to not offer the upgrade to anyone?
And what does "checked in full" mean anyway? My understanding is that CIF means every seat has had someone "check in" in advance, but that does not necessarily mean that every person will actually show up to fly. Some will change their plans and fly later, or tomorrow, or not at all. Which means that some of those FC seats will be available. 15 minutes before take-off, if any FC seats are still open then the GA is supposed to give out the upgrades per the order of the upgrade list. Even if you have already boarded, they're supposed to come get you and reseat you.
Sounds like your GA just wanted your flight to leave, and wasn't worried about what is "supposed" to happen.