Originally Posted by
woody1173
Should he have made the effort to voluntarily downgrade?
NO!
It's really only the business of the people sitting in each of the two seats if they want to trade with each other. A downgrade (if even possible at this late stage)
wouldn't have put him in a seat that he desired, and that was one next to his wife.
A suggestion from now on would be for UA to issue "Red Cards" to everyone #1 & #2 on the upgrade list. Should they suspect a foul they could whip out the "Red Card" and shove it in the violators face thus sending the scofflaw off the plane, opening a new available seat.
There would be no appeal for the "Red Carded" person as FTer's know all the rules and have the duty, with enough support, to run the boarding process and determine what everyone's right's are, and if somehow, some way, God forbid, our group may be being discriminated against, we can send out lot's-a-letters!