Originally Posted by
Widgets
The thing that actually caused me to start looking at upgrading customers to DC+ is that a kettle told me how annoyed he was that I gave him row 30 when he saw all the DC+ open, but I filled it up with NRSAs.
He didn't pay for DC+, so I offered it to him for the cost, but he said he should have been given it for free since he asked at the gate for it.
To avoid this whole awkward situation, now I can just say that I upgraded our elite frequent fliers to those seats.
Also, is it fliers or flyers?
No way should you give the C+ seat to a kettle for free just becasue he asked. In fact, one disadvantage of C+ seats is that you're apparently less likely to have an empty middle seat next to you than you would in preferred or regular seats. Part of this is due to the practice of assigning coach NRSA seats front to back, or giving them the best available open seats.
Would it be considered inappropropriate to announce in the gate that you have a number of middle C+ seats available for free to elites or for a $X fee for others? If this leads to a stampede, you shouldn't do it but then you would have an answer about whether people want to be moved to middle C+ seats.
Many elites follow seat maps on the app, even during boarding, and sometimes try to change their seat at the last minute. If someone really wants to be moved to C+, especially a middle seat over their current aisle or window, I would expect them to nicely approach the GA if the podium doesn't seem too busy. I guess you could just wait a bit after processing upgrades before moving people (standbys and others) into the now-empty center C+ seats to give those who care the opportunity to grab these seats for themselves.
As a very general rule, it seems best to avoid changing someone's seat irreversibly without asking unless it's clearly and equivalent or better seat.