Originally Posted by
IvanCU
All good points.
So here's the clincher; I just walked up to first class and spoke with the flight attendants. Seat 5F is empty. I specifically asked the gate agent if First Class had checked in full, and he said it had. This was after he told me that he couldn't get me into the upgrade system.
Nice way to treat an EXP.
The proper question to ask is "Has F boarded full?" The check-in could have happened more than 24 hours ago from an area far, far away and pax either missed the connection or got rerouted and the flight not updated. Yes, there are lazy GAs that will spout no upgrades available to be able to close the flight quicker. After all that is their measure of success and not how many elites they satisfied.
All you can do is ask and hope the other person finds the time to do the extra work. That's where being nice and I try to get them laughing so they aren't thinking I'm just another self-entitled elite trying to get something for free (I wish all my traveling earning status was free) and it seems to work for me. There are some that just can't pull off funny no matter what.