Originally Posted by
maxwellh
Last Thursday, I flew YVR-LAX-SAT. I was upgraded a couple of days out on both legs. The LAX-SAT was an E175, and I was assigned 4A, which I like, because I can fully recline guilt-free, and I have no neighbor (it's 4 rows of 1x2 in First).
I received a boarding pass in YVR with this seat assignment, but when I attempted to board in LAX (being perhaps the 5th or 6th person to board after First was called), the scanner blinked red and gave the trademark "Wrong boarding pass, pal!" beep.
The GA looked at the boarding pass, wrinkled his brow, then looked down at the desktop, where he picked up and handed me a boarding pass that was already sitting there with my name on it for seat 4D. "Looks like they put you in a different seat," he said. I was confused, but went ahead and boarded the plane and saw that there was indeed someone else sitting in 4A. As this was the first time that I can recall such a thing happening to me, I decided that I was going to try to do a little investigative work.
When I got to row 4, I put my bags up, then looked down at the gentleman (and believe me--he was a gentleman) sitting in my previously assigned seat and, grinning, I asked him: "So--how exactly did you go about stealing my seat?"
"There's a very good reason...," he said and paused a moment before saying, "4 Million Miles."
"You can do that??" I asked.
"Sure can," he said.
I left it at that--far from angry, or even irritated, because what difference does it really make--it's more that I was intrigued.
Since AA went to only BIS miles, I realize that I'll never hit 4MM no matter how long I keep the schedule I've had for the past decade (I've been EXP for the past 8 or 9 years and am currently sitting on 1.3MM Million Miler and 1.8MM Program-to-Date Miles), but I can still dare to dream of wizard-like skills such as these.
So...finally, my simple question to you more extensively-traveled folks: Are you aware of any magic powers which allow someone to force the seat of their choice and/or reassign another passenger's seat assignment?
(Thanks in advance to anyone who DOESN'T tl;dr me!!)
Hi, Well, I do have 4 MM but I never got anybody's seat for it. I am going to make a stinker next time... (just joking).
One thing I DO find though, is that by selecting the first or second aisle MCE seat as a guarantee while hoping for an upgrade, the GA unfailingly comes to fetch me if the seat opens after boarding. He/she probably would not do it if I were in 10E, too much disturbance in the cabin.
Another thing I find is that if I miss a connection or standby for an earlier flight, I usually easily get the first MCE row under airport control but I assume that it is more for being EXP than 4MM
Methinks the gentleman may have meant that he was CK but did not utter the words that few people understand anyways.