Originally Posted by PandaMVP

I just called the Gold line to ask about this specific issue and got a very disappointing answer. They told me that because of the way they are selling tickets, there is now much less U space available and that even though there may be a lot of first class seats that have been left unsold 30-60 minutes prior to boarding, these seats may or may not be U class seating and that the gate agents have been instructed to sell these seats for an upgrade fee to generate more revenue and then the Elite waitlist will be accessed at boarding when "no more revenue seats can be sold." They told me that this is the official policy. They said we have the option of paying the upgrade fee to guarantee a seat in that time frame.

Again, what is the point of being an MVP/MPVGold/75K if this is the case? Passengers can jump over you on the waitlist because they can pay for the upgrade fare. My wife was 1/3 on the waitlist yesterday, but the tv screen showed new passengers showing up as cleared and assigned seats from 4-15. According to the gate agent, these were passengers that paid the upgrade fee prior to the cut-off time.

Missy, do you know if this is the case now? I have a flight this Friday, which still shows plenty of first class seats that are bookable with no U space, which may lead to the same situation again.