Originally Posted by
missydarlin
Yes, F can be purchased from the gate agent.
I believe gate upgrades in general are just seats assigned by the gate agent. They aren't rebooking anyone into U at that point. But they are supposed to clear the U list before offering paid upgrades.
I have seen the scenario where someone just walks up to the gate counter and casually asks if there are any F upgrades they can purchase, then the gate agent looks it up and offers them an amount. I haven't seen one actually purchased myself, but one could presume the agent would take the easiest path and just sell the upgrade, putting them directly into F, thereby bypassing and reducing U.
Since upgrades are often not processed until right before (or well after) boarding, any paid F upgrades would steal a U unless the GA specifically follows the policy mentioned and checks U first and holds the F purchase request until later.
This causes a lot of extra headache for the GA if after clearing U , and checking boarding, find still F open, upgrade list empty and needs to go back onto the plane to process the purchase?! Not practical.
Of course on all the flights I take the upgrade list is far beyond what would ever be available so GAs should not even be entertaining an F paid upgrade request if they were aware of the policy. So I infer they are generally not (aside any new recent communication). (Maybe I will test them next time by asking to purchase an upgrade
)
It would really help the situation if complimentary upgrades were processed (the first time) when check-in deadline has passed. ...then once again after boarding to catch the no-shows.