JFK-RDU this morning with me as #1 of 6 on the upgrade list.

I asked at the gate if first class had boarded full, this was when they were boarding Zone 2, and the agent said yes. When I got on the plane there were four empties in F which made me wish I'd stayed at the gate. One seat remained empty at the end of boarding. The gate agent came on and was surprised to see an open seat. She said the woman in 14A should be in 4D. The f/a went back and found there is no woman in 14A. The f/as paged the woman several times and she didn't answer. The gate agent had left the plane by this point but was still on the jet bridge and she and the flight attendant shouted back and forth about where the woman in 14A was. I overheard the gate agent give my name as next on the list but I wasn't pulled up. I got the attention of the flight attendant who said there was nothing she could do and the seat would go empty.

So now we're flying down to RDU with an empty F seat and an upgrade list of six back in Y. I'm writing to DL about this for all the good it'll do.