Here is the new, liberalized policy:

"Plus, through the coordination of our gate agents and flight attendants, if you have already boarded but are the next Medallion Member on the upgrade list when an upgrade becomes available, we will do our very best to upgrade you before takeoff, when possible."

Can anyone point to commonly encountered obstacles to a more customer-friendly policy that would result from modifying the above to "upgrade you before or after takeoff"?

Moving someone from coach to FC after reaching cruising altitude obviously will not delay departure or arrival.

The time required to do so would be small compared to the time the FAs require to configure the beverage carts before they move them into the aisles, so there would not be a great delay in service.

What would be the downside to a common-sense policy change that could serve to protect the perceived value of the FC UG benefit?

Give the FAs a list and empower them to do the sensible thing.



BTW... the explicit wording of the policy supports a practice that I have observed... "if you have already boarded but are the next Medallion Member on the upgrade list..."

This legitimizes what I have seen... the GA asks one person if they want to move up and, if the pax demurs, the GA does not go to the 2nd person on the list.