Originally Posted by Chowtime

I think its pretty simple. Don't let it happen regardless of age. Why? Well that seat could have gone to someone that was waiting for an upgrade. Perfect example was 2 days ago SFO-YVR. I had a confirmed upgrade on a lat fare and my colleague who waited too long and was waitlisted. At the gate he was told J Class was full. Before the door was closed and boarding seemed complete, my friend went and asked the SD about the 2 empty J Class seats. SD said that sorry but it's too late to do an upgrade and they were going to close the doors soon. My friend and another passenger also waiting for their upgrade were not impressed. I don't know about the other passenger but my friend is a 2 MM and flies over 200K/year with AC. The doors eventually closed and we left with 2 empty J Seats. First, I don't know how this could happen and they couldn't check the upgrade list. Second, if I saw someone self upgrade themselves to either of these seats regardless of age, I'd be incredibly pissed. I've seen when seats have opened up[ because of no shows right before departure and they've actually went to the back to bring waitlisted upgrades up to the front but never this.