Let me tell you what happened to me one time. Back in 2001, I was on Northwest 67 from AMS to DTW, operated by a 747-400. I had gone to some bother to get an exit row seat ahead of time. When the gate agent scanned my boarding pass as I was boarding in Amsterdam, the reader gave a funny beep that sounded like an error. It printed a new boarding pass. The gate agent looked at it and remarked, "You have a new seat assignment."

I wanted to protest, but I decided to suck it up and take whatever I got rather than hold up the boarding line. I'm easy going like that. As I proceeded down the jetway, I looked at my new seat. 2A. "OK, I guess that'll... Oh wait! 2A? As in 2A in the front of the airplane??" Sure enough, I turned left into the nose of the 747!

I had a marvelous flight!

Disclaimer: I realize that a lot of you are used to flying business or first class, but I am not. I am a common person with limited funds. I was so excited to score a free upgrade on a trans Atlantic flight.