Originally Posted by
Chanticleer
Flying out of GSP, my sleepy little home airport. Was upgraded to FC 5 days out and was planning to board last (aisle seat on CRJ900 and didn’t want to be hit by 50 bags.)
Was relaxing in the gate area when I was paged around the time Zone 1 was called. I checked in and the agent asked why I hadn’t boarded. I explained myself. He told me he almost gave away my seat. I asked if he would do that 25 minutes from push and he informed me I should always board first when upgraded in order not to lose my seat.
Ive been boarding last for years when I don’t have a roller. I’m not saying he’s wrong I was just surprised. Should I change my habits?
The gate agent is making stuff up. This is obvious based on the fact that in ATL and other hubs, Minimum Connection Time is less than the time at which DL starts boarding flights.. MCT is as short as 35 min in ATL; flights start boarding 40 min before departure. The gate agent can downgrade or offload you if they've done a "Last Call" inside of T-15 and you haven't boarded because you weren't at the gate. But they can't downgrade you just because you didn't board with your zone.
Originally Posted by
Chanticleer
He he was a tad snarky and said people who board FC late make his life difficult. I’ve dealt with him before. Maybe he was just having a bad day.
Yea, he may be hoping to know FC is boarding full as early as possible for upgrade purposes - if a FC seat is going to be a no-show, he can UG the next Medallion on the UG list. But that's the GA's "problem". It's not yours.