Originally Posted by
ctporter
... What I have noticed is at SEA is that there are a LOT of folks coming up to the GAs and asking for better seats or upgrades to FC despite the announcements that it is "a very full flight, we need xxx more people to check their bag free of charge". So, I can imagine it would be easy for a GA to slip into the "what part of full flight did you not hear" mode, but even so I have not seen abruptness or rudeness to those passengers. ...
one of my last departures (C17, IIRC) the GA said "This is a completely full flight" when the screen clearly said "Capacity 145, booked 118, checked in 117" ... I gestured toward the screen and (with a big grin) said "I know you're probably going off a script for that announcement, but this says there are 27 empty seats" ..."oh, that means the BINS are completely full; there have to be something like 60 empty seats before we can stop calling for gate-checking carry-on bags"