Originally Posted by
redtop43
I know this thread is mostly about SWU's, but I had a surprise today in a different context.
I SDC'ed from a SEA-PHL redeye to a noon flight. The seat map shows 4 open F seats (out of 20 on the A321) but none for sale. When the upgrade list populated at T-4 hours, I was third. I figured, no way - if there were no F seats for sale, these seats were probably spoken for. I PPro with probably a relatively high EQD for being PPro (probably 15-18K).
There were a total of 5 names on the upgrade ilst, and I at
#3 and someone else at
#5 got upgraded.
I don't know if 1, 2 and 4 didn't show up, or what. I didn't complain.
This happened to me, but I was at the gate and was
#2 on a long haul from PHL-MUC in June for a business upgrade from main cabin extra, on a plane that had PE seats (as many of us know, AA doesn't put PE pax ahead of E pax for upgrade priorities, nor does it use the "next cabin of service" like BA does for upgrades), and the top three were completely skipped for the last 3 biz seats at boarding.
The upgrade list on the board showed upgrade confirmation check marks by pax
#4 , 5, and 7, but
#1 , 2, 3 (and 6) pax on the list were passed up. I asked the gate agent why we were skipped for the last 3 upgrades, and she started loudly (nearly yelling) stating that since I wasn't in PE, I don't get the upgrade.
#3 , 4, and 7 were PE, so they get the bump - can't jump cabins, she said (wrongly).
The agent was (erroneously) using the BA "next cabin of service" requirement for this flight, even though AA doesn't do this, yet (this was an AA ticket on AA metal). I tried to explain this to her, and she wasn't having it. Asked her manager, and she just supported her gate agent. Called EXP desk right there, and the EXP rep offered to speak to the gate agent, but again - she was having nothing of it. In fact it looked like they were trying to determine if my debating was enough to get me thrown off the flight entirely (I was perfectly calm). So I just tucked my tail and walked away, giving these two agents the satisfaction of power, even though they were completely wrong. I did get their names and filed a complaint, and AA later gave me 10,000 miles as an apology, while confirming that these agents were definitely not processing upgrades correctly.
My point here is - maybe you got picked because you had another gate agent that incorrectly applied the upgrade prioritization method. Were you in MCE (or PE if this flight had it), while the others were in economy? There seems to be a few gate agents that have no clue that AA isn't doing "next cabin of service" prioritization or even requirements.