A little bit off-topic perhaps, but to follow on from what a couple of forumers have said about being 'singled out' or 'harrased' for looking as though they should not be in First / Business: I used to travel back and forward to the US from the UK every month when I ran my own business, usually with KLM / NW, and often in Business Class. Because I am young, and look even younger (and this is not a boast, this if often NOT such a good thing!!!!) then I was constantly being queried and double checked on KLM. Quite recently, I was flying back from MSP to AMS on a NW 747 with my partner, and we both had regular (i.e. conforms to NW hand baggage standards!) carry-ons. First of all, an agent at the bottom of the jetway said "I need those bags - they need to go in the hold - there's no more room in coach". When I replied that we were in business, and that they cases were regular carry on size, he didn't believe us! It was only after showing the boarding passes that he grudgingly let us pass.
Imagine my annoyance when boarding through the forward aircraft door, and instead of a cheery 'hello, welcome on board' from the flt attendant, he instead remarked loudly to a colleauge standing nearby "I thought we weren't allowing roller bags in Coach today" and moved to intercept us. There was no apology when we showed him our BP's - I guess he was too embarrased, instead just pointing in the direction of our seats.
Nowadays, I am the flight attendant - and on the airline I now work for, 'self-upgraders' are increasingly frequent. Unlike some US carriers, we always complete a full head count of passengers in each class, and this is reconciled with the manifest. The gate agent is not allowed to shut the a/c door until we have a match on passenger 'heads'. This is primarily for security purposes, but because we split the headcount by class, it often reveals a mis match with 1 or 2 extra pax in business and 1 or 2 pax under in Main cabin.
I always take the manifest, start at 1A, and walk through the cabin until I find a seat occupied that is shown as empty on the manifest, and then will politely ask to verify the boarding pass. I never try to pick out people who look too young, in casual dress, etc etc. I always go by the manifest.
Sometimes it is a genuine mistake, but more often than not people are trying to get something for nothing. Some passengers have noticed that their boarding passes are printed on card that is quite glossy, and that if they wet the BP then the ink will wipe off. Some pax have gone to the extent of wiping of the '1' or the '2' to change 12C to 2C or 24A to 4A!!! Unfortunately, on our airline, this doesn't normally wash (excuse the pun!) as we have red boarding cards for business class, and blue ones for Main cabin, so one can tell at a glance that the pax is supposed to be sitting in Economy.
When pax upgrade themselves, I find that the majority of my colleagues do not like to challenge them, and inevitably it is left to me to find the 'upgrader'. I know that on some flights, especially where we have enough business class meals, there is a tendancy amonst some of my colleagues just to let it pass, and not do anything about it. Whilst I do sometimes feel a bit mean sending someone back to Economy when Business is only half full, I do feel that is a bit devious trying to deceive the Cabin Crew on board and sneak an upgrade. I know that there are arguements for and against upgrading passengers to business, and some airlines like Continental always send out their business class full, but my airline's policy is to try and give Business Class passengers as much space as possible, often with just 1 passenger per grouping of seats. If business were to be totally full, and Economy was to be half empty with loads of room to spread out in, I guess it would eventually tee off a lot of our travellers who appreciate the space and the chance to have the seat next to them free to spread out onto etc. A bit of a long-winded explanation, but that's why I don't just let anyone upgrade themselves as and when they please.
That said, If business class does have a few empty rows, then I will try and upgrade honeymoon couples, other airline employees, as well of course as Gold frequent flyer card holders!! (Although usually they will have been upgraded by check-in staff already if business is pretty wide open)
Just my tuppence worth!
[This message has been edited by SamuelS (edited 09-29-2000).]