Originally Posted by
Kacee
It's not just "out of the ordinary" to give someone else your upgrade, it's not allowed. From the airline's perspective, you either take the upgrade, or you reject it, in which case the GA upgrades the next passenger on the list. We do not get to assign our place in the upgrade queue to another passenger.
Swapping seats once you are onboard, by contrast, happens all the time and is generally not an issue.
And my personal experience in trying to give my seat to a young sailor in uniform was another pax overhead me asking the GA to swap with the sailor (as I did not want the sailor to know if was me who was thanking them for their service) was the pax demanded the GA to give him the seat if I did not want it as they were next on the upgrade list. The GA explained this was the rule so I kept my seat, got on the flight and asked the FA to give the sailor my seat and asked the FA to find out their seat number - problem solved. BTW it was a 2 hour flight so coach was just fine and the FA was happy to assist me.
The next time I went to do this same thing I asked the GA to swap the seats and again another passenger overheard me and demanded my seat if I did not want it. The GA had to explain to the other passenger I had paid for the seat so was free to do with it whatever I wanted.
I now know if I want to swap I need to ask the FA not the GA (if an upgrade) and if outright purchase by me the GA can do this.
Both times I was quite quiet and discreet with the requests as my goal is for the young sailor not to know I was swapping with them and both times the loud. obnoxious passenger (both male) made a loud fuss which just boggles my mind as presumably if you are number 1 on the upgrade list you have flown first class domestically previously and it is no special treat for you.