Originally Posted by
GagaPilot
A few minutes later a non-rev comes on board and sits next to me. The FA even offered her a quick PDB. The CA comes out, looks at 3B, and goes back up the jet bridge. A few minutes later he and the GA came back on board. The CA returned to the flight deck while the GA came down and said to the passenger in 3B "Ms. XXXXXX I am so sorry, but the CA pointed out a policy I had overlooked. Since we had to involuntarily deny boarding to 3 revenue passengers for those broken seats, we can't take any non-revs tonight. I am so sorry. If you are qualified to sit in a jumpseat we can take you, but otherwise I am going to have to ask you to deplane." The non-rev quickly gathered her things and stepped off (taking the PDB with her I might add, haha).
I would be a bit surprised if this were an official policy. Also not sure why the pilot would be involved with a boarding issue?! Unless, of course, it involves whether someone is fit to fly, i.e. drunk or a danger to themselves or others, but certainly not a boarding priority issue... Certainly there are policies to take all paid pax before NRSA, but in the case of a group who doesn't want to split up, I can't see why they would intentionally leave a seat empty when there were eligible pax waiting. I'd be curious to hear from DL peeps if this is really a policy. If it's not a policy, I hope the NRSA filed complaint and the CA is disciplined.