Originally Posted by
lrdpenn
This reminds me of a flight from LGA I took this summer, the most bizarre handling of a potential oversell I've seen. Maybe this is AA's new strategy?
They did everything they could to increase the chance someone would inadvertently miss their flight. I have mixed feelings...I don't pity people who forget their departure time, but it left me with an icky feeling from AA.
Here is how it went down.
I received multiple text messages that my bid was being "considered" and to go to the gate. I usually aim to be the last person to board so I saw the entire mess of a process .
GA: Passenger [me] please check-in at the gate (about T-20).
Manager: Dont page anyone! No announcements!
GA: But this was a volunteer.
Manager: Doesn't matter! No paging!
There was NO GA "final boarding" message. Maybe an automated airport one, I am not sure.
FWIW - no volunteer was needed and I think they even cleared standbys. The most customer unfriendly approach I've seen but I guess at least it's a strategy? Maybe the same thing happened to your flight except AA wasn't as lucky.
Your are making a lot of assumptions. If they cleared standbys that means that they had empty seats. There is no reason to assume that they were trying to get people to miss their flight. It's quite the conspiracy theory though.