Pananna,

I understand your points, and I apologize if I came across the wrong way. I appreciate your help on the electronic support desk. I'm actually quite friendly when I call in.

My point regarding employee travel was that by the nature of the 72-hour rule, employees do in fact have priority over customers when within this window.

Here's why: If there are empty BF seats (presumably no-shows, misconnects, or held back for revenue), and customers who waitlisted for upgrades have not been upgraded outside the window, and a standby employee (on a pass) wants to travel in BF, they can, while the customer may not. Since employees are standby, they're not governed by the 72-hour rule.

That's the loophole I was referring to that can often frustrate customers. How would you feel if you were waitlisted for weeks, willing to hand over your [cash and] miles, being told no, then watching the BF seats fly empty, or a handful of employees take the big seats?

I don't have a problem with this on domestic flights, since the system works: it upgrades each and every Elite before flying anything empty, or putting employees up front. If there are extra seats, by all means, go for it! But when the seats are withheld from the customer, then flown empty or allocated to the pass riders, that just doesn't seem right.