Originally Posted by
PTahCha
Thanks for sharing the insight. While technically that may be true, the folks with gold scarf/tie seems have more leeway for rebooking in case of IRROP. I had one case where the agent at the check-in desk could not (or would not because the computer says no?) make my proposed solution work (I'm confirmed in PZ, and the alternate flight did not have any Y space available). When he walked over to the Premium Service agent to talk about the situation, she magically produced a boarding pass with my proposed new flight while preserving my upgrade. Maybe this is coming from the additional work experience as opposed to access rights, but I seek them out where I can when needed.
I suspect that, more than anything, it's that more tenured employees have the experience to know precisely how far they can safely push the boundaries to do what is right for the customer, and the confidence to know that their job will generally be safe as long as they are acting in good faith. That can go both ways though--some may be inclined to avoid potential headaches because they feel it isn't worth the effort.