Well, Elite upgrades are made on a "space-available" basis to begin with, so that if all first-class seats have been bought with either cash or frequent-flyer miles, seats for complimentary upgrades wouldn't be available anyway, EUA or no EUA.

Or am I missing your point?

As to the CO agent's "never seeing this before," well, all considered, she may have been around for the recent past only. CO is lately enjoying a well-earned windfall of popularity and notoriety translating into higher-than-ever passenger load factors. Viewed in this context, it's downright likely that CO is winning over more passengers from other airlines who are paying for first class, or passengers who are willing to burn miles on a segment that takes 90 minutes to drive. (Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you take the train? By the time all is said and done with getting to the airport, boarding, flying, making to the trip into the City, etc., you could have already been on your way out of Penn Station to wherever it is you need to go...).

[This message has been edited by ETOPS (edited 04-01-2001).]