As a Continental employee, I find the number of complaints about first class frustrating. Since, like discussing religion or politics, very few of these posts change any of the reader's minds, that is not the purpose for my post.

I understand the irritation many customers experience with the game airlines play assigning first class seats.

Our customers also have to realize that the employees sitting in first class (or anywhere else in the airplane for that matter) are "paying" for that seat, too. The travel privileges we have are part of our compensation.

The real issue is then one of priority as to who gets upgraded to first class ahead of whom. Company policy is that any revenue passenger entitled to first class gets a first class assignment ahead of employees. Once all of the revenue passengers entitled to first class have been assigned, then the non-revenue passengers (employees, etc.) are assigned. There are occasions when, contrary to Company policy, an agent makes an assignment that doesn't follow the rules. That is another issue.

I fly as a non-rev about twice a year from the Newark to San Francisco. I am assigned a first class seat about 1 in 10 times as revenue passengers have filled the seats up front. That is the way it goes and I am not complaining.

As far as Continental's policy for upgrading revenue passengers: when the Company is losing money, management scrambles to find a way to charge that is somewhere between giving the product away and overpricing it to the extent nobody flys. I'm sure if they had the answer on what policy would keep ALL our paying customers happy and yet make enough money for survival, the policy would have been adopted by now. More often than not finding a solution is trial and error. I guess we all have to be patient.


[This message has been edited by CalPilot (edited 09-01-2002).]