I was scheduled on Flight 29 and had on-line checked in to seat 27 D. I went straight to the PC, where I thought I’d formally checked in to the flight (more on this in a moment), and asked if my row still had an empty middle seat. The very nice agent there told me that the row was now full and that the plane itself seemed almost full. She advised checking with her again later to see if there was an empty middle seat row she could move me to. It never happened.

I went to the gate when boarding was announced for Elites, and went to 27 D. A little while later, a gent came along who also claimed the seat and had a regular boarding pass as opposed to my on-line printer version. We signalled for an FA, who asked if I had a regular boarding pass. I told her I didn’t, and she took both our passes to check out front. Some time later, she came back and told me that I’d missed formally checking in for the flight at the airport or I would’ve gotten my new boarding pass for 9E in BF. I grabbed my bags and moved on up.

I’d say there were 2 other people who’d been moved into the rear section of BF on my flight because the concierge, when she came around to check if BF passengers needed anything on arrival in EWR, she didn’t have my name on her printout, nor the names of 2 others.

So, op ups do happen on oversold flights. I don’t know if they asked for volunteers at the gate because I was in the PC before boarding began.

Which leads me to, I thought when I checked into the PC that I was also formally checking into the flight. Apparently not. I was only checking into the PC. Next time I’ve checked in online, I will formally ask them to check me into the flight. The PC folks probably thought I’d checked in before getting to them, and I thought they did that when I gave them my info.

Before leaving the PC, after checking again on any available rows with empty middle seats, I asked one of the ladies at the desk about this rumor of no op ups on oversold international flights. She told me that it had never stopped at LGW, but only when oversold, then based on status, then revenue. I was on a cheapo ticket, but still was moved up.