This week, on a short flight from MSP, I failed to clear the waitlist for a PE upgrade. Certainly not a big deal, but I was a little disappointed to notice a seat fly empty in the front.

I sent a polite note via "Talk to Us" and quickly received the following response:

Dear win1300,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

As you noted, there are many reasons a First Class seat goes empty.

We have found that a majority of them is due to passengers that have
checked-in online, but never showed up for the flight.

The gate agents see that they have printed their boarding passes online
and assume they will be taking the flight. Unfortunately, they miss the
flight for one reason or other and it is too late to get another
passenger upgraded.

Once the flight manifest is printed, our gate agents are not supposed to
change seat assignments for any reason. The manifest is only printed
when the flight is closed out and there isn't time to make last minute
changes and change/print the manifest.

I regret that this isn't the answer you were seeking, but when
passengers are unable to make their flights and don't contact the
airline, others may miss out on benefits that they should be receiving.

Thank you for the opportunity to review your concerns, win1300.

Have a great 2007!

Sincerely,

xxx
WorldPerks Customer Service Center


Now, I don't claim to understand how the process works precisely, but shouldn't all Y/F, rev/nonrev standbys be accomodated before the flight is "closed out"?

Any insight would be appreciated!

win1300