dmodemd

DAL-SEA #148 5/17/19

After boarding was complete an FA came up to me and asked if I was a 75K. I said I was and she asked if I had noticed if they had cleared the upgrade list. Thinking she was offering me an open seat, I explained I was #6 on the list so someone else would be ahead of me for that. She said that they had noticed that a few people had been suspiciously upgraded without status and one seat was left unfilled. They said it appeared the GAs did not clear the upgrade list properly and she apologized profusely. She suggested I report it in and she would do the same. Wow.

A few minutes later, a different GA came up to me and was submitting the report in her app. She submitted it as a dissatisfied customer and marked as my seat number but she also had taken screen shots of the manifests in coach and first with status of passengers on each seat. She attached those screenshots and submitted it. She said the GAs should be re-trained. I mentioned I noticed they were a new GA crew than what I had seen before at Love Field. They had real Alaska uniforms now when before they were non-uniformed.

A couple minutes later, a different GA comes up to me and also apologizes profusely. He said that they had called out the GAs on this and suggested the FAs grab the next on the list and upgrade them. He said the GA said "you can't do that." so the FAs felt it was out of their hands. He said it is because of us elites that they have a job and they just want to make sure that we get what we deserve.

That same GA came by later and said that he was giving all 75Ks on the flight a $75 voucher. There were many giveaways of free drinks and snack boxes as well.

I have had issues with the DFW GAs processing very late in the boarding but hadn't seen this before.
I had been watching the list and when I got to the airport I think it was F3 and I was 5th on the list. I noticed that no clearing had been done leading up to boarding. When I was on the aircraft I saw one person was upgraded: someone who was new to the list above me and showed as #1 cleared with me pushed down the #6 .

I am not sure what else led the FAs to believe something wrong happened but they were all pretty disturbed by it.

beckoa

Thanks for the report.

I'd call customer care today or tomorrow while the data is still in the system. Waiting for an Alaska listens comment to be read I'm afraid would be too late for AS to investigate properly.

sfozrhfco

Seems unprofessional all around. Why go to the passenger to complain about a co-worker? Either have the new GA fix the upgrade list and downgrade the people that skipped the queue or report it and move on. Don't think a FA would appreciate it if a GA marched on the plane and pulled a F class passenger aside to complain that the flight attendant didn't bother with a PDB and needed to be written up

jinglish

If the upgrades were paid--as has been the case with previous complaints of GA shenanigans--you then have a half-dozen passengers who are going to be very unhappy about their sudden downgrade when they were just sold an F seat.

Legend717

I find the Love Field operation to be a general clusterfunk.
I like it, still. But it's almost always a complete disaster at boarding.
The count is NEVER correct. I have yet to take a single SkyWest, Horizon, or mainline flight out of Love Field that did NOT have a significant discrepancy in the numbers.
Which always leads to a lot of stress on the gate agents.
I've also had ground staff there only check my bag onto the first leg of a multi-flight itinerary. And then she blamed me! I pointed out that I was going to Anchorage but my bag was only tagged to Seattle. She said I was wrong. I said that I wasn't.
She called over a coworker who agreed with me. Then she said it was because I handed her my boarding pass and it only said "Seattle." Like, what the actual funk?

I like Love Field for the significant increase in convenience, and a USUAL upgrade even as a lowly MVP-Gold.
But the staff there is very hit or miss.
I have no idea who they work for; I kinda suspect it's Delta Global. But I could be completely wrong.

Often1

This was unprofessional behavior by the FA. Unless the error is a safety or security issue, and this one was not, this should be dealt with out of view of the customer. Report it, let AS retain the GA's or whatever. But involving passengers in what is an internal issue for employees was the wrong call.

RAD_PDX

I think you'll have a hard time finding people on here who will side against anyone (including an "unprofessional FA") for standing up and doing something about the mishandling of upgrades.

Xrayman

VegasGambler

Personally, I believe that it is both professional and extremely good service to try to correct something when a customer has been mistreated by a coworker. Trying to cover things up, on the other hand, is extremely underhanded and unprofessional. Kudos to these FAs! They are in a custome-facing role -- it's nice to see them providing the customer with good service.

safari ari

FT 101, AS doesn't correctly upgrade elites, airline is getting worse and worse. FA tells elites they were done wrong on upgrades and goes above and beyond, oh the humanity of such unprofessionalism, airline is getting worse and worse.

sfozrhfco

The vast majority of FAs have never been gate agents and are clueless when it comes to the mechanics of what a GA does. There are many possible reasons for somebody ending up in F which are not just from the upgrade list and the FA had no idea what those circumstances were or even could be. The FA can stick up for passengers by dealing with the GA or the supervisor--but going to passengers to tell them the GA is screwing them out of an upgrade--is not the right approach.

AS Flyer

I agree with this completely. FA's don't usually have any idea of how or why people are upgraded in a particular order. I think the agents need to follow whatever established protocol is and upgrade per the policies, but I don't think it's okay for the FA's to drag the passengers into a pissing match. FA's have avenues to go through if they think something like this has been mishandled. While I think the FA's intent was probably honest and good, it's probably best to stick to what they know and report any possible misdeeds to the appropriate persons.

Often1

Exactly.

The proper approach here was for the FA to deal with the GA or an AS ground supervisor. There are any number of reasons why those other passengers were seated in F and there is no reason for an FA to know the reason.

Sounds more like a labor dispute issue than a customer service matter.

dmodemd

I am uncomfortable reporting it myself as I did not directly observe any evidence that upgrades were not processed correctly. I saw F3 before my flight and did see one person marked as upgraded on the list. I was #6, so I was not even potentially impacted. I did feel a bit uncomfortable with the FAs marking me as the "dissatisfied passenger". I will see what, if any, communication or compensation comes through.

That has been a problem. Sometimes I see the night before all open seats get cleared and sometimes none. It doesn't seem to matter how many seats are involved. In this case, I went to bed the night before with F6 and me as #5 on the checked-in waitlist. None appear to have cleared by the next morning and it was F5 and I was #6. Later in the day it was F3. One showed as cleared at the gate.
Due to the contractors at DFW and DAL, I think it is more important that the automated upgrade runs it down to F2 before gate control. However, the gate should clear the list once check-in closes. I rarely see this happen before boarding at DFW or DAL and really annoys me. If I am on the "bubble" with a good chance to upgrade, I feel I have to be that annoying guy who bugs the GAs about an upgrade so I can get settled when I board. Half the time I am dismissed saying, don't worry, we will come get you if you get upgraded... sigh. Last time, I had to push upstream during heavy boarding from Row 17 to 2 and found no overhead bin space left in F. Sometimes, if I am #1 on the list, they will clear me before boarding acting like this was a BIG exception and courtesy.

MSPeconomist