anteater

You should report this to Alaska Listens or call Customer Care.. they absolutely should be clearing the elite upgrade list BEFORE attempting to sell upgrades. I’ve had to report this several times and I eventually got it in writing: elite upgrades before selling upgrades is Alaska’s policy.

PDXPremier

So was the passenger in 6D that moved up the "paid" upgrade? Besides not following policy, the only thing I can think of as to the reason for this would be that 2C was already upgraded and 2D would have had to remain empty due to seat blocking unless 2C was traveling with 2D so since the husband was the only person who could sit by 2C, they sold the husband the upgrade and made $$ rather than let it go empty. We talked about situations like somewhere in the AS forum not long ago....can't remember which thread, maybe this one.

ctporter

The paid upgrade was sitting in 1D, the man in 2D was the spouse of the woman that was seated in 2C. Due to covid, 2D would have been blocked for sale. After boarding 6D moved up to join his wife in row two taking the empty seat next to his wife. He had tried to get moved up to sit next to his wife at the gate, but FC was now "full" so when they offered to move his wife to the main cabin to sit next to him he said that would not be good for his marriage and opted to stay in 6D. So, 2D did not have to pay the UG difference in fare. I would have thought it was "seat poaching" in a way, but it was evident that the FC FA knew about it and was ok with it.

PDXPremier

Interesting....so the paid upgrade in 1D should have never happened and it should have been given to the next on the upgrade list....yes, a note to customer care is definitely in order here. The situation with the spouse moving from row 6 was "seat poaching" 100% unless the spouse was also an elite that just didn't get upgraded....unless they paid for premium class to sit in 6D, that suggests to me that they may have been an elite. As a side note, I know FC is supposedly "full" in terms of sales when they reach 50% capacity, but at the gate, if someone who is entitled to an upgrade is traveling with someone who is already upgraded, I always thought gate agents had the ability (and do) move them to the empty FC seat.

ctporter

I do not mind that the husband got moved up, even if he was not an elite, I think it is a good thing to do especially now. Sometimes, the breaks don't go my way, sometimes I get lucky and they do, I appreciate them when they happen

PDXPremier

I think the bigger issue is that you should have been in 1D regardless.

sjbsf

#2[/URL] 22222]Date 8/24
#2[/URL] 22222]Route SEA-OAK
#2[/URL] 22222]Flight Number: 3460
#2[/URL] 22222]Status 75K

Same day change from a later flight. I was #3 on the list and not upgraded.. One person got an upgradej pre-board. #2 on the list was moved once on the aircraft. One person who was on the "awaiting seats" list was assigned 3D, so I don't know if that person jumped the queue somehow.

Note: It was 7:30 a.m. so alcohol wasn't on my agenda. I was offered a snack in premium class and it turned out to be a pack of biscoff. No 75 K recognition or chocolate for me in row 6.

mtnsider

8/22
SEA-PHL
Flight 32
Status Gold

All upgrades were done after boarding. Got upgraded to first with husband (also gold) and sat together. I think 3 others were upgraded. Seats next to solo travelers were empty and 4A and 4C were vacant.

Boo_Crew

There is definably something going on in the way they are upgrading to FC theses days. Over the last couple flights I have had people below me in status and number on the list get upgraded before me. Some of the flights I have still been upgraded and some not when FC filled. How do I know this? My wife (separate reservation) who is MVP was upgraded before me when I am gold, This was done at approx t+30 hours. On the last flight where I was ultimately upgraded at the gate at the last minute, I ended up siting across from the person who disappeared from the upgrade list, she said she was also only MVP.

I don't know if it was because I was flying with a 2nd person on my reservation and they were not or if I just somehow got on a "naughty" list :-)...

PDXPremier

If you have a 2nd person on your reservation (which would qualify them for an upgrade), the upgrades will only get processed when U (upgrade space) = 2 and since U space sometimes gets released one seat at a time, single travelers can leap frog over MVPGs and 75Ks who have more than one person on their reservation. If you wife as an MVP got upgraded before you and you didn't, then she wouldn't have been on the same reservation since both travelers either get upgraded together or not at all (unless you're physically at the gate and telling the gate agent you're ok with splitting up). With social distancing measures in place, I personally think it's better to keep everyone on separate reservations (assuming all have at least MVP status) and then if one person gets upgraded (like a MVPG), then technically there is an "empty" seat next to them that can only be filled by a traveling companion so you really only need one upgrade to auto-process in-advance and then when you get to the gate, just mention that the other traveler is on the upgrade list and traveling with someone who is already upgraded.

itripreport

6/4/20 SJD-SAN AS 1291 MVPG Upgrade cleared at gate for all 3 non-elite passengers on my booking

One of my upgrades cleared during check in, with the other 2 being cleared after 2 no shows once onboard the aircraft.

PDXPremier

Wow....I thought the limit for companion upgrades was 1. Was this really back on June 4th?

be_rettSEA

Forgot to post these - originally purchased in April for LAX-BOS, but route cancellation and a few changes I made put me on these flights in July.

8/21/20
LAX-SEA
AS1255
Gold
R Class
Cleared at T-2 hrs

8/21/20
SEA-BOS
AS18
Gold
R Class
Cleared at T-2 hrs

jsguyrus

8/29/20
PDX-SAN
AS3355
Gold
T class
Two of us were upgraded at T-2.

HeyItsMK

3 Sep 2020
LAX-DCA
AS 6
MVPG
R
Cleared after Boarding by the Gate Agent
2/8 on Upgrade List

Interesting flight, seat map showed 3 empty rows at check-in, by T-2 went down to 1 empty row with no movement on the upgrade list and the flight not selling F tix anymore. #1 on the list got upgraded just prior to boarding. When I was upgraded, I took one of the rows that were initially available. Gate agent did not come back to upgrade #3 , and the last row went out empty.

Not sure if a gate agent upgrades pax after boarding that the FA seating chart doesn't update, as she was surprised to see me occupy the seat, and towards the end of the flight actually came through the F cabin and handed out chocolates to pretty much every other row thanking them for being Gold, but skipped over me. Not that I really wanted the chocolate or cared to be recognized, as she was otherwise a really great FA, but in the moment felt weird to be left out.