vgc

I had an SEA-EWR flight earlier this week. I arrived at the gate a little late, so I was in the last group boarding. I arrive at my seat 8C and saw that 8A and 8B was occupied by what I assume was a couple, or they were at least traveling together. I press the call button and wait. I flagged down a gate attendant who was on board and ask if I could be moved to a more distant seat and I got a very curt "No". Later, a flight attendant approached me because the call light was still on and I asked again if there was a more distant seat available and while she wasn't so curt, I was still told no, there wasn't. I was kinda pissed. After the plane took off, the flight attendant who I talked to earlier said I could move to 18A, with 18B being unoccupied, but I had to move back to 8C during landing due to weight balancing. I forgot to do that though. It looked like they were juggling multiple passengers around, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but that experience still irked me.

vanillabean

As long as you’re not the one having to move back to Coach?

PDXPremier

That is so strange....I'm wondering how in the world a couple would be able to (or want) to select a window/middle....Alaska's last big promo was designed around the fact that two passengers can book an entire row (3 seats) to themselves with an empty middle....with seat blocking, I thought you had to specifically request to sit next to someone on mainline flights with middle seats.

anteater

If that is what’s right then that is what should happen. non rev pax have rules regarding their benefits, and this scenario followed those rules.

Bellerina

Data point, my sister (MVP) had to fly SJC-SEA this weekend. Friday flight Economy was completely packed. She was booked F in 3F and nobody was upgraded to sit next to her (it looked like someone had been upgraded to 4C and 4F, but all other F seats were either couples or solo travelers with a seat free next to them). More people were left on the upgrade list, but it appeared they only upgraded those 2 people (didn't have the same last name, but might have been traveling together) they needed to be able to fit the rest of the standby people into economy.
On the E175 on the way back she was booked in Economy. There were again more people on the Awaiting Seats list than there were Economy seats (according to Expert Flyer), but there were only 2 people on the upgrade list (she was #2 ). She was upgraded and it assigned her to a seat next to someone so she moved to 3A. In the end there were empty seats in F going out. It appeared as if someone may not have been able to get a seat in Economy as the seats were full and there was no seat listed next to their name.

Seems like they are only doing F upgrades when people are traveling together or there are empty free seats next to solo travelers even if Economy is full. And even then only upgrading the required amount to get standby passengers accommodated

Really hoping this means my 737 flights SEA-SJC are going to be okay later this week.

PDXPremier

In the event that I need to sit next to a stranger on the plane due to "overbooking", I would much rather sit in F and not be shoulder to shoulder like I may be in economy...I would assume most people would feel this way. To be honest, and this is just me, but I would almost prefer being upgraded without an empty seat next to me than sit in economy with an empty seat next to me.....assuming the person next to me was ok with it (who wouldn't want to sit next to PDXPremier???)....the fruit and cheese plate and warm cookie is just THAT good

Bellerina

I agree. However, if I paid for F (as I am booked into later this week), I wouldn't want a stranger sitting next to me because that person wanted more space when there were Econ seats available.

vanillabean

On her own without the direction of the system or upgrade list or permission by the flight attendant?

Bellerina

Apologies, that wasn't clear on my part. She received a notification about 2 hours before the flight that she had been upgraded to 3C. She went into the app at that time and moved to 3A as it was not blocked and 3D was showing as occupied. I assume (although I could be wrong) that a gate agent would have done the same when she arrived at the airport.

PDXPremier

Just so I'm clear, do fellow FTers here in the AS forum count as "strangers" or are we all family here??

Xrayman

sitting in PC and first on upgrade list as I type. Are they really going to take off with 3A 3c 4a and 4c empty???

75k

Xrayman

the answer is YES they did. Flight 366. Sea to MKE.

RAD_PDX

If you're willing, ask if they have any extra F&C plates when they serve F and ask the FA if they stopped doing upgrades.

Xrayman

the FA was soooo embarrassed. She cane up to me and apologized. I expressed my understanding that it maybe for weight reasons. I’m assuming best intent as opposed to something else such as poor training or lack or culture of service.

FA offered to have me come up but I didn’t want to standout like an entitled individual.

PDXPremier

A note to Alaska Listens is definitely appropriate in this case...someone dropped the ball here big time and you're handling it in a very mature, respectful way.

EDIT: And it looks like you're flight departed 20 min. early so there was plenty of time for the agent at the gate to deal with this prior to departure.