brewdog11

So I was recently on the last flight of the day from MIA-MSY in F, a full flight carrying home a bunch of travel-weary misconnects back to the Big Easy. F was checked in full, and so was Y. There were many revenue pax who paid for their F seats, including myself (confirmed by an AC rep who had trouble rebooking me because F was initially oversold by 1).

Long story short, everyone boards and there is one open seat in F right across the aisle from me. A family of four (daddy, mommy, a young child and a younger crying child whom I noticed in the AC because the children were ill-behaved) are on the flight, with the father and the young child sitting a row behind me in F and the mother and crying younger child sitting in the first row of MCE. Daddy notices the empty F seat, and with about two minutes left before pushback, gets up, runs to the forward galley, and shoves his smartphone into the FA's face displaying the AA app upgrade list showing that everyone had been cleared. He was speaking a million words per minute about all pax on the UG list being cleared and how he would like his wife to sit in F with him. The FA, an obvious new hire (she was green, but she did an awesome full-bar PDB service and great in-flight service^^), really didn't know how to handle it, and homeboy was running off to Y to grab mommy and crying younger child before she could even acknowledge his request. After gesturing to his wife, she and the crying child were making a gangway to the open F seat right across the aisle from me.

When I say the child was badly behaved, that is an understatement. The child, who was IMHO not in the "too-young-to-know-better" category, began screaming "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDY!!!" at the top of her lungs and crying, and this continued incessantly. Mommy made haphazard attempts to discipline her child, but even she seemed to realize that they were in vain. The younger child screamed the entire flight, and I noticed plenty of other irritated-looking pax (many of whom I assume to have been revenue pax) putting in earplugs and whatnot to make the situation a little more tolerable. It's only a ~650-mile flight, so it wasn't too long, but this nonsense ruined the flight for everyone else in F. She SCREAMED the entire flight.

I'm not mad about children being on planes, but I have a big problem with Mr. Suburbanite DYKWIA self-upgrading his family members from Y to F (FULLY knowing that it would cause a disturbance in the F cabin). Paying for premium class tickets isn't a guarantee that you'll be sitting in a child-free zone, but it turns out to be that way more often than not. I have NEVER seen this before (I've seen FA's approve pax requests to op-up their 80-year-old mothers due to mobility problems and whatnot if seats are available, but that is different), and I do NOT pay $800+ to sit in a cabin where obnoxious family members can be upgraded FOR FREE.

pauleeepaul

Was the rogue upgrader relegated back to their coach seat? If not there might be more to the story than you know.

Did you complain to AA or just FT?

Through it all i am struck with a reaction of yawn and a sense of your wanting to be recognized as a full fare first paying pax vs an upgrader. Right or wrong AA has not made a whole lot of distinction in this area.

brewdog11

The rogue upgrader was not banished back to Y, although that's where she was ticketed (I saw her BP in her hand as she walked back up to F -- it surely did not say "First" and it had a Y seat assignment. Neither was she on the F cabin manifest. The FA seemed new and unsure of how to handle the situation.

You can yawn all you want, but it's not at all about recognition. It's about who belongs in the F cabin and who does not.

I pay more to visit nice restaurants on special occasions so that I may have a more relaxing, enjoyable time without there being a bunch of families with small children running amok. I practice the same policy with air travel (when the price is right).

This was not fair to the other pax who paid/were upgraded according to protocol, nor was it fair to the other elites in the back of the bus who were not upgraded before her.

vasantn

There are many, many nice restaurants that do not prohibit babies.

As far as I'm concerned, in these types of situations, it's best to mind one's own business.

ijgordon

I'm pretty sure the only way for an FA to handle the situation is to insist the passenger sit in his/her ticketed cabin, being that FAs do not have any authority to upgrade passengers. They should have been made aware they can get in trouble for this (IIRC). And perhaps given the circumstances, OP could have gently reminded her of this fact. If the cabin door was closed and a GA not available, she could have alerted the captain to a passenger that was refusing to follow crew instructions.

I'm pretty sure the airline, in general, takes this stuff pretty seriously.

rjque

Ridiculous. But I'm a bit confused as to how a woman and a child were seated in a single F seat if the child was old enough to know better than to fuss. Any child two years old or older must have his or her own seat.

ysolde

The good news is it was a short flight. It all sounds dreadfully unpleasant, and while I suspect the prior poster is absolutely correct in stating that the proper protocol would have been for the FA to insist that the passengers sit in their ticketed cabin, I also suspect the subsequent scene, involving an already-agitated (talking a mile a minute) husband who was adamant that his wife and child were to be upgraded, a screaming child, and a flustered wife, was probably more than a FA and the passengers in the FC cabin might want to handle. Perhaps the FA made a judgment call, given the length of the flight and the extraordinary circumstances involved.

MSPeconomist

IMO the FA made the wrong judgment call. It's not fair and gives the wrong incentives when someone is upgraded because they are causing a disturbance. If the remaining FC seat is to be filled, it should go to the next elite on the priority list, not the bozo's wife and brat. I suspect that the other kid was the guy's companion upgrade and the wife and other child were therefore not eligible to be upgraded due to Daddy's status.

This should be reported to AA even though that young FA otherwise gave good service before and during the flight. Full bar PDB doesn't compensate for the annoyance caused by the FA's reluctance to send the self-upgraders back where they belonged. If someone was going to be upgraded, it should have been the next elite on this list and officially should have been done by the GA before departure. A good FA would have reminded the GA about the open FC seat rather than not doing anything as conditions deteriorated for those passengers who belonged in FC.

OP paid for FC and has a legitimate complaint if passengers who should not have been in FC caused the OP to have an unpleasant experience.

imapilotaz

My thought exactly. Anyone who travels with kids knows that the hardest age is 12-24 months. They cant express themselves well, are more prone to meltdowns and arent easily distracted yet

Detailingdoc

Don't have an explanation for the kid but maybe the husband was showing the flight attendant that his wife's upgrade had cleared after she had boarded the plane hence here still having the economy boarding pass.

it's happened to me before where I boarded in mce having not seen being cleared rechecked the app on the plane noticed my seat assignment had been changed shortly thereafter someone came on board with my mce seat assignment. I told the FA and showed them the app and they let me move to my new seat.

nrr

A GA is supposed to come on board with your new (upgraded) bp.

AATrout

Concise & well argued. Kids are great but they [and their indifferent/irresponsible parent(s)] don’t own everything.

grrizzli

This seems like the most plausible scenario. However, it greatly diminishes the outrage potential of the situation.

alphaod

I would have complained, but now it's just crying over spilled milk.

MSPeconomist

However, what are AA's rules about whether parents can all upgrade to FC and leave very young children by themselves in coach without paying an UM fee? This would not be permitted on DL. The OP also raises the question, in my mind, of whether the younger child was young enough to be a lap child. It sounds like the family originally had a separate coach seat for the kid, so that even if the mother's upgrade had really cleared, the younger child by definition was not upgraded into FC if it had its own coach seat.