emaij

Flew MIA-LAX yesterday. Wife & I, both plat, had requested upgrades long ago. AA.com showed 5 open seats in first in the AM. Arrived to airport early. Told at the gate that flight was full and nothing would be available. When the doors were closed there were still 5 open seats in first. I asked a FA about it and was told that because the door was closed there was no way to see the upgrade list and so no one could be upgraded. She also told me that they had told the gate agent of the open seats and that they didn't know why the seats had not been made available.

Comments? Insights?

JDiver

Screwed-up system? Unknowing or uncaring gate agent? A contact with AA should let them know about the situation, and possibly get a few comp miles.

Jakebeth

PLEASE contact AA. I would have lost my mind.

askworldtraveler

No Food - no upgrade. On International flights - when you put in an upgrade request - it allows for food to be loaded - knowing that it won't go to waste. On Domestic I don't know the process however if you were in the system for the upgrade - food should have been ordered

SNA_Flyer

The likely explanation is that the seats were filled with paid/upgraded customers. However, the customers were connecting and didn't make the flight. The gate agents were probably too busy to remove them and process the waitlist, so seats went unused.

dayone

Or the seats belonged to the Pastor Joel Osteen and his family who, while on yet another vacation during Christmas, were, yet again, "asked" by the FBI to leave the plane.

emaij

The only thing this gate agent was busy doing was giving everyone in his vicinity the cold shoulder. He was totally disinterested. My wife was really pissed off... Given how much tougher it's getting to use upgrade credits and how much opportunity we gave them to upgrade us... way to reward loyalty, AA.

DENROC

Not a good situation..You need to drop a line to AA and advise them accordingly.

shadesofgrey1x

I have seen this happen too. Usually it happens this way, first is oversold, the agent has a very bad day, they do not bother to put you on the airport standby because 1st is so oversold they think there is zero chance of you getting it. Then connections are missed, noshows happen. They get occupied with getting the flight off and forget/ignore you. And Voila the palne takes off with empty 1st class seats.

I am not trying to justify their actions but, I have even heard gate agents sealing the plane and one saying to the other "did you process the upgrades?" and the reponse being "no I forgot, its too late anyway".

A pity because AA loses goodwill and money (paid stickers) by letteing those seats go empty.

I have also found that this tends to be rare but, does happen.

A possible workaround that will get you remembered, try confirming that you are waitlisted at the gate. If the agent looks harried try saying something sympathetic or complimentary that they may remember you for. It can not hurt. They are after all only human.

vasantn

I guess I've been lucky; this has never happened to me on AA. By way of contrast, it used to happen pretty frequently when I was a loyal DL customer.

the phoenix

to the OP, please let us know what repsonse you get. I mean, you'll probably get miles, but Like you, I'd rather find out WHY it occurred so that it does not occur again.

sluggoaafa

another possibility not enough miles to upgrade for. A LOT of Plat's and ExP think they know how many miles they have in their alotment, but when the agents look at their actual miles accrued, not enough to qualify.

I don't know, I'm not an agent. Also to let you know, F/As cannot upgrade once the door is closed. Like the F/A said to the OP, we don't have any way to verify how many miles people have once the door is closed, so no sense in arguing with the F/As about upgrades when the doors are closed.

Sorry to the OP and his wife for making it to LAX in Y.

emaij

Credits weren't the problem. We each have plenty.

And I didn't argue... just pointed out the situation and asked if anything could be done. It was clear that there was not going to be any negotiation.

Jakebeth

Maybe we're on different pages here, but assuming it's a regular upgrade we're talking about sluggo, Executive Platinum flyers get unlimited, free upgrades to F. They cost $25 per 500-mile segment if purchased on the web for Plats and Golds, and any self-respecting FTer will have puhlenty in his or her account, ready to go!

JDiver

That'd lose someone FT membership THAT fast! (At least it's no longer a hanging offense...)