Originally Posted by metallo

You certainly don't have to be at the airport 3 hrs in advance to be placed on the upgrade list. The issue here is that, if you weren't checked in, you weren't on the airport upgrade list. So, if you didn't check in until T-50m, it seems you weren't on the list around T-60 when they processed the first upgrade at the gate. (and, frankly, since the check-in deadline for INTL flights is T-60, it's unclear to me how you were able to check in at T-50 -- they actually did you a favor allowing you to fly if you've posted the timeline correctly).

Realistically, if you had gotten to the airport just 15-30 minutes earlier, this entire situation likely would have been avoided. Gate upgrades are definitely not processed 3 hours before the flight.

These are two separate issues. I absolutely agree that, if you're checked in, you shouldn't be skipped on the upgrade list simply because you aren't at the gate. This has happened to me in the past, and I've demanded the gate agents correct the situation and clear UPGs in the proper order (which they subsequently did).

However, the issue in your situation at SJD is not that you necessarily weren't at the gate, but that you weren't yet checked in when they began to process the upgrade list. You can't be on the airport upgrade list if you're not checked in, simple as that.

I suspect clearing #4 at the last minute was related to keeping the couple together and, perhaps, airport staff simply being upset at you for the earlier arguing. They could easily argue they decided to process upgrades only for those passengers who checked in on time, so I doubt you have any recourse here.

It sounds as though it may not have been a completely professional interaction on the part of the airport staff/gate agents, but you were, in fact, late here (not 2 hours late, but at least 10 minutes late checking in if you wanted to ensure you were on the upgrade list in time -- remember that everything for INTL flights needs to be done just a bit earlier).

Despite my comments above, I can sympathize a bit, because it's very tempting to show up last minute at SJD since it's generally quite a quick experience getting through security, and I like to maximize my Cabo time, but just realize when the gate agent looked at the list at T-60, you and your wife weren't on it if you weren't checked in yet.

Originally Posted by mvoight

I don't quite understand what you are getting at. If they are at the top of the upgrade list, then clearly they are checked in, and nobody in the upgrade list below them, waiting for the same seat class, should get bumped ahead of them.
They were allowed to check in at T-50. At that point, they are on the list and the list should be followed at the time a seat becomes available, whether they are at the gate or not.

Originally Posted by mvoight

At that point, they are on the list and the list should be followed at the time a seat becomes available, whether they are at the gate or not.

Originally Posted by metallo

I can't speak to what was in the SJD agents' minds at the time they made these decisions. All that is clear is that the OP seems to think he was entitled to check in and secure his and his companion's places on the upgrade list after the deadline to do so (60 minutes prior to the flight at the airport).

The agents may have decided, hey, we won't strand this guy here and make him get on the next flight, but we're not going to give him another favor and honor they way the upgrade list would have been ordered had he actually checked in on time.

Remember, by policy, he had no right to be on the flight at all. Did the OP mistakenly think the check-in cutoff was 45 minutes? I'm not sure this question has been answered yet.

In any case, 5k miles, plus getting to fly in MCE on his originally scheduled flight, seems like a pretty good outcome for the OP here. Somehow, I think he'll arrive a bit earlier for his next flight.

Originally Posted by mvoight

It is not up to them to decide. If he is on the list, they are supposed to process him, not decide on their own who to upgrade

Originally Posted by metallo

I almost missed this last line in your quote -- the second seat not being given to the OP didn't have anything to do with whether they were at the gate on time. I assume it had to do with the airport staff thinking, hey we did this guy a favor just by getting him on the flight, so we're not going to now separate this other couple (#3 and #4 ) who would actually have been rightly #1 and #2 on the list had the OP and his companion properly been denied check-in. The first upgrade was likely processed before the OP and his companion were even checked in. I've seen INTL stations like SJD clear gate upgrades as early as T-60.

The OP was otherwise describing a second, separate incident where he felt he had been wronged by not being at the gate when upgrades were cleared, and I agreed with him in that scenario and even noted it had happened to me before also.