Int'l SWU Denied for Arriving at the Gate "Too Late"?
 

Flew today from Paris to the U.S. on a ticket booked in economy class. Systemwide upgrade request was requested and waitlisted at the time of booking.

Checked in timely and checked a bag. Agent asked if I still wanted to upgrade (hello!) and I said yes. Told to check at the gate.

Arrived at the gate 35-minutes before departure and asked for the status of my upgrade. They were in the process of boarding Group 2.

Yes, really 35-minutes before originally scheduled departure time. And, no, the flight did not depart early.

Agent, who told me she was the supervisor (yeah, aren't they all), said they had paged me earlier and when I didn't respond, they gave the upgrade to someone else. 35-minutes before departure?

Agent refused to offload the person upgraded in front of me (gee, why do I suspect it was an NRSA who was friends with the agent?) so I was stuck in coach on a lovely 763 for the trans-Atlantic flight.

Not buying they didn't think I was going to show for the flight as they did not off-load my bags and did not take away my seat assignment in coach.

So I guess qualifying for Executive Platinum, receiving half of the upgrades I would have in the past, and showing-up at the gate 35-minutes before scheduled departure is not enough to actually qualify for an upgrade these days . . .

Not a happy camper right now.

Did you head straight from check-in to the gate (via the usual customs and security checks)?

If not, I'm not sure why you thought you could show up in the middle of boarding and expect them to have held your upgrade for you.

Dunno why-- it certainly isn't a logical or likely conclusion.

Yes, I did. Directly. I arrived at the check-in desk 2:05 before departure.

CDG is a mess. Basically almost everyone is "Priority" and in a single queue, the queues leading to security inspection have no priority access, and once in the security inspection area, they will only allow business class passengers to access the priority immigration queue.

If AA is going to put a cut-off time on upgrade clearing, don't you think they should announce that?

I frankly can't think of a way to politely address your assertion that arriving at the gate 35-minutes before departure constitutes a waiver of an international upgrade. They were still in the process of boarding my group.

It certainly would be if it was an NRSA.

As you seem to recognize but not acknowledge, 35 minutes before departure was in fact well after boarding commenced (as is standard practice for many international flights). If you're not at the gate when they page you for your upgrade (which normally happens just before or during boarding), it can be forfeited. Been like this for years.

Since you're aware CDG is such a mess, might I suggest getting to the airport earlier next time?

Normally I err on the side of the GA, but in this case you definitely got screwed
Anyone doing an audit of your flight's PALL list will be able to see something fishy went down.
The employees who got the upgrades (and they did get them) absolutely should have been sent to economy instead of you imo.

No doubt this was all part of their secret conspiracy to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.

Is there a requirement to be there at the exact moment they process upgrades? News to me.

If they're processing SWUs, they page you several times, and you don't show, they may give your upgrade to the next person on the list to facilitate an on-time departure.

Again, this is the way it's been for years. Surprised more people haven't encountered this. I've certainly been the beneficiary of it a few times :)

You should have been present at the gate when they started processing the upgrade and standby lists. I think the GA was within her powers to deny you the upgrade for not being present when she called you, in order to make sure the aircraft door closed on time.


For widebody departures FROM overseas, I typically arrive at the gate 75-90 minutes in advance of departure time, since they start boarding earlier and earlier each year it seems. Just play on your phone and be present so you can dash up the instant your name is called. Just my two cents.

Good to know. Haven't had the problem of that before I guess. ;)

International flight, checked in on time and said yes I still want the upgrade and passed over for not being at the gate on time. If it were me I would have been in the AC and asked them to check with the gate and expected them to have my BP when they cleared me.

Huh? Isn't the whole point of an Admiral's Club that you're not expected to spend the entire time between check-in and getting on board at the gate?

Absolutely do not understand why you have to be at the gate; I have cleared coutnless upgrades both comp and SWU and NEVER had to be at the gate to claim them. I always only show up right before boarding and collect my ticket. I'd be really upset at this.

100% agree with OP and don't know how you can lay blame on him for this situation