My Colleague Was Bumped from Upgraded F Seat by a Celeb
Dec 16, 2017, 4:33 pm
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 17,428
Not famous enough. Well, I suppose if you don't follow sports.
Here's a short CV from Wikipedia:
- 2× Super Bowl champion (XXIX, XXX)
- 8× Pro Bowl (1991–1994, 1996–1999)
- 8× First-team All-Pro (1991–1994, 1996–1999)
- NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1994)
- NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
- Atlanta Falcons Ring of Honor
- Jim Thorpe Award (1988)
- 2× Unanimous All-American (1987, 1988)
- Florida State Seminoles No. 2 retired
An outfielder in baseball, he played professionally for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants, and participated in the 1992 World Series with the Braves
Pretty famous guy. I certainly recognize Deion Sanders.
Then again, I wouldn't recognize Placido Domingo, even though I know who he is.
Dec 17, 2017, 5:58 am
#64
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: MIA/LAS
Programs: AA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Starwood PLT
Posts: 572
It’s not a feee upgrade. He wasn’t granted CK status out of the blue, he earned that, along with the perks that come with it.
Dec 17, 2017, 6:18 am
#65
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Dec 17, 2017, 7:57 am
#67
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum/Million Miler, Marriott Titanium Elite-Lifetime, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,200
Dec 17, 2017, 7:59 am
#68
Join Date: May 2001
Location: (AA EXP)
Posts: 609
NFL Referees fly on full fare F tickets (sat next to one after a game). I know there are other corporate contracts for F/J availability, but not sure how they are worked when flights are already full.
BTW, I was bounced out of a business class seat from Kingston, Jamaica to Miami for Sinbad (comedian) nearly 20 years ago. He is a physically big guy!
BTW, I was bounced out of a business class seat from Kingston, Jamaica to Miami for Sinbad (comedian) nearly 20 years ago. He is a physically big guy!
Dec 17, 2017, 10:50 am
#69
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Thousand Oaks, Ca., USA
Programs: AA Lifetime Plat; Bonvoy Titanium Lifetime Elite;Hyatt Globalist; HHonors Diamond; United Silver
Posts: 8,311
It's the idea that once boarded and seated, AA could move them simply because someone would pay more money after the flight was boarded.
Last edited by beachfan; Dec 17, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Dec 17, 2017, 11:06 am
#70
Join Date: May 2015
Location: LAX
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 179
This is definitely an interesting thread. As an EXP, I wouldn't be thrilled with this situation, but would live with it if they put me into an MCE window or aisle seat. However, I'm curious to know what everyone would do in the event that you select an exit row seat, get upgraded at T-24, and then get bumped during boarding back to Y in a middle (non-MCE) seat since all MCE seats were taken. I would not be ok if that were to happen, especially on a longer flight.
Dec 17, 2017, 12:40 pm
#71
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
The entitlement comes from having a boarding pass with the seat and being seated in it. He got that seat by paying many $ to AA over the course of the prior year.
It's the idea that once boarded and seated, AA could move them simply because someone would pay more money after the flight was boarded.
It's the idea that once boarded and seated, AA could move them simply because someone would pay more money after the flight was boarded.
What an outrageous sense of entitlement...
Dec 17, 2017, 1:50 pm
#72
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: South Florida
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond, Marriott Platinium
Posts: 1,334
That case was an oversold situation (or last minute sale) and they handled that way in order to avoid paying the pax for the downgrade or any IDB fees. Per COC seat is not guarantee but per DOT same class it is. It doesn't matter if the seat was complimentary, revenue or paid with miles (considered $0 for AA) still a confirmed seat and on those situations (oversold), AA may call you to offer you $300 for a downgrade and there are a couple of report about that. I got 5k for a non-working IFE on a 3hrs flights, so 7.5k for downgrade is not enough and those who said your friend didn't pay for that seat, they are just jealous of your status (probably PLT or lower).
Just my 2 cents
Just my 2 cents
Dec 17, 2017, 1:52 pm
#73
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Why, then, doesn't AA just gut the program, say zero chance of upgrades, and send all of these "entitled" people to its competitors?
The people who make these kinds of statements about a one-off situation in the context of a loyalty relationship don't understand customers or marketing. A CK at ~$50k/year - what do you figure the CLV is on that customer? And you're really going to slap them in the face? I don't want you running my marketing program, that's for sure.
Dec 17, 2017, 2:17 pm
#74
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
They should remove this offering because people are ignorant about the conditions? Should they also just stop carrying people and luggage for the same reason?
Those representations are still subject to the rules both parties have agreed to. The rules don’t go away just because you or I don’t like them.
Why should AA have to pay the consequences for the ignorance of its customers?
I don’t work for AA’s marketing team, I don’t have the burden of having to sugarcoat things to avoid hurting fragile egos.
They're making representations that this is a feature of the program. Why do you think AA is making these representations, and why do you think AA maintains this program? Do you not believe that it drives incremental revenue? Is it not AA itself that is fostering this "outrageous entitlement"?
Why, then, doesn't AA just gut the program, say zero chance of upgrades, and send all of these "entitled" people to its competitors?
The people who make these kinds of statements about a one-off situation in the context of a loyalty relationship don't understand customers or marketing. A CK at ~$50k/year - what do you figure the CLV is on that customer? And you're really going to slap them in the face? I don't want you running my marketing program, that's for sure.
Dec 17, 2017, 2:24 pm
#75
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
And therein lies the problem. Those pesky customers and their ignorance! We'll teach them a lesson, now won't we?!
People approach these things like matters of law. Oh, the CoC, let's wave that in everyone's face and pound the table; that'll show 'em. I rest my case, blah blah blah. Yeah, you win the battle, but have you lost the war? The $1M lifetime value CK walks - you're proud and list this on your CV, I'm sure. Mr. Parker gives you a promotion?
But these aren't legal problems, they are indeed marketing problems - a discipline which in fact addresses more than "sugarcoating" to avoid damaging "fragile egos". And they are, unfortunately for your bull-in-a-china-shop black-and-white worldview, more nuanced than the prosecutorial mindset you advance can support. AA's business isn't to uphold a legal standard passed down in its CoC, it's to maximize return for its shareholders. Doing so is a balancing act. And, given the resources placed on the AAdvantage program, likely supported by data which you and I are not privy to, I suspect that they believe said program, and its explicit and implied benefits, to be valuable. So, go ahead, off with your best customers' heads, it's just marketing after all. Maybe that flies in your lines of work, but not many others.
If it were me? "Mr. Sanders, I'm so sorry, but this flight is pushing back full. May we escort you to the Flagship Lounge while we arrange for the next flight out in an hour?"