brp

It's quite possible...but they still wouldn't have disappeared unless they were taken off.

Cheers.

rbessler

Without knowing the full details, I would speculate that the problem isn't AC agents adding people to the standby list, rather, its AC agents adding people to the standby list while the agent is boarding/processing standby/closing the flight. At that point, many gate agents like to have complete control of the list. Its unclear how close to departure the OP really was ("near boarding time"), of course...

jrhone

I was just about to post something similar.

The key is what time they are added to the list, if the agent has already processed the standby list , other agents adding people to it can cause no end of problems.

Madison Guy

Yeah - my bad - totally spaced that part! I was more worried about why someone else was apparently cleared when they were #1/#2. But, the names disappearing - yup you are totally on base - no excuse for that action. The "turf war" is the best (and highly inexcusable) explanation.

EDIT: Just read jrhone's post - too bad the system can't 'lock' the list at the GA request - BUT - also that the system would ensure that the GA can't lock it too early!!!! :-)

nrr

i've been in ac clubs where the agents have called the gate* to speak with a ga first, this way there is no competition between ga and ac angels.
[*the ac knows the phone numbers for the various gates--, from one of my previous posts here on ft.]

dstan

They can certainly close a flight (and jrhone will correct me if I'm wrong). The problems arise when overzealous AC agents manage to reopen them to add more pax. I've been added to a flight in just this way, only to be removed by the GA because the flight was actually weight restricted. As nrr states, this can be avoided by better communication between the AC and GA, but perhaps some AC agents are hesitant to bother gate agents knowing how busy they are already?

ESpen36

I had a similar thing happen. I was standing by on an earlier flight and the AAngel went ahead and cleared me. When I got to the gate, the GA called me up and took away my boarding pass, saying "the Admirals Club agent cleared you before I was ready to give you the seat."

In the end, we have to keep in mind that the GA(s) have ultimate resposibility for getting the door closed and the jetbridge retracted on time. I thing jrhone is right, that at a certain point before departure, only the GAs working the flight should be able to manipulate flight data in SABRE.

VonS

Okay, you got me--what is IRROPS? (I apologize in advance if there is a Flyer Talk dictionary or something I should have consulted before posting this.)

mvoight

Irregular Operations

serfty

The FT AAdvantage forum one is in the following sticky:

• Forum Unofficial User's Guide: thread links, Glossary & new member info.

Post #5:

• Some acronyms and abbreviations used on this Forum

wizzy

My coworker and I are PLT. The two people who were given seats ahead of us (they were not on the list prior) were also PLT, and were booked on the same original flight as us. I had done OLCI the night before.

This was VERY close to the end of boarding, but the GA was still working the standby list, as evidenced by her clearing walk-ups.

jrhone

GA's usuing a control set at the gate can change the status of a flight at different times . The usual changes are putting the flight in to 'final' , which restricts checkin in and seat changes only to the GA computers at the gate, 'final all' which releases all seat blocks , and then 'close' and 'pdc'. Agents can also put the flight in 'held' status which stops anyone else from assigning seats or playing around with things while they work the standby list.

edit ; I dont think it is a turf war, just that at times the communication isnt as good as it should be. GA's have to understand that the AC staff are trying to help our premium passengers by providing them with extra service, while the AC staff need to understand that if they place someone on a list once a flight is in final, it should be stated to the passenger that due to time limits they might not be accomodated in the correct order, this is especially true if the GA has already processed the standby list. If the AC staff place an EP on the standby list at 15 minutes before departure, and the GA has already accomodated all the PL and AG passengers, are we supposed to pull a PL/AG member off the plane to accomodate the EP , in the correct order ?

Blumie

^^^

We should have an "ask jrhone" subforum on the AA board, where instead of the usual speculation and conjecture, we get real answers.

ESpen36

I second this motion.

brp

Although we do have to teach him that here, we call them "GLD" and not "AG" (And what is the elemental symbol for Executive Platinum anyway?)

Cheers.