norodnik

I think this has been discussed before, but interesting to witness it first hand.

Was on 874 yesterday from LHR-DME and the nice lady in the lounge called me over and told me I had been upgraded.

Not sure why as eco was not full and CE was about 65% full. I had a full fare Y ticket so maybe BA figured they would be nice to me as there was plenty of space. The guy next to me also got upgraded.

As the doors closed I had a peer around and noticed a guy coming up from Eco with his bag and proceeded to put it in the overhead locker in front of me and sit in Row 10 which was empty. He was quite shabily dressed and the crew "sort of" noticed but seemed confused as to where he had come from. Anyway, they did nothing about it and he got away with it.

Mind you, he soon showed his inexperience by trying (quite forcefully) to get his seat to recline which was impossible as it was the first of the 2 exit rows. Also, as soon as we landed, he turned his phone on started have a chat to his Russian mate. I told him to turn it off but he was too ignorant and just ignored me and all the other pax's scowling in his direction.

So, hands up who would have turned him in ?

G-BOAC

I'd have had a quiet word with the crew. Your upgrade was legit, his didn't sound to be. That kind of arrogance just isn't on IMHO. A discreet word in the galley can only end in them saying they don't care and doing nothing, it wouldn't cause a big fuss for the rest of the pax. If he was just a cheeky self-upgrade, he should have been kicked back to Y on principle. Simple.

Phil

flyclub

I am surprised he got away with it. I myself not long ago had experience of someone 'trying it on' on a flight to Berlin. However on that occasion, they were in my seat, only 3 rows of Club and the aircraft was later shown to be full anyway.

What does puzzle me is that the passenger count would not tally with what was expected. Surely the mistake would be noticed at that point?

duncfly

I agree the count wouldnt have tallied and they may not have had the catering......maybe he was chatting with someone up the back until the last minute and then moved into his seat. I'd be really surprised the crew wouldn't turf him out if he was trying it on......

spotwelder

Unlike me the other day then...

IB check in at LHR could not access the business class seats out of MAD. So they gave me a Y boarding card and told me to change it in MAD. Flight late, so had to trot from the LHR flight, via the incompetent security transfer area (hell, even BAA look good at this point) to the gate. Disinterested gate agent denied all knowledge of life, the universe and everything. Ask on board.

Crew on board could not understand the fare class. Result, paid for expensive ticket, got cheap seat, got bum miles and bum tier points. Taking that up with IB.

However, I tallied in terms of numbers on board, as I had been check in for eco and not business.

When I saw the boss trolley dolley, he said that there were 12 empty seats in business.....

norodnik

No, I watched him get out of his Eco seat, get his bag and move. He was not talking to anyone. To be honest I think he had no clue that he had just moved into business. There was no curtain (it was missing, G-EUUB) and he went for the row with nobody in it.

I did not see the crew do a count. Often I see them do it (probably they were more diescreet). I Watched the crew after he moved to see if they would do anything. They appeared to look down the plane a few times with the manifest but that was it.

The crew were pretty miserable for the whole flight and made little effort to interact with any of the passengers. For instance, the imigration forms were all in Russian. Rather than ask any Russian speaking person what each line said (maybe 2 mins effort) they just said we would have to pick up English versions at the counter when we arrived.

At the end of the day, he may have been there legitimately, but everything I saw said otherwise.

yyzlhr

Maybe, he too was upgraded but "forgot" his seat number as he thought he was in 17A as that is what he check-in too and then drank too much Vodka in the lounge, and then sat down looked at his boarding card, with one eye covered, at his seat as you do (or don't) and remembered in a haze that he had been moved and thought he better get to his new seat or else it would throw off the head count.

Just a maybe....