OK, I know it gets talked about a lot and usually without a lot of strong evidence behind it, but I think I'm pretty sure this one is unadulterated shenanigans.

I am seated 1E on CO86 Sun. 12/19 (The EWR-CLE part). I'm early boarded with a nice FA who brings me a cocktail as lots of people try to board the full flight. One is a younger blond off-duty FA in uniform. I notice her because the CO FA tells her as she works her way down the aisle "I'll try to do something with your rollerboard, hun" after she had already mentioned to other people boarding that the overheads were getting full.


One seat remains open in F, seat 2F behind me.

2 FAs are up front as the flight finishes boarding. Here is the conversation I then overhear:

FA1: "What about this one?" *holding a boarding pass*

FA2 (same FA who talked to the off-duty earlier) : "I'm not going to do any more upgrades. The doors are closed."

FA1: *shrug*

FA2: "I'm just going to give it to that attendant so she can rest."

A minute later the blond off-duty FA comes and takes seat 2F. She sits quietly in F the remainder of the flight.


((btw, these are direct quotes....I actually had my pen and paper out when I heard the discussion start and wrote it down word-for-word))


Here is the U/G standby list from the flight.

I'm sorry, SCO,V. , but I think you got shenanascrewed.

send it to Scott with the date, flight number, the list etc

i would call customer care and file a complaint on behalf of sco/v...ask for everything and expect nothing.....

I was on flight 297 from IAH to LAS on Dec 16th and heard the same type of conversation.

FA with long blond hair mentions to other FA (looking at the empty seat 3F) do we have a boarding pass for the empty seat - I will bring up a FA to that seat. The other FA says yes and hands it to her, but then a male FA is brought up and takes the seat. I am not sure if there was anyone on the standby list - but I am pretty sure there was - but nevertheless seemed out of place for the FA to suggest this without checking boarding passes in hand first.

I don't take my unpaid upgrades too seriously - if you want F, you should pay for F. But I hope stuff like this is an instant termination, or no more than a big warning and then termination. It's stealing a service from the company, plain and simple. And it speaks to the priorities of the employees involved.

I thought that once you board the plane you have given up your "right" to an upgrade. so since the doors were closed....
Might not be the most elite friendly experience but giving an empty seat to a uniformed off duty crew isn't the worst thing in my mind.

Nope, that's wrong. You get upgraded if you are next on the list and there is space. This sounds a lot like shenanigans, and exactly the type of thing CO Insider would handle before the merger.

Nope.
Agreed. It is one thing for FAs to not upgrade folks if the GAs haven't given them the list/BPs. If the FAs are actively choosing to ignore the proper upgrades in favor of other employees then there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

This is a great example of why employees should not ever be allowed in F. That benefit should be removed from their contract. Then there would never be an issue as everyone would know they could not sit in F. As it is, unfortunately there is no proof that the FA sat there. The FAs will all lie and say the upgraded passenger sat in F. The computer says the upgrade occurred. Unless the non-upgraded passenger comes forward, and even then it is he said / she said.

This is another good lesson for anyone who is #1 on the upgade list to keep checking your pda, even after you board, as long as there's an empty seat up front. The last battlefied upgrade I got (which was before I made PPlat, but that's another story) didn't clear until after I had boarded. As soon as I saw my name and new seat number I grabbed my stuff, showed my pda to the FA, then took my seat. I didn't wait for (and never got) the new BP.

I wonder what would have happened if SCO/V had tried to claim his seat after the FA took it.

I learned Friday that you need to keep checking EVEN if when you board it looks like there are no empty seats up front. I got a battlefield upgrade after boarding on Friday under such a circumstance. When I had boarded first class showed full and all had checked in. But someone must have had a late connection or missed the flight (security at EWR was horrible Friday) and an open seat opened up and I got it. I had stopped checking my pda thinking that I was out of luck, but I won't do that again, even if first class looks to be full and all checked in at boarding time.

Good catch. I should have said "unoccupied" seat. Even if you have to walk up after everone's boarded to check (not everyone's head clears the top of the seat!).

Not just when you are #1.... Earlier this month on LAX-IAH, when I boarded I was #3 on the upgrade list and the pda site said F was checked-in full... The minute I boarded #2 got upgraded [skipping #1] then when everybody boarded the flight, I refreshed the pda site one more time and noticed I got upgraded [also skipping #1]... I simply got up and showed the FA the list on my pda and she politely said "sure, here is your seat".

Did not really have to move my stuff since I was in the bulkhead row in Y and got moved into 5A

So now what reasonable and appropriate step to take?

I would like to alert someone, but I'm not going to call the police either.

PM Scott? (I'm loathe to bother him on things)

Complaint to CO directly?

CO Insider has requested in the past to be notified when things like this occur, so I would send it his way.