mbreuer

Basic summary - my Spouse was on CO248 back on Jan 23. She was in an exit aisle (33D I believe) and #1 on the upgrade list. At the time she arrived at the gate first class was as yet not sold out. She asked the GA about upgrades and was told there would be none. Shortly thereafter, someone else was called to the desk and upgraded. When she boarded, the machine beeped, and she was upgraded.

After a while in her seat, the GA tapped her on the shoulder and told her that her seat had been sold, she was the last upgraded, and she had to take a seat in the back. It was a window, and she was told the middle would be empty. The GA asked her if this was okay. She said, "no." She suggested that they give her back her original exit seat and kick out whomever now had that. The GA would not. Eventually, she took her seat in the back. The middle seat was not, in fact empty.

She did call the elite desk to complain after the flight and was told that an email to corporate would be sent explaining the issue. After not hearing anything for a few days, she emailed CO and cc'ed key executives, including Scott. She did not ask for compensation, explained the circumstances and her displeasure.

Her assistant received a call from a corporate customer liaison who apologized, explained that the GA was at fault, and she'd get 5k miles, "in an effort to make it up to you."

So concerns for this forum:

What is going on? From the PDA site it was clear that this was not some late arriving passenger. They SOLD the seat AFTER the EUA. Personally, I would suggest that compensation to the downgraded passenger ought to at least be the revenue from that mistake (unless it's policy now), and I'd also throw in the value of the lost exit row.

If in fact policy is that they can downgrade upgraded passengers if some late arrival wants to purchase the seat, then every effort should be made to put that individual back into their "premium" seat. Absent that what good is being able to select exit row seating in advance? Platinum at that point becomes a disadvantage.

Frankly, if this is policy I'd think about switching airlines. Who needs the stress of wondering if you're going to be sent back to coach with each and every EUA.

If this was not policy, then someone at Smith St. really needs to re-evaluate what is going on at EWR with the GAs. This is just not at all acceptable.

I'll PM co insider with the flight and OP details.

usa18dca

It's Smith Street for starters, and she should have received a Downgrade Compensation $$$ Voucher not a measly 5k peon miles...

EWR764

The phrase "selling upgrades out from under Elites" has new meaning...

mbreuer

Whoops - thanks. Fixed.

thaliajen

I'll certainly be keeping my eye on the PDA when I fly to NOLA Thursday. Last year something similar happened on my flight when someone upgraded at the gate was asked to move back but it was b/c there was a man who arrived
very late & the GA still let him board. (We were late leaving.) Luckily, the 1st man was very nice about it and got his original bulkhead seat back in economy. The late guy wasn't so nice.

ijgordon

I'm pretty sure you can't sell a seat within 30 minutes of departure (or whatever the local check-in cutoff time is), so it seems more likely a last-minute buy-up or a paid FC passenger showing up and wanting to stand by at the last minute. Frankly, neither of these situations should be allowed once FC is full, and it's really not clear how exactly it happened. Or I guess the other thing that happens is a confirmed F passenger that they expect to misconnect/no-show ends up showing up and they have to make the call to allow that pax on the plane, even though thy already gave away the upgrade.

Personally, I would have taken a much harder line with the FA about getting my original seat back before I stood up from the first class seat. If they can bump an elite from a FC seat, they can surely bump a non-rev from an ELR seat (which was likely who was in it). It was probably the GA's friend though...

I probably would also have been on the phone with WE-CARE at the same time trying to sort out potential downgrade compensation while documenting the GAs actions in real-time. And I might have even let it get to the point where the captain would have to get involved, and maybe even law enforcement (depending on how badly I needed to be where I was going )

meFIRST

How much is the OVSDOWNGRADE voucher these days?

stallion114

I think if you get upgraded at the gate and the original passenger shows up you should get sent back.
As far as I am concerned you are only late if the door is shut.
I don't think any compensation is warranted either.

nova08

Yea, you can't even use 5k miles for a domestic upgrade (except on Y and I can't think of many situations you would use miles while flying Y domestically).

There is a lot going on here:
I hope coinsider can get around to research this

1.)Why did the GA say there would be no upgrades and then at least 2 people were upgraded

2.)I'm curious whether it was really "sold" and if it was "sold" was it some sort of buy up, which I agree when someone is placed in that seat that option should not be available.

3.)Also if she was #1 on the upgrade waitlist how was she the last one upgraded. Theoretically the person upgraded before her should have been after her on the list.


The skeptic in me wants to say its something sketchy going on. If it was a misconnect F pax that showed up last minute, I would rather them just tell me. I would not be happy but I would understand. Giving no explanation just causes a s***storm

Completely agree.

HobokenFlyer

I agree with the OP. If CO can kick out someone from a FC seat, they should be able to do that with someone from a coach seat. With the same line..."sorry we made a mistake". Especially when it happens in such a short time period before the flight and at the gate.

sfogate

There could be several reasons why this happened.

There could have been a customer, at the ticket counter, purchasing the First Class seat and running into problems with getting the ticket ticketed. This has happened to me as a GA on a few flights.

Another possibility is that a customer's reservation was canceled in error and we are required to honor that ticket, even if it means an oversale.

Or the GA screwed up and did one too many upgrades before s/he restricted the flight from further check-ins. Or restricted the flight too early, did the upgrade and the ticket counter called to get the flight re-opened to do more check-ins.

mbreuer

Perhaps, but in this case she was told that they sold the seat after she was upgraded. FC was not fully booked according to the PDA site shortly before the upgrade.

sfogate

Sorry to inform you but your seat can and might be given away at the 15 minute before departure time.

Awtas

But if I understand it correctly, this will come with the downgrade compensation.

sfogate

It comes with a refund if you were ticketed in F and are now sitting in Y because you were late boarding. If you were an EUA you receive nothing.

You are not an oversold customer but one that we have allowed to board after closing the flight out. I know I wait until atleast 10 minutes before departure time to do my battlefield upgrades because I am trying to give you the courtesy, as an Elite or a paying F customer.