jtwiz

Flying from EWR to MUC and was first on BF Upgrade Waitlist. (Miles/copay) The PC guy told me 1 seat was available, but that only a GA could process the upgrade. Headed down to gate about 10 minutes before boarding was due to start.

3 GAs at the podium. As I walked up, one GA barked at me that the desk was closed and to get a seat. I mentioned that I was just checking to see if my waitlisted upgrade had processed, and then walked a few steps away. She again told me to take a seat and I said there were no seats (and there weren't, it was mobbed.) At this point, I heard her say to another GA that "I'm giving the seat to the non-rev." I thought, Uh Oh.

FYI. Our flight had been changed from a 767 to a 757 the day before. Apparently there were extra crew members, including a pilot, that needed seats on the plane due to the equipment change.

As they opened the desk, I walked up. And the snippy GA told me BF is full, no seats available. As my PDA still showed 15 Booked, with 1 seat open and me at the top of the waitlist, I asked for an explanation. "Full, that's all you need to know" is what I was told. As I walked away, the other GA actually left the desk and very nicely told me that a pilot would be using the remaining seat. I said OK, and she even asked me if I needed a better seat in Y. As I was in 7C on a 757 with enough leg room for an army, I said no and thanked her for being so nice.

Now, I really don't know what the rules are for putting non revs in BF over a waitlisted Miles/CoPay customer. But what I do know is that GA had an attitude and really didn't care about customer service. I know a lot of people here complain about the EWR ground crew, but I so rarely have issues that it was a real surprise to be treated that way.

In any case, 7B was empty and I saved myself $500 so I guess it worked out for the best.

gawhite411

There are circumstances in which the crew member is required to be given first class. But if it was not one of those, and it sounds from the GA's comments like she might have been gaming the system, then this should result in a termination of every CO GA working the flight. This is the ultimate in shenanigans.

Houston2mnl

This is not new. I see it often. When I report shenanigans here I get hounded by COolaide drinkers....For some unknown reason.

Prepare thyself.

JC1120

I don't know about this particular flight instance, but on flights where there are more pilots required and there is no dedicated crew rest, they will block a BF seat for the rotating pilot.

clubord

FYI...any flight with a scheduled stage length of 8:00 or more requires an augmented 3 person cockpit crew and a rest seat to be allocated for one of the pilots.

jtwiz

Since I didn't want to get booted off my flight for asking those kind of questions (is the pilot a required part of the crew? is he working this flight?, etc.) I decided to accept what the "nice" GA told me at face value. I chalked my lack of upgrade up to bad timing and went about my business.

But I am still unhappy about the lack of professionalism displayed by the "snippy" GA. It's that kind of attitude that gives EWR a black eye, when meanwhile 90% of the CO personnel I deal with at EWR are helpful and considerate.

FYI. There was a huge fracas right before takeoff on the plane between another EWR GA and a passenger over a bag needing to be checked. There was screaming and cursing (which was part of the problem - the German passenger accused the GA of cursing at him in Spanish. Oh boy.) See what I would have missed if I was up front? But in 7C, I had a bird's eye view. The 2 FAs standing next to me were flabbergasted at the whole thing. In the end, the passenger and GA calmed down, the bag was checked and off we went.

CALMSP

were you on last nights EWR-MUC flight??

aacharya

I've actually done the research - a decent amount of "shenanigan" reporting is not understanding other systems in play for upgrades and other items.

It's just like the "tens of dollar" upgrade shenanigans that everyone KNEW was an issue, but really wasn't.

In this case, same issue. Are we sure a pilot does not out-rank all others for a BF seat due to union contracts? If we are sure, then it is shenanigans. But I'd like to see doobierw verify.

usa18dca

This is correct but CO.COM and the PDA is SUPPOSED to reflect the fact THAT one seat is BLOCKED...

IF it didn't then how are we customers supposed to know? I have noticed in the past even with 1 blocked seat not mentioned...someone can still purchase the J seat thereby creating an overbook/oversell situation.

rlbmorton

Once I sat next to a pilot on a TATL flight in BF who was not working the flight, but needed for the flight back -- the flight back was the length of time required for 3 pilots but the flight over was not. He told me that "normally" they give the non-working pilot three seats in coach -- it is part of their contract. But if coach is full, they will move him up to BF, which is what happened in the case where I sat next to him, as that is the most cost efficient thing for them -- to sell the three coach seats rather than an upgrade to BF. He said in such a case, a PAX loses an upgrade. If there was a change in aircraft, it sounds to me like that is what was going on, they were freeing up the non-rev's three seats to fit in the coach PAX and giving him or her the BF seat.

It could also be that the GA was just being nice to the non-rev and of course that would be illegal. And the GA certainly was extremely rude to you by not explaining to you what was going on which looks suspicious.

meducate

I was on this flight last night. I don't want to make the situation worse, but there was no one seated next to me in BF. A few things about this flight:

- It was a downgauge from a 762 to a 757, but the FA told me that no one lost a seat because it was only booked to 16
- One of the 16 seats was the crew rest seat. Pilots rotated in this seat every 2 hours (not fun for the person in the seat next to it)
- There were indeed 2 non-revs on the flight in BF
- The ran out of potable water on the flight - not sure how or why

I was happy about the switch, as we wound up with lay flat seats and better entertainment systems.

To the OP, sorry if you were on this flight - they should have given you the seat that was next to me.

PSU Mudder

Curious, do they use the nomenclature "non-rev" for a pilot who is actually working that flight as opposed to someone deadheading, commuting, or going to see grandma?

CALMSP

yeah, it appears there were 3 open seats.

bocastephen

Situations like these require you to take action while there, not the day after on FT.

As soon as you noticed the GA was hostile, and told another GA she was giving the last BF seat to a non-rev, you should have left, found the nearest redcoat or BF concierge (even if you had to rush back to the club to have one paged) and made a reasonable and factual complaint about the agent's hostility and statement about giving your seat to a non-rev.

Let the concierge or redcoat make a determination if that seat was needed by a nonrev for operational reasons, or if the GA was behaving badly and needed to be corrected on the spot.

At this point your only course of action is a written complaint.

channa

I wouldn't worry so much about it. The GA has a tough job as it is, and they have a lot of things to worry about.

Three (3) mishandled seats out of 172 is less than a 2% mishandling rate. I surely wouldn't appreciate getting a complaint about my job if I were doing it 98% right, and I'm sure you wouldn't as well.

The customer paid for a coach ticket and flew in coach. CO's COntract has been fulfilled. The OP survived. Time to move on.