Wary of "Automatic" Upgrades and Flight Crew
 

I don't get it... I booked a flight on CO.com three months ago from EWR-FLL. Three of us were travelling and we were all Sliver ELite. We called the night before the flight and CO said that there were 4 FC seats available.

Now, I figured that any Golds and Plats would have already been upgraded, so I figured we all had a decent shot to be upgraded overnight. The rep on the phone said she couldn't do the upgrade, that an email would go out overnight if you received the upgrade.

Well morning came and no email. I called and the same 4 seats were still available and I hadn't been upgraded. SO I asked if the 3 silver elites could be upgraded and they said, "No we are no longer allowed to do upgrades over the phone anymore, they have to be done at the airport on a standby basis".

Now I am steaming at this, so I call back about 30 minutes later and ask if I can get upgraded. However, now only 2 seats are available. I gave my 2 travelling companions the upgrades hoping to upgrade at the airport.

When get to the airport, I don't get the upgrade; however when I get on the plane, a flight attendant and a pilot were sitting in 2A and 2B. The two seats that went missing!!!

What are other people experiences of NOT getting the automatic upgrade AND having crew members sitting in FC when paying Elite members are sitting in coach when they are entitled to that seat?

Can we write a letter to Gordon about this saying that his Elite customers don't appreciate NOT getting upgraded when employees are riding in FC.

- HobokenFlyer

Can you quote the sentence/paragraph in the onepass membership rules that leads you to believe that you are entitled to those seats?

I think a phone call to continental is in order.

Keep in mind that not all FC seats are available for upgrade. It's the old A class vs. F class deal.

It's very possible that at the time EUA ran
the FC seats were A class and not F class, thus you, and any other silver, not getting the upgrade.

I'm assuming that the FA and Pilot were in uniform, and thus most likely non-revs.

From your time line it sounds like the non-revs were upgraded in advance, I didn't think CO did that. The only thing that comes to mind, is perhaps they were going to be working a flight out of FLL, due to a crew emergency.

This sounds fishy to me.

What makes you think that you and your buddies, of *all* the people flying in and out of the NYC metropolitan area on any given day, would be the only three people that would have any priority whatsoever to be upgraded???

Let me venture a guess: T or Q fare, right? Hmmm... July... Florida... Booked three months out... Steaming mad over not being upgraded... Airline-crew conspiracy theories... wouldn't you feel more at home on Southwest, seated across from the guy in the flip-flop sandals with the boombox under the seat and cooler in the overhead bin, commiserating about how the last time he flew two August's ago the flight was delayed for a whole half an hour because there were supposedly thunderstorms in Dallas - but how could that be when there wasn't a cloud in the sky in Baltimore?!

Let me also let you in on something: Silver Elite, while meaningful, is not as meaningful as you apparently think. Hell, nearly every other time I get on a plane, which happens during the course of every 3 weeks or so, another 25,000 status miles falls off the seat of my pants... and even so, I'm not so myopic to think that I'm CO's banner-carrying frequent flyer and I ought to get something extra-special every time I get on a white plane with a dark blue tail just cos I got a shiny champagne-colored card in my travel folio.

Now I don't want to sound like I'm harshing on you personally, but give yourself - and CO - a break over this one, huh?

[This message has been edited by ETOPS01 (edited 07-25-2001).]

Thanks ETOPS01 for saying it so eloquently. I am a lowly silver (will be Gold after my 2 flights tomorrow!)and never EXPECT or DEMAND an upgrade. It's a perk not a right. What kind of scene did this guy make on board I wonder?!?!

------------------
Rachel
CO - Silver
Hilton - Diamond
SPG - Platinum

ETOPS01 you can't carry the banner until you pry it out of my hand... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

As a former flight attendant, let me explain what sounds like happened. The pilot and FA were probably traveling positive space. Meaning they were being deadheaded to or from work. Most of the time in a Deadhead crew members are placed in first to keep them away from the flying public and the millions of questions, as well as some time to rest. These seats are pulled out by dispatch and crew scheduling.

C-man:

That's-a what I said!

Unless the rules have changed in the last year or so, this is what SHOULD have happened:

CO employees on company business (including crew deadheading to protect a trip, mechanic going to do a special repari etc.) fly positive space, but unless a VP or higher (hi Gordon) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif they should be listed at pass classification PS0

Rememebr from a while back:

PS1 - Gordo, the new prez and the board (and spousal units)

PS2 - Veeps and their SU's

ONLY these two clases can book in A/F, and their Pos space listing does take the seat out of "A" inventory.

Then it goes down like this - all of these classifications must book in coach (it's all electronic these days) BTW these PS bookings do take a Y seat out of sellable inventory :

PS3 - Senior directors on company business
PS4 - Directors on company business
PS0 - The above "crew going to protect a flight". The PS0's are "sub-segmented" by captain, FO, FA, etc (I don't rememebr the exact order)
PS5 - Managers & Worker bees on company business
PS6 - Job applicants and others

Then all the SA's, in rank and seniority order.

I'm not Miss Cleo, so I can't say what the situation was on the day of your flight - a "buddy" at the gate doing a favor, or maybe the captain was the chief pilot who i'm sure has VP rank ... bottom line is, CO's policy is that they shouldn't have been up there ahead of you, but exceptions DO happen.

In the case where they were going to be flying out of FLL (I'm not sure if that falls under the term deadheading or not, maybe someday I'll figure out actually what that term covers http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ) I have no problem with them sitting in coach.

I was on the flight out of FLL, I;d want the pilot and the rest of the crew refreshed and sitting in coach doesn't cut it. Safety comes first in my book, over an elite upgrades.

Good grief! ETOPS01, you obviously didn’t READ the original post very carefully, and your response is simply WAY over the top. Eloquent, fine, but exegetically baseless. WHERE do you get this stuff?! Are you looking for an excuse to blow effusive verbiage about issues you have with apparently “presumptive” silver elites. What you just blew all over this thread simply has more to do with YOU then with the original POSTER/POST--oops, now I'm assuming too much, too. Let’s refocus and REREAD.

The concrete ISSUE (READING from the original post) is whether the upgrade system failed. This is a hot issue. He is also INQUIRING (note he said “I don’t get it,” and “figured” several times) as to WHY he might have missed the upgrade with respect to crew policy, and what OTHER EXPERIENCES have been in similar situations. Why you couldn’t constructively comment with respect to his inquiry, is beyond me. (Thank you, Boomer for a constructive response).

Rather than respond to some concrete discourse, you go after the AUTHOR and make some rather presumptive and DENIGRATIVE assumptions. So you PRESUME that traveling to FLORIDA, on a T fare, in advance means WHAT? That you have any less prerogative than others? So you make a smart a$$ statement about him being the Southwest type traveler--and therefore somehow less of a traveler. You obviously are not getting this from the original post. C’mon. For all you know he’s a silver who’s flown a heck of a lot of segments and at least 25k and thinks the system or crew policy took away a perceived benefit on this ONE experience. Why you presume so much otherwise...who knows? Take it to a therapist.

Sure the poster thinks that he’s important but NOT overly so. He’s not saying that because he’s SILVER that therefore he has a right to the upgrade over others (as you presume) but is saying this BECAUSE he thought given his priority AFTER gold/plats that he wasn’t give his OPPORTUNITY as a silver and only as a silver (READ his comment about after the upgrade window for plat/golds). He simply doesn’t understand the crew policy or “open seats” and in fact he MIGHT be correct in his assumption.

Perhaps give him grief about being “steamed” such that it’s not necessarily that important or necessarily the mishap as he perceives, but spare us the subjective dreck.

Would anyone like to respond to the original post (and, unfortunately, to mine).

I think the telling point is whether there were F or A seats, open? Do you know, Hoboken? Crew policy, has been explained well, and were the crew in uniform? (Probably).

[This message has been edited by JeffLewis2 (edited 07-26-2001).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

I never include another passenger in my record.

I suppose I might if I didn't want an upgrade (for some strange reason). The chances of three Silver Elites on one record getting an EUA is slim. Do yourself a favor, always book seperate records... It is easier to downgrade at the gate or swap your first class seat for the desired coach seat than it is to upgrade at the gate.

Ahem, JeffLewis. While you're talking about separating the wheat from the chaff, the whole matter boils down to, "I didn't get an upgrade, godammit!"

"EUA didn't work" equals "I didn't get an upgrade, godammit!"

"There was crew sitting in first class" equals "I didn't get an upgrade, goddammit!"

"Dear Gordon, Here's How to Make Continental Better..." equals "I'm writing because 'I didn't get an upgrade, godammit!'"

"I'm Silver Elite" equals "Even though I'm ENTITLED to it, I didn't get an upgrade, godammit!"

Since you're so attentive to the details, how many times did you count the word "upgrade" or its forms in the post? The word "entitled"?

Does this still leave you any confusion in your mind as to what the post is about?

[This message has been edited by ETOPS01 (edited 07-26-2001).]

Perhaps having the supreme being, send someone to hell for eternity... we could instead Goshdarn them to purgatory instead???

"You're making a mockery of the system! I darn you to Heck!"--Phil, Prince of Insufficient Light