Operational Upgrade Priority
 

I plan on writing a letter to Continental about this, but I thought I'd post here first and get some feedback.

I just got off a very full EWR->TLV flight (they're always full). When I booked the flight, I had them waitlist me for a mileage upgrade to BusinessFirst. The agent on the phone assured me it would be like winning the lottery if I actually cleared the waitlist, and I agreed, but I asked her to put on my it anyway and she politely obliged. Sure enough, 2 days before my flight I checked and I had not cleared the waitlist and everything was set up for coach. No problem. (My dislike of THAT whole process is a different matter :))

When I arrived for the flight, I learned that coach was over-sold by 3 seats, and there were 4 seats available up front. I assumed they would be moving people forward to cover the difference (it's very rare for people to not make this flight). I found the concierge as soon as he showed up at the desk, and found that someone else was already talking to him. In listening in, it was an older guy and his grandson who were asking for the same thing I was about to ask (to be moved up front if they did need to do some operational upgrades). When it was my turn, I asked for the same thing. I politely explained that I was a Platinum OnePass member who had previously been waitlisted, and I would greatly appreciate priority on an operational upgrade should one become necessary. He nodded, took my boarding pass, and said he'd let me know.

As the flight started boarding (I was hanging around the desk) the concierge called a person to the front, exchanged his boarding pass, and I could see the look of surprise on his face when he handed him the new one and he said "You're moving me to business class?? why???" the concierge just told him they needed his seat and to enjoy the flight. The concierge then immediately paged the older guy and his grandson, and exchanged their boarding passes for new ones as well. They looked equally pleased. I followed them both away from the desk and asked both the older gentleman and the first guy if they were OnePass members. The first guy was just a general member, and the older gentleman was silver (his grandson had no status).

A few minutes later he then called me up and said they wouldn't be needing me and he gave me back my original boarding pass.

I was furious... but I politely asked why he had upgraded others ahead of a platinum member who was previously waitlisted for the upgrade. He said his upgrade priority was none of my business. I then politely asked for his name (I remained very calm) and the guy went ballistic -- saying I had no business telling him how to do his job, and that I had no idea what his critera was for upgrades. When I asked him to explain it to me, he again said it was none of my business (nice!).

I quietly took my assigned seat in coach because I've played this game long enough to know there's no point in arguing with the concierge.

My question is:

1) What IS their upgrade critera for operational upgrades and
2) What would you guys have done in this situation?

It sounds like they volunteered first, and got the upgrade. It's unfortunate CO didn't grab 3 plats at random and upgrade them instead.

Maybe some FTers know about the criteria, but it's not supposed to be public knowledge. So, the agent doesn't need to tell you, and you did the right thing in just sitting down.

I think the issue at this point is no longer the upgrade itself...it's how the Concierge interacted with a Platinum customer.

The Concierge is under no obligation to explain why he upgraded one person and not the other, but he does have an obligation to treat all customers, especially a Platinum, with a certain degree of respect and professionalism.

I guess we can chalk this one up to another Newark "special person". Seen enough of them this year already :rolleyes:

One thing I found works well when asking for something special...don't hang around the desk until absolutely the last minute. The risk of being forgotten is far less than the risk of appearing pushy or annoying to the agent who might go out of their way to deny a request to someone who keeps bugging them or stands closeby (this does not refer to the OP, but a helpful hint for all readers)

About 6 months ago, there was "Grey Coat" that participated on FT. HIS criteria (and it was never clear that it was CO's) was:
Highest Revenue Ticket not upgraded
Continental *
Continental Platinum

The therory mentioned was:
What have you done for Continental today
What have ypu done for Continental recently
What have you done for Continental over the long haul

I can't say that I agree with them, but I can understand them. Like I said, it was not clear if this ws CO policy or the poster's own.

My personal guess after watching a couple of op ups in progress is that is the discretion of the red coat and based on their percieved method of handling the situation as quickly as they deem possible. If there is a standardized criteria for doing op ups, I don't get the impression it's neccessarily followed, but all just speculation on my part.

By the way, this is one reason why I need to stop paying attention to this kind of thing. Whether or not one deserves to be upgraded doesn't matter, it's still awful to watch others get bumped up front while you stay in the back, esp on international flights.

It seems obvious that the upgrade policy that was used was first come, first served.

Do these people not get performance reviews? Are their people skills (or lack thereof) not monitored by SOMEBODY? What are their bosses doing? Are people who are in direct contact with the public not monitored in some way like those in call centers??? :confused:

My mom was op-uped for EWR-HKG earlier this year. She, a Gold Elite, never asked for it. They just called her name and exchanged her BP. So, she didn't even "come" to the desk and ask for anything, so I wonder about "first come, first serve".

Same thing for my wife and I last year when we flew to CDG for New Year's Eve. We walked up to the gate after gulping some fast food at EWR and my name was called shortly before boarding. The Grey Coat Op-Uped me immediately and my wife a couple minutes later after others did not answer their page. And yes, I would have given her the seat if there was only one available! Whether she would have taken it or not is another story.

This obviously was not first-come first-serve, did anyone read what happened?

One of the op-upped people said "You're moving me to business class?? why???"

If he didn't know why, he didn't ask and it wasn't FCFS.

continental does NOT care about upgrade priority and often too lazy regarding upgrading correctly.

Very true. I find it odd that he would not provide his name. OTOH, props to you neatbrian for staying calm and collected. I'd be interested to hear what the response is from CO. Please keep us informed! :)

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I'm guessing you were travelling on a full-fare Y ticket and your boss was not? You're talking about a domestic "battlefield upgrade," but we're talking about international operational upgrades, when Y is oversold and J is undersold. The two are very different.
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That was a response to the now-deleted post #14