I was on EWR - SFO yesterday and it looked like there were some first class seats open and I was not elite upgraded - anyway to determine if I am correct...thoughts?

I know someone who is a GA at CO who allowed FC to fly with empty seats. She got pulled in front of her supervisors to explain why that happened. This is apparently a big no-no at CO.

She probably "explained" that she didnt feel anyone was eligable to be upgraded..and thats the end of that!..and its more of a "No No" to upgrade someone who is not eligable.

CO can check the status of each flight and determine the situation. I suspect the likely situation here is miss connects and the GA did not bother to pull folks up at the last minute.

The other situation is the seats were occupied with children and you could not see their heads - if counting heads was the evaluation factor.

Don't board until all the First passengers are on the plane.

I hang back now and a couple of times have got the upgrade because someone has missed a connection.

On my flight yesterday? or on my flight the day before?

Yes, first class was full.

When CO status-matched me from AA EXP to get my business they explained that they want their most frequent flyers up front, and that a first class seat empty should be almost nonexistent. (It was commonplace on AA). I find it kind of hard to believe that there was not SOMEONE with at least silver status that could have gotten the battlefiend upgrade. If not, personally, I would have found an excuse to upgrade SOMEONE. Was there a military serviceman on board? An elderly flyer? Someone in a middle seat?

--PP

Why should a non-elite in a middle seat get an upgrade?

With all of this talk about upgrades, I though I'd add my two cents. As was stated in previous threads, there is a definite upgrade order/list which, in fact, even FA's have access to once on the A/C. GA's don't make up the order and shouldn't deviate from the rules. Believe me, even non-rev's keep a close eye on that first class cabin during boarding, not just elites. Final decision goes to the GA so if you feel there was a discrepancy, let CO know. We ALL want there to be consistency in the process.

And trust me, most FA's will make sure all the seats are allocated in first class before push because if we don't, we will hear about it from someone who thought they should have been upgraded.

Keep in mind also, many times I've had a PAX convinced that they were eligible for an upgrade but upon asking the GA, they were not. Although it seem all of you on this board are well versed enough to know all of the ins and outs (I don't).

CO has said that they are streamlining the upgrade process to make it agent proof at the gate.

Now when you have a situation were someone missed a connection - but was close - the agent may not choose to release the seat at the 10 minute mark- since the person might make it at the last minute and want their seat. But the gate knows when the connecting flight landed and whether they are going to hold the flight for that person.

Maybe the FA should use the standby list to be able to bring someone in order up? But then the system would not show them upgraded.

I had a situation a few years back - where about 3 of us in F connecting from the same originating flight rushed and made it to the gate about 3 minutes before departure - the aircraft was at the gate and with no agent in sight. Turns out the agents (a couple of them) hid inside the closed gate door until the aircraft departed about 10 minutes later before they appeared. I suspect they knew we were coming and gave up our F seats.

I once had a guy get upgraded from a middle seat while I was sitting in coach. He had ordered his meal in first and was sitting there grinning. I called the FA over and told her loudly that he was sitting in MY seat as I was Elite and he wasn't. She ran to the front, talked to the GA, and lo and behold I was moved up front. The man was fit to be tied when I passed him in the aisle but I didn't care. The only glitch was I had to eat his yucky dinner since the FA claimed it was too late to order something else for me.

I am not following what happened. Did they manage to upgrade him and get him a special meal all at the gate? That must have happened years ago; nowadays, I can't imagine that you could order some kind of special meal right at the gate.

Let's suppose there is an empty first class seat (very unlikely), AND...


...there are no plats to upgrade
...there are no golds to upgrade
...there are no silvers to upgrade
...there are no ST Elite to upgrade
...there is no one extraordinary making themsemves readily apparent (clergy, military, someone elderly)

then WHY NOT upgrade someone in a middle seat? This imediately makes THREE Y pax have a much more comfortable flight. It's called customer service and this is what CO has become exceptional at. I can't imagine a flgiht where there's not SOMEONE in the back who is OP or ST Elite who would like the bump up to the front of the plane...but just supposing this ever happened, what's the downside of making three Y pax happier?

--PP

No, he was upgraded on the plane. We were going from EWR to SFO or LAS. All the seats were full in coach and there was some kind of hoopla about where he was suppose to sit. They should have seated him in coach in my seat and upgraded me; instead they moved him to first class and left me seated in coach. I complained, as I said before, and we switched seats. We were on the plane and they had ordered meals already in FC. He didn't have a special meal just a meal I didn't like. I think it was a meat meal and I am a vegetarian. It happened less than 2 years ago.

Actually there were 3 empty FC seats on a recent early morning (0600) BWI-IAH flight. Flight was not full so I guess there were no other elites and I did not see any obvious occupied middle seats (didn't try counting heads ).

So should three pax be upgraded anyway? Heavens forbid no, integrity must always be maintained!