Just arrived at SNA airport to check in for my flight to IAH and when I printed my boarding pass, there it was: 1A Does that count as a battlefield upgrade or is that only at or after boarding-pass scan? Who cares!--right? I got the upgrade! ^

You provoked me to google up a bunch of "uses by native speakers" while I drink my coffee.

I personally lean against describing the mundane with too-colorful language. When a nicely dressed person with hands that have only ever touched a keyboard talks about "drilling down" into data, I cringe. On the other hand, maybe their life needs some spicing up, who am I to react this way?

With this bias, I was hoping that the original uses would turn out to be when the FA actually had to wander into coach to find you for your upgrade. In fact, it seems that "at the gate" is good enough.

CO has a number of regimes for upgrades. There's a rule change at 24 hrs, once OLCI starts. There are often computer generated upgrades at the 3 hour mark. Then there are gate upgrades, either orderly when agents notice immediately that some upgrades are inevitable, or last-minute, either calling up passengers right before boarding, or having the ticket reader beep. Then there's pulling someone out of coach.

It sure looks to me like our FAQ is being a bit liberal with the term; if I get an email at 3 hours, under post-OLCI rules, that is clearly not a battlefield upgrade even though the FAQ describes it as such.

You don't say whether you receive email alerts to your cell, so it is hard to determine from evidence presented whether you "revealed" a 3 hour upgrade by printing your pass, or you arrived after gate agents processed your upgrade.

On the other hand, we're using colorful, subjective language here, so there's a "if a tree fell in the forest" issue at hand: If you didn't reach the gate wondering, it wasn't a battlefield upgrade. This interpretation argues that you had to observe your change in status taking place at the gate, for it to be a battlefield upgrade.

I say that its a Battlefield, once Ive done my check-in and either I call on my way to the Airport or check at either the Counter or Gate to see if I cleared, and Im told that FC is Full.

Then either I get paged by the GA and given a new BP, or the scanner beeps and issues me a new BP, or as frequently happens the GA comes aboard and calls over the PA for me to come to the door for my new seat assignment.

anything before the Last EUA run I dont consider as Battlefield , for it means CO was simply holding onto seats and hoping they will sell them. But to each their own.

Had you already OLCI'd for the flight? This is FT after all, so there's really no good reason not to

The original uses of "Battlefield Upgrade" refer to upgrades at the gate.

People can say what they want. However, if I order a latte at Starbucks I can say I'm having sex, but it doesn't make it so.

IMO, the term only applies if you are already seated in Y and are paged to the forward cabin while already onboard the aircraft.

I thought the term originally applied only to upgrades on the aircraft. In any case, I consider only upgrades on the aircraft to be "battlefield" upgrades. An upgrade at the gate would be a "gate upgrade" or "upgrade at the gate."

I like your interpretation, that was always mine, too. However, googling didn't support this, at least in my search.

The term certainly shouldn't extend to cover the entire period after OLCI; our FAQ should be corrected.

The rush for the blue carpet can turn the gate area into a "battlefield"

SunLover

IIRC,
"Gate Upgrade" refers to an upgrade given after normal EUA but before the passenger has boarded

"Battlefield" refers to an upgrade cleared after the passenger has boarded, who subsequently has to battle their way upstream to get their new seat.

Thats how I look at it

Oh, I see... I personally considered any upgrade within 2hrs prior to departure time as "Battlefield Upgrade", since Plat/Gold companions will join the "battle" at that time.

But if we separate "Gate Upgrade" from "Battlefield Upgrade", and the latter means only after boarding, I'll use that way from now on.

I'll be sure to let everyone know when I get my next upgrade.

LOL - I just got an EUA (48 hours in advance) for a CLE-SFO segment.

Absolutely concur.

You've already "joined the battle" for personal space in Y.