I imagine when COInsider started looking into this, the Agents in question went to CYA mode, and the WX was as good as cover as they could have wished for. My guess is still that deadheading crew got the big seats and good meals while the lowly Silver got nothing for his loyalty until he brought up the "Possible Irregularity" on FT. I don't think there is anyway of knowing who got the OP's F seat or the other "empty" seat in F, but they were someone the FA was nice enough to invite up.

Thank you, Scott. I appreciate the prompt response here and in my inbox. Keep up the good work!

Us astute FlyerTalkers can assess a situation like this and analyze the likely irregularity. However, we are a very small % of the traveling Elites. So how many times does something like this happen?

Since the flight showed 15 out of 16 seats occupied after departure, there is the issue of why was this 1 seat left. The OP was upgraded and had an assigned FC seat. CO has a policy of "no FC left behind" a take off from an more famous slogan.

If there were deadheading crew - then they would be on the standby list and all 16 seats should have been taken.

This goes back to the issue of everyone on the flight should be accounted for, even crew, and all should have a boarding pass which agrees with the seat they are in. This is likley an FAA item, and not only should the GA get a demerit, CO could possibly get fined by the FAA.

Hi PhillyPhlyer40, in most cases, our Elite Upgrade Automation EUA) will clear up to the capacity of the front cabin. There's only a small handful of exceptions where this isn't the case, such as aircraft with a high swap probability, or aircraft where we need a handful of seats due to historical last-minute bookings. It's more important to us not to risk downgrading customers (especially after losing their choice main cabin seats), or accomodating a full-fare paying customer who invariably shows up three times out of five.

Whether EUA makes its last run at 3 hours or at 90 minutes, we don't that fundamentally solves our challenge. The true solution is for EUA to run in real time on the day of departure, and that's the goal we're currently considering.

Hi cova, I know you're a fan of this approach, but in this case, we're not convinced it wouldn't have helped. Just because a flight was delayed doesn't mean we were sitting idly by. Delay situations are often a pressure cooker because of the added uncertainty and points of failure. Unseating confirmed First Class customers, especially during a fluid delay situation, is a process that's best handled on a case basis. The First Class cabin on this flight was booked full, all upgrades had been cleared. There were, however, three customers whose inbound flights were delayed but, in our judgement, were going to make their connection. On the last flight of the night, when all the nearby hotels were full, we felt this was a chance worth taking. In the end, we did release the seats within minutes of departure, printed the boarding passes for the next three customers on the upgrade standby list, and with an urgency to get the aircraft out, asked the cabin crew to handle the onboard upgrades.

Hi hughw, our cabin crew doesn't typically handle battlefield upgrades, so when they do, we're grateful for it. Based on what we know, the cabin crew was handed three First Class boarding passes for battlefield upgrades. With only two unoccupied seats in First Class, it appears that the first two boarding passes were dispensed and the third (belonging to MB_Reps) was not. At this late stage, and with the aircraft door now closed, this wasn't a discrepancy that we were in a position to resolve on the spot.

Thanks Scott. Makes sense. So the two persons brought up were proper upgrades, right? MB_Reps lost out because somehow there was someone occupying his seat that shouldn't have beem there (a poacher, or non-rev) and too late to sort out. That's understandable. I suppose conceivably no one was even in the seat, ever, and he just got lost in the shuffle.

Let me expound on this. Departure was originally scheduled for 6 PM, then changed to 7 PM. I think the agents had the pre-boarding passport verification around 6PM, that was when I asked if I was upgraded and received a negative response.

Boarding started at 6:30 PM. A few minutes after everyone boarded, the FA upgraded the 2 customers () I mentioned in the OP. One of them was an elite seated at 6A (I was behind him in the line and saw his boarding pass). I think he even remarked something like "that took you some time" (presumably the upgrade) to the FA.

Some minutes later, we got delayed further and we had the option of waiting it out in our seats or going out to wait at the gate or wherever. I stayed and just slept at 5F. When the passengers who waited outside boarded back, I noticed a passenger who was previously in F now in 5C. I overheard him mentioning to the FA (different from the 1st FA so let's call her FA 2) that he got downgraded. FA 2 said she will look into this issue. I was curious to see how it would turn out for 5C-previously-F guy but he was having a conversation with another passenger and I dozed off. I woke up in time, though, to see FA 2 telling 5C guy that he can go back to F.

At 8:38 PM, based on the flight status, we finally departed.

I'm sure very frequently. If we can pick up on it, it happens far more than we know about.

I've personally been a victim of these types of shenanigans twice, and picked up on it a handful of other times, and that was prior to the PDA site.

This also excludes people who discover it and don't report it, or those that discover it and report it, but WE CARE doesn't do anything about it. Most customers have no CO Insider channel, and WE CARE is usually focused on trying to disclaim respsonsibility so as to minimize compensation.

I was coming through IAH last night, and with the nearly three hour ground stop they had, I can tell you that most of the evening flights were pretty messed up. I saw gate agents trying to reticket all kinds of funky misconnects, just to get them out.

I myself got out on my original connection, 2+ hours after original departure time, and was surprised to get an email alert this morning about my 7:25AM flight home. Apparently that still had me checked in on a protected flight, even though I was already home having morning coffee.

Could be very plausible that you were bumped because of someone with either a rev F seat, or higher status than you.

Truly, last night was not normal IAH ops, and I think you have to take this into consideration.

My negative attitude is none of your business. My opinion on the facts are all proven. I am a customer with CO and have the right to voice my opinion wether it is good or bad. Just beacause I don't suck up to CO means I have a bad attitude? All these supposed mistakes or shenanigans all caused by CO and not me. So who has the bad attitude? If you are going to complain about my attitude when I criticize CO and then what is this forum for? You get the good with the bad. Don't expect all roses on here.

According to Scott's response, the crew was handed three BP's, and there were only two FC seats. When the agents hand us these BP's, we don't know who is actually first. We just take the first one and go from there. Perhaps if the BP's were handed to us in order, this would help. The OP's BP was probably the last one in the stack. As was mentioned before, we don't normally handle these. I am glad to see that the OP was pleased with Scott's response to the situation.

the mystery is then why were 3 boarding passes handed out for 2 FC seats. Understandable error or what?

Yes, an error. Though not one that you may understand unless you are the working agent. I have had this happen before. The agent will come down to upgrade people, and they will actually have more upgrades than there are seats. Yet, all those people already in the FC seats were actually supposed to be in them.

I have to speak up on this one. Your comments were basically "blame Larry" and that he lets the FAs and GAs do anything. You can't prove either one as a fact, and "an opinion on the facts are all proven" makes no sense grammatically or practically.

I don't s-ck up to Continental either, but your tirade against Continental in this particular thread has nothing to do with this thread. It does not provide proof of your "facts" (except perhaps that you will fly Cathay Pacific to Asia), and doesn't help the OP or any of us understand the situation behind the upgrade issue.

WRONG.


CO can not "double book" seats on finalization. Can NOT, will NOT happen.


Lets get that out of the way. Lets not blame an "extra boarding pass".

Has anyone explained this yet?

Upgrade Standby List:
Capacity: 16 | Booked: 15 | Checked In: 15

(The OP noted this after the flight...).