I was on CO 1499 IAH - SJO yesterday (4/24) in coach but I think I should have been EUA'd. Please let me know if I'm right.

Right before the scheduled boarding (flight was delayed for 2.5 hours because of Houston thunderstorms but that's another story), I asked the agent at gate E17 if I was upgraded; he said no, first class was full. (I had no laptop, no online access to flight status, and there was no flight status monitor at E17 )

While boarding, I saw at least 2 empty F seats and thought maybe the FA will get passengers already seated in coach (me! me!) to be upgraded at the last minute. The FA did just that but I was not one of the lucky two.

When I arrived home past midnight (thank you, thunderstorm), I checked the flight status and saw what looks to be my name (well, initials) in the upgraded customers list:

OK, there might be another person in the list that has my same initials, but it seems there was still 1 available seat and it says "No Upgrade Standby Customers"... so what was I doing in seat 5F (not getting EUA'd, I know ). Also--I know enough not to rely much on the seat map, but just for completeness--my seat 5F (which was showing up as occupied before the flight) showed up as available.

What does your record on CO.com show?

The reservation no longer shows up in my account (because I completed it last night?). Or is there another way to check it in my CO.com account?

I forgot to mention I did not receive EUA email notification, but I've read others' experiences here of getting EUA'd without receiving the email.

Wow, I think I would have omitted the work "Possible" from the title of this thread. Someones got some splainen to do.

Was it the FA or the GA who moved up the two passenger from coach? Just guessing, but I would put my money on the fortunate person who got your seat in F as being a Non-Rev. There has been a recent thread where this type of shenanigans have been proven.

I think it was the FA (he served the meals later--not sure if this helps, though ) but not really sure; sorry, I'm still kinda new at this.

It is completely possible that someone has a similar last name and first initial. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion as I've seen it and my name is very unique, though the first three letters of my last name are not.

You can pull up your old res, just go to the manage reservations screen and you'll see 'Active, Past, Inactive, Cancelled'. Click on the past and pull it up. It should tell you what cabin you were seated in by the fare class.

Yup, that's the FA (Flight Attendant). The GA (Gate Agent) will come on the flight right before closing the door, usually, but aren't on for the actual flight.

You can look at your CO.com account after the flight posts. It should show Z_ if you were upgraded in the system (where _ represents your fare class). If you weren't upgraded in the system, your fare class will just show _.

Another suggestion for checking if you're upgraded: Ask the GA "Can you confirm my seat assignment?" If you ask if you were upgraded, you'll usually get the answer you got. Also, when they scan your boarding pass at the gate, listen for an extra 'beep'. If there are 2 beeps, it means there is something wrong with your pass and they should issue you a new one. However, if they upgrade you AFTER you've boarded, you won't know this.

Anyway, if your account shows that you should have been upgraded, send a private message to COInsider with all of the details.

I'm not sure that's correct. I just pulled up a recent past reservation and it shows the "original" receipt and fare class "V" for a flight that I was upgraded on by EUA.

I'd say the liklihood of having someone on the plane with the same first initial & same 3 letters to start your last name is VERY small. Assuming that all letters appear in names with the same probability, there's a 1 in 456976 chance that you will have the same 4 letters as anyone else. Typical upgrade lists are in the 20-50 range, so that's not going to happen very often. Since we know not all letters appear regularly in names (how many of us have Q, Z, X, V, etc in your names?), lets just assume there are 16 letters that appear regularly in names... then there is a 1 in 65536 that your 4 initials will match someone else. Again, not probably going to happen on the upgrade list, but it's still possible. Ok, math class is over...

Ugh, I've read this before but forgot about it.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Thanks. This is what I see:

Thanks for all the replies (and the probability class from IAHtraveler ). I will send COInsider a private message.

Interesting to know : Just checked my co.com account as I was upgraded at the 24 hour mark before my Sunday flight. Yes I see ZS (S being my original fare class).

Hey MB_Reps.......keep us posted on what you learn!

I've seen it at least twice that I remember and i've seen times other times when it's happened, sometimes on the same flight and the two people were not related.

I was merely saying it is possible and that we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Obviously from the OPs follow-up, he was upgraded and the employees did their shenanigans.

It's not what he learns (we already know what happened). It's what he gets that's important.

I may have become slightly cynical living in Latin America for the past 19 years, but the initials on the upgrade list were not the only clue given by the OP in the OP. He also stated that the seat he was originally assigned in coach, 5F, became available sometime between before the flight and after the flight. 15 of 16 booked and checked-in in First. No one on the upgrade standby list. It is starting to look like a duck, and even Polly Ana would start to get suspicious. That a FA handled the upgrades is the nail in the coffin. Add all these other circumstances to the mathamatics, and it is pretty clear what happened.

I would further guess that with a 2-1/2 hour WX delay, that CO was deadheading crew down to SJO so as not to have to delay 1485 the next day back to IAH due to crew rest requirements. I would guess that this group may have been favored by their co-workers.

I think that CO should step up and fix these things, and if they don't when they get caught, should provide better compensation. A FF program is suppose to work both ways. A customer will be loyal to the airline, and the airline will provide perks. This customer was being loyal to the airline, but one of the airline employees denied him his perk and gave it to someone else. In this case the GA seems to be involved also, so at least 2 employees are bending the rule in detriment to their passengers, ...oops customers.

I think a BF oneway upgrade certificate would be fair compensation.