Help! Upgrade Question
 

Myself and my two teenagers were on a waitlist to upgrade on a flight from Newark to Las Vegas. Just got an email that two of us were upgraded, myself and my son and my daughter is still in the back. When we were put on the waitlist I was told that they put my daughter, son and then myself in that order so that this would not happen. Anyone know why all three didn't get it? Seat map shows seats available in first. I will sit in the back and my kids can sit in the front, but will we be allowed to do this? My children will not be a bother to anyone as they fly quite often and know how to act, probably better than a lot of adults. They don't really need to be supervised but I would rather the two of them sit together then to leave a young girl by herself in the last row. Thanks for any info. Used mileage if that makes any difference.

Welcome to FlyerTalk! ^

A couple quick questions for clarification:
1. Did you use miles to upgrade a paid ticket or didyou waitlist for a F award?
2. Does your daughter have elite status?

No one will mind if you trade boarding passes with your daughter and sit in back yourself instead. Just do it as you board. And be really nice to the FC FA as you pass through. If the kids really seem well behaved I doubt there will be any issue with the swap.


(( *waits for the "children in F" flamefest to begin* ))

I used mileage to upgrade a paid ticket and my daughter does not have elite status. I called CO this morning and they said it could still happen, but if it doesn't I will have to pay for an unaccompanied child if she sits in the back and if I switch with her I will have to pay for two unaccompanied children in front as they are both under 18. I wasn't told this when I initially asked to upgrade. Well, I learned my lesson and I guess sometimes you have to play the game to learn the rules. Hopefully it will work out. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I think you have bad info. All 3 of you have tickets on the same flight. They are not "unaccompanied", even if you're distributed across cabins. A seat may still free up. Upgrades to LV have been easy for a while.

I agree this is bad information. My husband has given his upgrade to our daughter (16) on many occasions and it has never been an issue!

It looks like the rules changed this past February. I wen on the CO site and under unaccompanied children it says that children are unaccompanied if they are under 18 and sitting in a different cabin then the adult. The fee is $75 so I'm not really too happy about this. Next time we will just sit in the back. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

You could probably call CO, explain the situation, and give up the upgrades and get the miles back.

You could also possibly find a sympathetic agent who could force the third upgrade, but that's likely a longshot.

Under 18 misleading
 

You don't mention exactly how old they are, but UM fees only apply to someone 5 to 14 years old without an adult 18 or over in the same cabin.

They don't even offer assistance to someone 15 years old anymore.

link

I would do as others have done, and give your daughter the boarding pass. Ensure at OLCI that she is given a good bulkhead seat (aisle?) so that you are that much closer to them, in case there is an issue, or the FAs give you trouble.

Hopefully, FC is open enough that they can sit together, or at least aisle-aisle in the same row.

I read the CO rules to say that fifteen to seventeen year olds are not UC minors anymore. Does that help?

"...children are unaccompanied if they are under 18 and sitting in a different cabin then the adult. The fee is $75..."

That is a true cheap-shot revenue grab. There is absolutely no justification for it. If CO came up a reason other than a way to squeeze $, it's real thin.

from the CO site:

"....Continental designates children 5-14 years of age as unaccompanied minors when traveling without a companion who is at least 18 years old in the same cabin."


If just the 2 kids sat in FC, and the ages were, let's say 14 and 15, there would be just one UM fee.

when would the issue of age and UCM be raised? unlikely when they are already on the plane in their seats or if you asked when onboard to switch with your daughter. Unless of course they are toddlers or young elementary school kids in which case you probably wouldn't want them alone anyway

Just play it cool and request to change when you are in the plane, if you want a bulkhead to be close to them, put your efforts into going for that and also the upgrade for yourself

My son is 14 and 6"1 and my daughter is 12 and 5'6". Both are very mature looking and very well behaved. I don't think that if I speak to someone at the gate who has any sense the will have an issue with them sitting together. I will pay the money if I have to but it is a really cheap shot to squeeze money out of people when the parent is on the plane. I definitely will not let my daughter sit alone in the back of the plane.

Don't ask, don't tell. Just switch boarding passes with your daughter. No big deal.