Fly with 5 open seats in FC
 

I was on DL 6198 yesterday (1/5) from LGA-RDU and noticed that first class flew with 5 open seats. I am GM and had an economy-plus seat (that probably had the most legroom anyways) and it was a short flight, so it wasn't a big deal. Just wondering what happened? The flight was relatively empty in general as well.

What did the FA say when you asked about the situation?

I am only making a few assumptions here. I assume since the OP mentioned that row 5 has the most leg room they were on a RJ. If they were on the RJ maybe it was a weight and balance issue I could be totally wrong.

The GA would have been the person to ask (the FA's don't generally have all the details on the upgrade lists, etc). It would be helpful to know if the OP verified he was actually on the upgrade list. Could be another case were the "Upgrade Requested" flag was not set for his flight. Otherwise, could be there were 5 FC non-shows (perhaps due to IRROPS) and GA did not bother to pull people up.

I've been stuck in the back with open FC seats if I was flying it as a "direct" flight. In those situations you have to clear both legs or you won't get either.

Where were all the non-revs? I thought it was the backbone of FT to assert that the GAs can't wait to fill the front cabin with their friends so that they can party at the expense of deserving Medallions.

The system does show that 5 seats went out empty and that no one was on the gate UG list.

Are you sure your UG was requested?

Does this mean no one was ever on it, or that everyone boarded and thus lost their place on the list?

Boarding only impacts the GIDS; the agents/system still have a view of the true priority.

If it were a W&B issue then the GA could have removed the UG requests on his/her own; however, I would expect this to be announced to the impacted Medallions.

I didn't inquire about it as it was only an hour flight. How do I check if "upgrade requested" was in place? I've gotten upgrades in the past and haven't recently changed anything in my settings.

They were all drinking champagne in BE on their way to LHR, CDG & AMS! :eek:

Yes we were ;) How did you know?!

This is the question. Did the OP ever see or ask about the upgrade list?

Is this info publicly available somewhere?

Dang, a GM sitting in Y with 5 seats open up front. Can't you be banned from FT for allowing this to happen?