Flying a 767 Atl-Las........36+ ppl on upgrade list......I'm DM and was #2........on a SDC.......I boarded and door closed. The seat next to me stayed empty, in FC. I was very surprised cause of the huge UG list. Then a FA brought up a passenger from coach to fill the seat. I figured he was the guy at the cutoff of the UG list. A GM or FO.......but no.......he was an employee of another airline. Didn't bother me at all. Im just curious why this was done instead of the next person on the UG list.

Again, I got my UG, so no complaints from me. Just an observation and was curious about it.
The FA's were all fantastic by the way

This has been covered many times. The FA's don't have the upgrade priority list and are not supposed to move people up on their own. It is the GA's job to come on board and move up the next person on the list. Although if they are running late and trying to close out the flight they may chose not to.

So upgrade list processed with no seats left. All remaining people on list boarded, but one pax who was counted as a "claimed" F seat never actually made it to the gate.

GA should have recognized this and upgraded the next person on the list from on board.

But since the official rules say "you board, you lose", the FA decided to upgrade a nonrev from another airline.

IMHO both the GA and the FA missed the mark. Unless the seat was allowed to remain vacant (which would have been technically correct under my scenario), they should have upgraded someone off the list.

I don't know if they do or if they don't have the actual upgrade list, but on a recent international flight, the purser upgraded quite a large number of Y pax using her flight manifest. They may not have the upgrade list, but they do have a list that shows medallion status of their passengers.

Do they really? I've been told multiple times waiting at the gate that the GA was going to go onboard and upgrade a higher elite, even though I was the only elite standing outside the gate and the only one on the list (usually on trips where I checked a bag and just had a small backpack as carry-on).

Officially, if you board you lose. In practice, many GAs do as you have described. The lack of consistent practice is frustrating to FFers.

How do you know that those weren't nonrevs that the purser was upgrading? Pursers and FAs are forbidden to upgrade revenue passengers, but they can upgrade nonrevs, usually by casually asking the captain, just as the captain can direct a nonrev pilot to take a cockpit jumpseat or sit if FC or....

I asked one.

That's what I thought. I've sent off emails to DL and gotten 5K Skypesos as compensation, but I'd rather have the upgrade (especially on early-morning weekend transcons).

Nonrevs are not supposed to acknowledge nonrev status . The order is to blend in. I have non reved and denied it when asked

You lied?

None of whom had enough MQDs....

+1...

Funny, when I first saw the OP I thought, isn't it non rev shena if an OAL was brought up if actives, parents, kids, etc were on board. (unconfirmed that's what happened) I had that happen once only because GA cleared the list before I activated for the flight, darn it! (confirmed after the fact)

I know folks around here disparage non revs but I'll go there w perspective on your comment - I have never been one to chat w seatmates in general, but in all honesty I can't recall a situation where I have faced an 'outing' as a non rev. I have never been asked, nor would I ask someone else, about flying status in a way that would force the issue in a negative way that would cause me to lie. Odd & unfortunate that you have encountered that to the point you felt you had to lie. If it came up in natural conversation I would never lie or deny it, why would you, it's nothing to hide.