Couple points for clarification.

6C was previously occupied by a guy who didn't show up for the flight, which could explain some of the confusion at the gate. There was only one non-rev on the flight, and he/she was not in 19D. So there was no non-rev stealing your seat or a line of non-revs shaking their head at you, those were revenue passengers.

The manifest had you in your seat, 6C.

Very Easy....
 

When I walked by the "individual" who was sharing good times with the Delta gate agents, around her neck in a plastic ID holder was a Delta ID. It was not hard to see her name, especially last name, two letters which appeared on the GIDS as a "Stand By" passenger. On the 757 behind FC was a closet and lavatory. When I returned from the FC lavatory, I noticed she was standing in the area of the lavatory/closet, so I walked through the curtain and asked the FA talking to her if she had a "Sky" magazine handy as my seat back didn't contain one. Sitting in her plastic ID holder was her Seat Request card with the letter Non-Rev printed in black. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the purser/lead FA(??) based in SEA came to me and asked how did I know that Ms. XX was seated in my original seat.....to which I replied, "It's a LONG story".
Don't worry, a letter(not e-mail) is going in once I return. I'm not a lawyer, but someone once told me, "If it looks like a duck, If it flies like a duck, If it quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, in all probability its' a duck". This sir, was a DUCK and we shouldn't be ashamed to point that out.

Thanks for the info
 

Thanks for the info/clarification. I'll make sure to use it in my letter. It is what it is.

It very well could have been a confirmed employee on company travel.

and one more point for clarification: when an NRSA steals an upgrade, the manifest does not reflect who is actually sitting where.

Do Delta employees have an employee manual? Is there a specific section that is applicable to Gate Agents? If so, does it refer to processing of upgrades? Are there consequences to non-adherence to policy?

If the policy is not clearly documented in a employee policy statement/manual it is questionable.

I wouldn't want to go in there TBH.
Most ACs>>>SC with the liquor changes.
(even before, I felt that the SC was more crowded.)

Today - CLT-LGA
I walked past the gate desk 40 minutes before boarding and noticed a BP sitting on top - NSRA - seat 1C.
I have no idea how medallion heavy the passenger load was as there are no overhead screens in CLT. I was in FC and the flight ended up leaving with the seat empty. I heard the FAs saying something about moving moving someone up to the seat but that they might get in trouble.

I'm not a GA but the internal thing I've seen talks about how pax are no longer eligible for an upgrade if they board which DL has stated many times. So while this did not break policy, it's still a crappy thing to do. If they have time, like they did in this instance, the GA may board and upgrade the pax. This is unofficial but the right thing to do TIME PERMITTING.

All the medallions were cleared - they were talking about another NRSA that was cleared into coach. 2 NRSA in F and 1 in Y + 2 medallions cleared at the gate.

Then they absolutely followed the rules.

....except the FAs would have been able to move the last nonrev up to FC without getting in trouble, right?

Right. They could have. It wasn't mainline so it could have been RJ flight attendants afraid of getting fired as the GA cleared the pax into coach. DL GA vs. G7 FA

My observation is that it would appear that non-rev F/J upgrade is an unwritten employee benefit. I would agree that it is a behavioral mindset in the PMNW/DL employee bases. In that respect some of y'all are pi&&ing in the wind :D

I don't think there was anything like this on the NW side. As one ex-NWFA opined he/she'd never flown as much BE in his/her entire (25/30?) year career at NW as one year with Delta.

Yeah, the PMNW culture was that it would almost be considered shameful for a nonrev or deadheading employee to travel up front when there were elites in back. There seemed to be fewer instances of shenanigans than one hears about now (but perhaps we're now more aware and know what to look for). However, I remember coming close to being a victim of one attempt back when free elite upgrades were fairly new, processed at the airport, and only available for certain fares. (The GA tried to tell me that my fare wasn't eligible until I pulled out my printed material about the rules for NW's elite upgrade program. This was after the GA openly joked loudly with a bunch of people about how he was going to take care of them and make sure that they got FC seats on the flight.)