Sorry, don't see why. If a passenger has paid for the cabin ( such as points or cash ) then of course no reason not to be there or if there is an operational reason that necessitates performing involuntary upgrades, but if asked the question

"We know that you have paid for 1st class , how would you feel about passenger(s) who have not paid for it and there is no good reason to upgrade them also being given 1st class for price of economy/business.. of and of course we wont reduce the price you paid"

I am pretty sure that saying no is an response that would be normal

If they went on to offer a rebate in price down to same as cabin where the person/people are being upgrade from, I might well say yes

Oh come on Dave, open your heart, there must be some soft spot in there somewhere?

Why do you take the time to assist with queries on this forum? Some of your sage advice may (and I realise I'm stretching it a bit here) impact on you directly through filling up the F cabin with those who have benefited from your knowledge of the dark arts of ticketing...

Its unfortunate that we'll never know the real reason that the request was made to upgrade the other pax. Some have summised that it was down to their relationship with the station manager, but it could also just have been their birthday, honeymoon, or other benign excuse.

I think that's quite different. If given a reason, such as, someone celebrating a milestone, I think people would be more open to such a proposal. It's more the upgrade for no reason that could be cause for annoyance.

We are all surmising, but I would say in this case it was an unknown reason, not no reason.

The OP behaved like a spoilt child.

That the agent felt a need to ask the passenger suggests to me that it was not an appropriate reason

There is nothing that I see if the OP acting as a "spoilt child" just because he chose to say no

As someone who has was impacted by op-ups several times, I find the OPs 'no' to be acceptable.
I once booked MEL-SIN-DXB F on a day where I was assured that the flight is near empty in J and F. Rocked up to the airport to be told that the 772 had a faulty rear door and hence the whole rear economy section was to be blocked off, meaning that a good portion of the Y cabin got upgraded to J and F, filling both cabins up.
I was the only paying F passenger in the F cabin.
Instead of my preferred 2A/B, I got 1E next to a nice old lady who kept me awake with her stories until she slept when she left me being unable to rest (because of her snoring). The flight attendant gave me smiles and apologies, but that didn't help.

Something similar happened with me as well few years ago. This time Y passengers were accommodated in F. I got stuck upright in my half broken seat for 4 hours out of the 14 hour flight, until after several resets became operational again.

Most recently, my seat had broken air vents. Again all other suites were full due to op-ups. Engineering came onboard and said they'd have to pull the whole suite apart. Something that I think made the captain go nuts (I overheard the argument). I simply told them, look just put the cabin temperature down by a couple degrees and will be fine.

Call it whatever you want. Judge it whatever you want. If the check in staff tells me so and so, I'd happily decline knowing I may get stuck in a broken seat, next to a overly chatty passenger, or lose my choice of meals (if not the meal altogether like it happened once).

You could well be right, I was just disagreeing with the "no reason" choice of words.


You forgot to add "IMO".

My opinion is that the fact he chose to say no is equivalent to the behaviour of an eight year old - a spoilt one.

Why?

The 1st class cabin was not full. Given that it was not full it would be perfectly reasonable for those passengers , like the OP, to rebook into 1st class paying the appropriate fare

1st class is often not cheap and why should someone be happy to allow others to get the higher cabin for free

Denying others a pleasure or experience you are in possession of is what I would expect a badly reared eight year old to do, not an adult.

Letting others have for free what you have already paid for is what I would expect a saint to do, not a regular person.

The fault here lies squarely with the staff member who asked the OP's opinion. If Emirates chose to upgrade anyone for legitimate business reasons, that is their choice and their business. The negative impact upon the OP should be one variable that is considered when making that choice. However, the OP is a customer who paid for a certain product. As long as he receives that product (which he was going to anyway), there should have been no need to ask his permission in the first place.

What a passenger doesn't know has never hurt them. That's my philosophy!

Couldn't agree more. If you don't like the answer don't ask the question! I don't understand why some are taking the dictatorship approach of he could only say no objection when asked a question. As for calling him a spilt child, that is childish IMO!

Exactly. Reminds me of a famous poem by the late children's author Shel Silverstein:

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray thee Lord my soul to keep
And if I day before I wake
I pray thee Lord my toys to break
So none of the other kids can use em
Amen

I know a few needy homeless people that would be grateful to sleep in your house tonight, is that ok? They would like the pleasure and experience of using what you are in possession of.

I agree 110%. While I personally think life is too short to worry about who should/should not join you in the F cabin, I do see both sides. I've been fortunate enough to travel a lot in F this year - I'm on a flight to MEL tonite in fact and I know the flight is extremely busy down the back and probably at 80% in J. There's only 2 of us in F (at this stage). If it ends up at 8 out of 8, then I know 6 were upgraded. The fortunate thing in my experience is that the F cabins I am in are rarely full of op-ups.

Ah, you mean my relatives. They are always wanting the pleasure and experience of what I am in possession of...