Empty First Class Seat
 

I know that we have all seen a reduction in the availability to get upgraded. However I had a weird experience and was hoping that somebody could help me out with what happened. I was flying from the East Coast to the West Coast so obviously upgrades were at a premium. I got called up to the gate desk were I apparently got the last first-class seat. The gentleman in front of me was told he was number one on the list but that first-class had checked in full. When the agent gave me my new boarding pass she told me I was lucky because they were still 22 people on the standby list waiting for an upgrade. Here is where the weird part occurred. Right before takeoff I noticed that the seat next to me on the aisle was still open. The woman in the window seat asked the flight attendant if the seat was taken because it was her husband that was next on the upgrade list. The flight attendant checked her records and said “no,” the seat was occupied. The boarding door closed and still the seat remained vacant. After take off, the woman again inquired about the open seat. The flight attendant stated that the seat was shown as occupied and could not be given to her husband. The seat remained vacant for the entire 4 ½ hour flight. I don't know which is more disturbing, the fact that the airline showed someone in the seat when no one was there or the fact that with 22 people waiting to be upgraded the crew was unable to figure out that this seat really was empty. Am I missing something here? Why would the seat show full when it was really empty? Why would they not fill the seat once it was clear that no one was coming? Thanks for your help with this puzzling situation.

I think airlines have to do a count just prior to doors closing, to make sure the number of passengers on board = the number of passengers checked in (or the number listed on the manifest).

Could the GA have been lazy, and "upgraded" someone after they already boarded, and then neglected to a) go get that passenger and move them to first, or b) realized they had already boarded and offered someone else the upgrade?

One remote possiblity is that the owner of the first-class coach seat had a companion in coach, and went back to sit with that person (assuming coach wasn't full). Why that person wouldn't tell the FA, or swap with someone in coach, is beyond me, but again, I suppose it's a possibility.

Possibly the pax was sitting in the back with friends or family or the GA could have given the FA paperwork that was not neccessarily the final count so it showed a pax in the seat but they misconnected and it was not worth the hassle to go and print off another copy. Honestly I don't know but it happens sometimes. The crew probably figured out the seat was empty but it would have made no difference, as it has been noted here several times before the fa cannot move passengers to F we don't have the pax upgrage list and have no idea who is next in line. So it really did not matter if the paperwork showed the seat belonged to someone or not her husband could not get the seat once the door closed anyway.

many possibilities, my guess is a F passenger missed flight...late connection...sitting in bar...losing track of time in WC...GA obviously could have done better job, but in this isolated (hopefully) case they were one short up front. If the spouse would have sat there until the "right" passenger boarded they could have stayed.

I have seen this happen to me as well.

actually, there is probably another likely explanation for this:

since NWA does market pricing for business class, sometimes it's cheaper to buy a DTW-EUROPE-DTW-BOS ticket than a simple DTW-EUROPE-DTW one .

I've done that a few times, checking in in Europe for the entire return journey, but not get on the last leg, although that First class seat is already assigned to me. So that may have been what hapenned with the empty seat next to you.

I usually check my itinerary after landing, before it clears processing (changed flights, etc). If I saw I had been upgraded to F, and sat in the back, I'd be very unhappy...

Believe that would be the reverse of Point-Of-Origin. Technically, NWA could (if they followed Point-Of-Origin policy) charge the pax for the shorter (and probably more expensive) trip.

Steve B.

The F/A could have paged the pax name that was supposed to be in the seat to find out what was happening. A quick call to the agent would have been in order (the pilots could have done this).

heasdstrong, would there be a polite way for the pax to ask the FA to do what you suggest or is this a no-win situation?

Too bad her husband didn't just move without asking into the seat as the door was closing. If the "ghost" passenger assigned to the empty first seat showed, he could have moved.

I'm not sure we want to start encouraging auto-upgrades.

One other possibility -- was it very close to departure time? possible the agent was under pressure to close the door and didn't want to delay after a last-minute noshow.

1) wouldn't the boarding pass reader beep or something indicating a change of seat assignment?

2) technically that is true. but, in reality it rarely gets caught.

I was on a flight from DTW-RDU on Sunday in which there were only 3 of us occupying the 16 FC seats. Steerage was full. I was shocked that there weren't more elites up front. The weird thing was that there was better service from the FAs in FC on my IND-DTW leg in which I was one of 16 pax in FC.

same thing happened to me on a full (really really full) LAS-MSP flight last month; I was in 1A and 1B remained empty, can't believe that no more elite pax were in the back. Wasn't there a similar thread a couple of weeks ago?

Am I the only one who got a chuckle that the wife was up front and the husband was back in cattle class. And was impressed she didnt give up her upgrade and go back to sit with him!!!!! Cant you hear the car ride afterwards, "but honey I tried to get you upgraded. No lets not stop for dinner I'm really full from the meal on the plane, oh yeah you didnt get one *smile*)