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*)

With on-line check-in, the passenger assigned the FC seat could have checked in and subsequently changed travel plans and did not bother to have him/herself unseated.

In January we were booked to fly OMA-MSP. The night before our scheduled departure I checked us in. Due to a last minute medical emergency, I called NW to let them know we would NOT be traveling as booked. The agent said she could not unseat us until we knew when we were going to be definitely traveling. Our companions made the flight as scheduled, but the GA kept paging and paging us because we were checked-in but our boarding passes had not been scanned. He said we would not be making the flight and the flight left as scheduled.

Frustrating when a seat goes empty and you are on the list for an upgrade. Happened twice to Mrs.Airport. I wrote customer service after the first incident and was told the GA was working under a time constraint and needed to get the flight out on-time. But, nevertheless, it was disheartening. The very next trip, same thing, open FC seat from MSP to LAS. I chalk it up to the lazy GA.

And the FA paperwork is printed up 30 minutes before take-off, at times, and a later copy is not always available.

>>>>And the FA paperwork is printed up 30 minutes before take-off, at times, and a later copy is not always available.

But doesn't every boarding pass get beeped through the scanner at boarding--and then the gate agent sees who has arrived and who is missing--and in my experience a gate agent then makes a final walk down to the aircraft for a last second chat, and then often closes the door to the aircraft from the outside. On my MEM-MKE flight on Monday, the gate agent did this, then got on the intercom, and paged two pax to the front. They came quickly, were told to take any first class seat, and the gate agent left the aircraft with the door closing behind him. That's the way it SHOULD work, shouldn't it?

Apparently, you just visited a portion of the perfect world. Appreciate it - we don't always get exposed to it. Yes, that is way it should work.

Arrived on UA from IND - ORD this morning (3/3/06) and instead of my original 900a - 1036a ORD - MSP NW flight I switched to 700a - ORD - MSP.

Amazingly got a first class seat and there were a few empty seats in first class. It surprised me when he handed me the boarding pass with 1D on it!

Tribalfusion and Alaska Air
 

I know I didn't put that Alaska Air ad in my last posting... where did that come from? And can I stop the Tribalfusion pop-ups? I know it is off subject, but I don't want to be criticized for littering the board with ads.

:confused: Randy needs to make some $$$ to run FT :D You can subscribe to premium and they go away.

Methinks the potential strike is affecting bookings on NW...I flew MEM-LAX yesterday, and it went out with 2 seats open in F...

I sure hope they settle this garbage soon...



K

Always Pays to be Nice
 

Last year I flew out of MSP to the West Coast. Gate said first class was full. I boarded and five minutes before departure saw an empty seat in FC. I asked the lead flight attendant, she said only the gate can upgrade. I walked out to the counter and they indignantly told me FC was full; I said I understood, just asked because I still saw a seat empty, told the attendant the situation and took my seat. Just as the door was closing the attendant came back and handed me a boarding pass for FC.

It would almost be worth us NWA FlyerTalkers establishing a database of flights (city pairs, flight numbers, dates) that someone could forward to NWA on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. The pressure should be ON about this kind of lapse, because it is unfair, because the upgrades are what being a frequent flyer on NW is all about, and because pax have hours to have to sit there and stew about it in coach--which is no fun.

Any volunteers? :)

I'll do it. I don't fly as much as of the posters here but I'll keep my eyes open. How about starting a new thread on the topic?

On a flight recently seated in row behind bulkhead when prior just to closing GA came on board and mentioned to passgr seated @ window bulkhead that there was seat up front for him after all. Already settled in and short flight(IND-DTW), he choose to just stay where he was and the seat remained empty.

I recall thread(s) last year lamenting the hit-or-miss, mostly miss at the time, FC drink service. At the time, I was on several FNT-DTW hops - 16 minutes in length wheels-up to wheels-down - where we didn't get pre-flight service and certainly no inflight service for such a short flight at low altitute.

In those days I would have likely done the same - why move when your bags are already stowed? Moving up to FC would buy you nothing than a few extra inches of seat width for a few minutes; no drinks or tidbits to snack on. Certainly not worth the hassle of trying to "swim upstream" to retreive your bags in the Y overhead.

However, I have noticed a marked improvement in FC drink service, both pre and inflight over the last few months. While my UG percentage has notably declined (pre-March 1 or Sept promo inflation, who knows :rolleyes: ) the times I've been up in F is a much better, and consistant, experience now. FAs seem more attentive, pleasant and regularly seem to "go the extra mile" with their service - not something I would have expected considering the BK and tough labor negotiations.

On my last flight FNT-DTW, the FAs served the pre-flight drinks and then proceeded to write down beverage orders to be served inflight. Not a small feat considering that almost everyone - twelve to fourteen out of 16 pax - asked for a beverage. I can count on one hand in four years of flying how many times I've experienced an inflight service on this leg, and those times the majority of FC pax declined the offer.

Well, this FA crew sucked it up and worked a fine ballet in the DC9 galley pouring and serving as soon as we leveled off. Prior to departure, the Captain announced that with the southerly departure out of FNT and the southwesterly inbound arrival at DTW, the computer calculated 15 minutes flight time from takeoff to touchdown. He then stated that he thinks he can do better than that - a "boast" that got a chuckle out of the pax throughout the plane.

The lead FA then announced to us in F that we would likely only have three minutes to consume our inflight beverage before they have to collect the glassware. When the FA took my normal VO-and-diet order, I told her that if the pilot thinks he can do better than 15 minutes to Detroit, I think I can likewise do better than three minutes on my end. :D

The crew even handed out the standard mixed nuts and pretzels before we took off. This had to be one of the best FC experiences I've had on such a short flight, and I'm glad as I was sitting in paid P - just purchased my ticket that morning. ;)

Bravo NWA, both pilots and FAs!!! ^

Last Thursday I flew ATL - MEM and there were only 3 out of 16 FC seats occupied. The funny part was that I had to wait to get upgraded at the gate.

Thanks for My Free, Complimentary "Downgrade" to Coach!
 

I was flying STL-MSP tonight and got the pleasure of being downgraded to Coach from my original EUA'd FC seat. This was partially my fault, I did not depart on Monday MSP-STL on my original flight, so I was plucked out of my EUA'd FC on the return flight. Being Plat, I thought I would have a good shot at getting another EUA back to FC. To improve my chances, I took the time to check in 24 hours in advance and snagged one of the handicapped seats in row 5 of coach for myself.

When I got got to the gate tonight (after the flight was delayed 45 minutes), I got the usual and abrupt "FC is Full!!!" from the GA when I asked him about my UG status. I took a quick scan of the podium and noticed that there were two boarding passes printed out and sitting right at the edge of the podium. I could not make if if one of them was for me, and he waved me off before I could inquire about them. Hmm... :confused:

No PAX were called to the podium to claim the boarding passes that were printed. The GA did take care to expedite the boarding process because of the delay; he wanted to make sure that PAX made their connections in MSP, and even asked non-connecting PAX in the window seats to stay put in MSP when we arrived so the connecting PAX could have a better chance to make their connections (like that would happen). The GA apparently didn't care about the several PAX on waitlist for a flight out. When we boarded, almost everyone in coach noted that there were two FC seats went empty, and several* PAX on waitlist at the gate who could easily have been boarded after two coach PAX were UG'd to coach. :(

When the doors were being closed, I inquired with the FA if a colleague of mine traveling with me (who is Silver on her own) could have the two open FC seats, and then the GA could then take two of our other colleagues off the waitlist and board them in our seats. Answer: Nope - I don't have the authority to seat you in FC, Sir.

Thanks NW. :td: Thanks A LOT! :confused:

-Alan

I think that airline sometimes show seats as "occupied" if they are malfunctioning / out of service.

If your boarding pass doesn't reflect your current seat assignment, I believe the scanner at the gate should reject it (I know it works that way w/ KL & DL, guess I'm not 100% sure about NW :confused: ), so those BP's weren't for you.

You should know for sure in a couple days when the miles post and you receive (or not) the 1K back-of-the-bus-penalty-bonus.

Then I'd write a letter. Esp. if the flight was 45 mins. late, he had plenty of time to clear the waitlists & fill up FC.

If there is a "newer" boarding pass available, the system should flash red and the screen will show you're using a no-longer valid boarding pass. I've seen that happen afew times, and had it happen afew times. They scan, beep, "oh, here ya go" and give me my new pass and scan it.