[RESOLVED] Got bumped from FC for off duty FA
 

After having a short connection due to a delayed NW flight from Toledo, I arrived at my gate in Detroit to learn that my first class seat had been given away. When boarding, I looked at my former seat 1A, to see an off duty Northwest Flight attendant happily sitting there. I would have been significantly less upset had I seen that my seat had been given away to another Elite on the upgrade list, or at least to another paying passenger. However, to see that I had been bumped from first class so that an employee could have a more enjoyable flight made me wonder if the customer or the employee comes first at Northwest.

My FC seat was confirmed a day in advance and when I checked in, still had it. Extremely upset about this especially because there were plenty of coach seats. Emailed NW on TTU, the auto-reply said my question will be answered in 13 DAYS!!!

Has anyone been bumped for pilots or FAs? I am only Silver but shouldn't the customer still come first?



*****Please see post #105 for resolution*****

I have seen this more and more. Not so much bumped but not getting the battlefield. The other day going DTW-LGA I was in F as a PE with an early UG and my brother a GE was not. He asked on the way on the plane - "is F checked in full?" - got a yes. The about 10 min later 3 NWA employees were put in F - 2 pilots and 1 FA - the FA had her jacket on, and the pilots were in street clothes, but had nwa pilot IDs on thier bags.

This is about the 6th or 7th time I have seen this. I heard and elite ask - get the canned response - then on board - NWA employees....

The words "checked-in full" are starting to mean - "get on board so I can upgrade my co-workers."

Revenue passengers have priority over employees for FC with very very few exceptions. I have sent you a PM with further information/instructions so we can review this.

NW scoop

Thank you for listening scoop....

I agree -- have observed off-duty NW crews in F the past few weeks. Wondered which elites did not get the UG. One flight had non-rev parents and off-duty FA all in F from FLL-MEM and again MEM-MSP! Last week, DTW-MSP was two off-duty pilots in F after GA announcement made that F was 'full' and waitlisted to take coach seating.

It's one thing is no one gets the U/G because F is full of non-rev and off-duty. Just as NW uses the F U/Gs to make elites happy it's also a good tool to make rank and file happy. However, once you process the U/G that should be it. End of story.

Scoop will obviously answer in more detail, but I'm pretty sure that if they FA was being flown TO an assignment at the direction of the company, they were entitled to the seat. (as compared to someone commuting to/from home).

Obviously the devil is in the details, but I thought I'd mention there ARE scenarios where that FA is entitled to the seat (unless that's changed very recently).

Steve

I do hope a satisfactory explanation exists and I would appreciate it, if possible, to see/read the explanation when it is provided.

Also, again if possible, could we be told what those very few instances when a crew member can bump a revenue pax from FC are?

I assume they would be union-contract-guaranteed F seats for crew who are ferrying to work flights and need to arrive fresh.

I really hope Employee Class Syndrome isn't on the rise, but I think it would be a natural exponent of the well-documented rank-and-file misery at NW. Employee Class issues at UA, and stories circulated about it (upgrade requests denied so GAs could fill the front cabin with their deadheading and nonrev friends, esp. on international longhaul), did grievous damage to UA's image on FT and elsewhere.

Yeah there are exceptions due to the union contract in certain rare situations. My experience (and that of many others considering how often this comes up) is that GAs upgrade friends and NW employees all the time over elites -- even taking away upgrades already granted. Frequently it seems that the GA will tell an upgraded pax that they've lost their upgrade and give them a Y boarding pass, just telling the employee/friend to take the F seat that's open. That way there's no record in the system of the employee/friend having been put in F and the GA gets away with it.

NW only hears about it when a pax complains. The flight manifests and system don't tell the full story by any stretch of the imagination.

The only reason I stick with NW is for the domestic upgrades as a Plat. If I have to sit in coach and get upgraded less frequently, I belong on CO where the Y product is at least superior. The most maddening thing is ending up in Y when there are empty seats in F or so that a NW non-rev or a GA's no status friend can be in the front of the bus. :td: :td: :td:

peace,
~Ben~

PS> You're awesome for following up on this stuff NW scoop! ^

I hate to say it, but this is one of the results of the great morale problem at NW. I'm certainly not going to justify it, it can't be, but when we see the execs and their families flying confirmed F class whenever they want to fly, taking everything back they lost pre-BK and then some, while the rank-and-file have made significant sacrafices to keep the airline alive, it's not something that's going to change quickly, if ever... and management is arguing they must have their great incentive/salary packages to keep our great leaders -- the same leaders that have probably permanently soured the labor/management relationship that will keep this airline from ever reaching it's true potential --

All of that being said, if you write in with flight specifics, I'm sure a bit of research by Customer Care will prove your accusations.

The difference, though, is that it's allowed per their contracts. Confirmed F travel is not in the contracts of the rank-and-file.

UA's union contracts are different than NW's. I believe that the UA pilots neogtiated for themselves quite generous upgrade priveleges (not sure about the UA FAs). As Scoop observed NW's upgrade rules for employees are very limited.

I'll be interested to see some feedback on how this is resolved.

Actually, Delta's Y product is the best one right now - and as a Delta Elite there are no upgrade shenanigans, as everything is exposed for all to see on the gate monitors, and their staff behave at a higher level of professionalism without taking out anti-management frustrations on their customers.

This poster's experience smells and should be checked out by management - if this gate agent sent the customer to the back just so they could upgrade a friend or coworker, they should be sent somewhere too - home.

This is a customer facing industry - customers should not be drawn into or victimized by intra-staff fighting.

I hate to be a devils advocate, but did you arrive at the gate with less than 15 minutes before departure? If so, the GA can release your seat. I've had this happen to me on several airlines. Even if the delay was their fault to begin with! If that was not the case, then the GA did most probably break the rules. Perhaps if the airline could fire Union workers..... :eek:

Sadly, I do agree with many of the posts about the general NW attitude and morale issues. To that end, this PE has limited flights on NW to only those that I have to take, probably won't make Platinum this year because of it.

Maybe, just maybe, NW will make the staff morale turn around that DL did. Offering more service, better food and drink choices, a "free" snack in back cabin, but still the miserable coach seats (Just say yuck to the CRJ series!)