Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

Recently was 2/23 on the upgrade wait list for a 4 hour flight with 23/24 of FC checked-in already two hours before flight time. Inquired at gate if it made sense to wait at the gate and was told that it didn't look good and that I should just board.

10 minutes before closing the door a FC boarding pass was given to the gentleman next to me in row 14 who I had met at the gate and who was 1/23 on the upgrade list. Five minutes later the gate agent came with a printout and told the lead FA "if he doesn't show in the next two minutes, go get the guy in 27C for the last FC seat".

I spoke up and said "and what about number two on the upgrade list?" at which point they asked if I was serious, which I was and then asked what my name was and if I was seated in my assigned seat. After repeating my name, I was told I was not showing on the manifest at all and that I was no longer on the FC upgrade list. After showing them my boarding pass with Plat Elite and calling the other gate agent they said "we don't have time to figure out what went wrong just go sit in 4A."

Clearly something fishy must have been going on for me to have almost lost the upgrade while completely having disappeared from the manifest. Without staying sharp and monitoring crew communications to fight for my upgrade, I would have lost it.

Moral of the story? I am not sure. What do you think?

Yaatri

Sounds like your upgrade was cleared but the bp scanner and/or gate agent goofed. Some gate agents don;t want to be bthered with questions. It's happened to me twice
when the GA told me FC was full (even without asking my name) and another called my name out just before boarding. It appears, you were the guy they were refering to in "if he doesn't show in the next two minutes, go get the guy in 27C for the last FC seat".

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

Not sure. They said they didn�t have my name at all anymore. The guy they were waiting for was apparently one of the 23 cleared and checked-in but that did not show for the flight. My name was suddenly an unknown. This has the appearance that someone might have manually overridden the system to upgrade Mr. 27C.

MikeMpls

Sure sounds that way. I'd suggest submitting a TTU & then forgetting about it.

mersk862

Where you on DL metal? One of the things with DL metal is that when your BP is scanned, your name is removed off the upgrade list...

The worst (and frankly unacceptable) is I've seen ATL GAs that give F seats to nonrevs because all the elites had already boarded the plane (and thus weren't on the upgrade list anymore). I sat in a middle seat in the back on that flight (as a Plat) as I saw various employees take the few last seats in F.

MikeMpls

I'll bet the computer code was written by non-revs!

safigan

I had the same thing happen for the wait list. I was #2 and watched as about 10 people cleared ahead of me. I missed the flight because the GA was too busy to stop and listen to me. Apparently the screen she was looking at didn't match the monitor that was over both our heads!

MNAudiS4

i have yet to take a DL metal flight at least 10 of them in the past 3 months and not see a DL employee in FC, either in uniform or wearing the badge. on a MSP-SLC flight i counted 7 of them. Of course 3 people had to move so they could sit by each other. Seems like par for the course.

orlandodlplat

Here's my take on what happened.

For better or for worse, when you scan your BP at the gate your name vanishes from the upgrade list. I think this is to minimize delays at the gate.. the act of boarding is basically an understanding by the passenger that you give up on the upgrade.

What I think happened here is that with only one seat left, the GA (nicely, imo) told number 1 on the list that he/she would get that passenger if that seat opened up. This is contrary to policy, but a nice thing to do.

The reason you didn't show up on the list behind him is because you'd already boarded and she didn't think she would need number 2, so she never wrote your name down.

Yes, it's not ideal. But at least you spoke up and you got the upgrade...

DLFlyer64

This has happened to me before as well and it can be a little annoying. You're definitely lucky that the FA listened to you and let you head to F. Out of the three times, I have been lucky like you, but the other time, the FA would hear nothing about it.

DCAflyer81

I'm sorry, you're saying this is acceptable? I've been upgraded after boarding on NW several times - they don't seem unable to keep the UG list current (that is, by not haphazardly deleting names from the list). This is something that should, but I'm sure will not, be fixed by DL.

StayingHomeIsBetter

I have been impressed by the number of times that I have seen a NWA GA come onto the plane just before the doors were shut, and bring someone back up to FC from coach. This is a behavior that DL should model.

Happened on my flight from DTW last night.

In this case the GA brought up a DL captain... but before he did, he paged the aircraft to make sure that the paying PAX (who, apparently, would have received that seat) was not on board.

(Emphasis provided in hopes of preventing this thread from going OT as a paying PAX vs non-rev rant-fest).

LAXRuss

Recently I was a little confused about the battlefield process. I thought once checked in, everything resorted to the upgrade battlefield at the gate. (Particularly as I used to hear people talk about gaming the online checkin-- i.e. trying for an upgrade and then cancelling the check-in if an upgrade was unavailable, as I thought I heard that reservations became static following checkin until arrival at the airport.)

Yesterday I was booked on a DL flight, the connection was cancelled and DL rebooked me on a flight with a 4 hour layover. I did not want to arrive so late, so I called the Elite line and they put me on a NW LAX-DTW flight departing in three hours and told me to check at the airport as there were a couple empty seats still remaining in first class but no first class upgrade availability. So I checked in online, received the message that first class was unavailable and that I was #1 of 22 on the waiting list for the first flight and #1 of 4 for the connecting flight. 25 minutes later as I was rushing out the door to the airport, I checked again and found that I had received two e-mails stating that my elite upgrade had been processed, one-email for each flight segment. In addition, the e-mails included the comment that I was already checked-in and should obtain replacement boarding passes at the airport. I can't complain about that luck, but I was very surprised with kudos to the reservations system that I could rebook a ticket and be automatically upgraded within two and a half hours before departure. Admittedly, as a Plat on a Y class domestic ticket, I figured I would be at or near the top of the waiting list. I just never figured the system would process an upgrade automatically after check-in, especially so close to departure time.

Poopdeck90210

I had a similar incident when NW swapped in a different model 757 on me SEA-MSP this spring. I was never told that my seat had been switched, and the GA acted totally oblivious when I scanned my home printed BP and he got the "double beep". Low and behold my bulkhead aisle seat didn't exist on the 757 we were actually flying! I had to make my way "past the gauntlet" of other boarding PAX to have him present me with the revised BP that I should have been given in the first place!

-A

icurhere2

Frankly, I fly NW more often but have only been called up to F on DL.