That's not what happened here.

wouldn't that be a fun situation... person A is informed they get the upgrade and takes their seat in F. person B complains and the GA informs person A that they must go back to Y so person B can have that seat...if it were to happen... extremely awkward situation :)

I saw something similar happen on a flight once. GA came on to upgrade someone into the last first class seat because there was a no show. She went to the right row, but asked the person in the wrong seat. The person she asked seemed confused as to why they were being upgraded, but didn't question it and got up and got their stuff before the GA realized her mistake and asked the person next to them. Made for a bit of an awkward situation, but at least the pax who got bamboozled ended up with an entire row of E+ to themselves as their seatmate vacated to first. And at least it was corrected before they actually got to the seat and settled in.

I'd prefer they not clear the last seat (or several) until boarding is complete, if those seats are booked but not checked in, until they fix some issues with their PSS. Since 3/3 I've had a couple boardings where I was told I was not checked in when I scanned my BP at the gate and I wouldn't want to introduce another way to lose confirmed upgrades over IT glitches.

if they did their jobs the right way then they wouldn't have to deal with this "fun situation" at all.

i had it happen to me at ABQ one time -- GA calls me up to give me the upgrade, prints out the boarding pass and realizes that it doesn't have my name on it but someone else's. not as awkward as it going on within the tube, but same concept, and i lived through it and really didn't upset me that much. GA profusely apologized and asked the FAs to give me free drinks in coach (this was pre-3/3). with the huge snowstorm blowing into IAD, i would have taken a seat in the cargo hold to avoid being stuck in ABQ.

Not my problem...and I've been on the receiving end of the short side of the stick on a couple occasions when I had to move back for the "rightful owner" of the seat. I'd rather be aggressive about securing my seat immediately when the mobile app shows me upgraded and risk going back vs sitting there quietly and missing out on an upgraded I should have cleared into.

The one time, many years ago PMCO, when I did remain quiet and failed to speak out aggressively, I ended up screwing myself and 3 other people on the list when a GA came on board and moved a father and his mentally challenged son up and ignored the remaining passengers on the list - and F went out with one empty seat to boot.

I won't be doing that again - every time I smell shenanigans or laziness, I will be punching the call button or offering a loud "excuse me" in order to clear up any "misunderstanding".

pilots are confirmed in First Class. As for other employees on company business, they are booked in coach and behind revenue passengers waiting for complimentary upgrades.

I had a slightly odd variant of this last night.

2-class 763 swapped for 3-class 763. First not for sale as I asked at the lounge when I got my new seat.

At the gate employee +3 family members (they were listed on both the standby and the upgrade to Business lists), asks Gate Agent about First. Agent says they are not selling it, and the system shows no availability to sell - zero'ed out.

Passenger explains she knows how to do that - goes around the desk, taps the computer and 5 minutes later she has four F boarding passes.

She, her husband and her two teenage kids enjoyed their seats in F whilst the other passengers were squeezed in to the tiny seats on the 3-class 763.

Did you see whether you were 'upgraded' after you landed? I've had two occasions this year where there were empty seats in F, space showing on the app and an unprocessed upgrade list when we pushed back, but by the time we landed the app showed F as full. 1k voice were of course useless as by their records F went out full.

I disagree with the assertion that upgrading a few passengers who have already boarded causes flight delays. PMNW always managed to do this without any problems, although sometimes the person being upgraded was asked not to move bags in the overhead bin until at least the flight was up in the air with the seat belt sign off.

On my last SIN-NRT flight, the GA took care of her friends while several of us with instrument supported upgrades were ignored.

I hope you complained and reported it.

I did, and got compensation.

Good. Part of the evil effect of Shena happening for the SWU/miles upgrades on flights like SIN-NRT is that people will have already burned SWUs/miles for the TPAC segment in most cases, so that when their upgrade is unfairly denied, they get no form of refund.

I had the same thing happen to me on a flight from SFO-PVG, and I got an "apology" email, saying "we are sorry you did not get your upgrade." I was first on the waiting list all day, then while boarding was still going on, number 2 on both the first and business upgrade lists (same person) was upgraded and moved to business. My itinerary on my mobile app showed me in business, but I could not refresh my boarding pass. I showed the purser who said not to worry, that I really was not upgraded. On arrival in Shanghai, I complained and got the aforementioned email, and it took three more emails and a fax to get my upgrade returned. The service reps kept arguing with me that I got my upgrade, so why was I complaining.