ozstamps

I am schizophrenic and Dr. Jeykl and I were BOTH upgraded, no problems.

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Don't forget the FT Party In Paradise 'PiP' Hana Hou - in HNL Oct 25-27

dream7

FYI-

I sat next to a 1K about four months ago who described to me the same exact strategy for a crowded flight. He wanted a little more room, so he used his companion cert for an extra coach seat. It didn't work because the flight wasn't just crowded, it was overbooked. Before departure, CSRs went through the cabin and noticed that his "companion" seat was empty. They promptly assigned the next standby passenger that seat.

unagi1

If he "checked in" the extra seat though, is he not entitled to have it remain empty?

PremEx

I have the same question as unagi1.

Even before the companion certs were common...if you purchased empty seats, they were yours and they couldn't fill them unless you agreed and even sometimes accepted some form of compensation to give-up the seat.

uastarflyer

He would have paid $$ for the empty seat. At a minimum, the taxes/PFC/security charges. At a minimum he should get that $$ back. And if that's all he gets, that's a @#$# deal.

dream7

unagi1, PremEx, uastarflyer-

Of course, I asked the 1K all these questions. He told me when he objected, the lead flight attendant told him that his empty "companion" seat was treated just like any other no-show or "abandoned" seat, and that they could fill it with the next passenger. They told him it did not matter that he had "checked in" for the seat, that when they do a final cabin check and there are empty seats, they are allowed to fill them. When he pointed out that he had paid real money for the empty seat (taxes. etc.) they told him to take it up with customer service. Although he wasn't happy, the plane was already being pushed back by the tug, so he wasn't able to do a **** thing about it.

mymiles2go

I would assume he could probably score quite well with customer service if played correctly. Especially tossing in a United/FAA violation that all pax & bags must be seated prior to departure and door closing (assuming that's what happened). Heck, as much as I want to give United leeway, sometimes you just have to play hardball (when playing softwareball doesn't work that is).

JerseyJoe

Last year I did an intraCalifornia MR with an extra empty seat booked and paid for. First segment was oversold and promptly offered my doubleganger for the DBC. It took a little creative work by the GA so the rest of the segments weren't cancelled. But I got the DBC and my doubleganger still flies in back of the plane

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JerseyJoe

suzy1K

Following up ... four months later.

Outbound IAD-CDG
Checked in, asked for and got BOTH boarding passes. Flight was undersold by *two* seats so I couldn't score an upgrade by offering up the seats (part of my "strategy/scheme"). I made sure to tell the FAs that I had reserved two seats for myself (extra elbow room, etc). Right before takeoff a guy tried to hone in on my extra "exit row" seat but the FA shooed him away and told him I had paid for both seats

On the return CDG-IAD, I had to ask at check in for the second boarding pass (this is key) and I told the agent why I had the two seats. He said he wrote "not fat" in my record for the gate agent -- a UA Paris agent being funny - who knew? [we were laughing about it so I know he was kidding around]. (BTW semi related but off topic -- I heard on some other domestic flight that a mean GA split up two seats that one person (overweight) had bought presumably to be cruel.

I asked the guy if he could put me on the upgrade list - you know, just in case they needed two Y seats (AHEM). When I got to Security I heard my name being paged - which is exciting except when you're stuck behind ten people and can't flag the GAs through the glass wall. The GA did upgrade me (yeah!) but it did cause confusion at the "scanner" during boarding. The GA had told me to take both boarding passes: the C (upgraded) and the Y (free) to the door and make sure they were both scanned in. I tried to ask what was up with that but I don't get very far with my pidgeon French in normal situations, so airport chit-chat was way out of my league. He did say they couldn't 'technically' use/fill my second seat since I had paid for it (?) and actually checked in for the flight.

The supervisor came on board later to tell me (in English thankfully) that they were going to 'unboard & cancel the seat' and refund the 'ticket price' - the taxes I paid for the free seat. I had to make sure they didn't refund me on the real seat (need those qualifying miles) though the $750 would have been nice. I guess then that would make the seat technically available again. Never did check to see if I got my $34 back.

The CDG-IAD flight was not oversold and they really didn't need to UpUG me (unlike IAD). They did find some appreciative pax to take the exit row seats and left their original seats empty. (They swapped my seats and reissued my one Y "free" boarding pass w/ a random middle seat)

Hopefully this diatribe made some sense - I'm super tired so feel free to ask for clarification.

iluv2fly

Was your upgrade a comp?

suzy1K

Yes it was! No SWU surrendered or miles taken. Otherwise I would have toughed it out in back for the 7 hours
(Remember this was before the Sweet Spots so I was in the hording SWU phase.)

mymiles2go

Wow, I'm impressed with the whole scheme - and more importantly, the execution of it.

ozstamps

Did he have a FT bag tag on his carry-on?



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Don't forget the FT Party In Paradise 'PiP' Hana Hou - in HNL Oct 25-27

PremEx

Well done Suzy1K! And well done United. Handled it perfectly, even refunding the taxes on the doppelgänger.

Win, win.

suzy1K

Trust me, if the guy had a FT tag on his bag or was a 1K, I might have let him take the window seat of my exit row (half the legroom is taken by the door anyways). But my eagle 'FF' eye told me that this was no "1K/FT" type. He had that "infrequent random traveler trying to scam anything/everything" look about him -- you know the type

At least I had one narrow minded purpose to my scheme!