goheelswks

Cruddy situation - but IME, unless you are paying the $50 or are elite, you are standby, not Move Up. Even if you're an elite and there's not a ton of room, you're still standby. Not elite, and you pay the $50, you are owed IDB in this situation.

I haven't seen GA's charging people in awhile for Move Up; everyone tends to go to the standby list, but then again I don't spend much time at ticket counters where it's probably more common to do that.

Kwidhalm

I thought US Air Gold was an elite? Am I mistaken?

justhere

You are not mistaken. goheelswks post isn't quite correct and a little misleading.

To me, even if you were standby up until they gave you a boarding pass, I would think that once you are given that seat assignment you are now confirmed onto the flight.

A little different than a non-rev standby who is always standby, so to speak, and can be pulled off the plane at any time (well anytime that it's on the ground ).

It's not really clear how confirmed a passenger is once they have "moved up". It appears in your case, not very confirmed but I never knew there were degrees of confirmed.

BoeingBoy

I suspect it's one of those judgement calls, although there may indeed be a policy for it. The problem from the agents perspective is that they have to close the door at a given time (D-10 minutes). To do that they have to clear the standby list if there is one, so say that starts at D-15 minutes. So standby passenger B gets a boarding pass since booked/confirmed passenger A, a connecting passenger, isn't there yet. Then, at D-12 minutes confirmed passenger A shows up huffing and puffing. Leave passenger B on and IDB passenger A or pull passenger B and seat passenger A? I suspect that most of us wouldn't want to be on the either losing end of that. I can see the "I had a tight connection and the agent gave my seat away - I hate US" just as much as I can see the "I was standby and got a seat then they took it away - I hate US." Either way US upsets one customer to make another happy.

Jim

Kwidhalm

Let me clarify. I do not hate US. I am quite perturbed with my interactions with them on Sunday but I do not hate them. Will I fly UACO for my next 10 flights even though I have no shot at a UDU.....absolutely. I need a little breather from US.

Jim while I appreciate your insight into the situation I still think that it is WRONG to confirm me onto a flight (regardless of at the desk or gate), give me a boarding pass with a seat assignment, allow me to board and then come on after the entire plane has been seated and ask me to exit the plane over the intercom system.

At the end of the day I still arrived home so for that I am thankful.

BoeingBoy

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. I was a little dramatic on the complaints that would be posted which-ever way US goes with this type of situation for emphasis, not to indicate your feelings.

BTW, I suspect the passenger who replaced you would say that after getting a boarding pass/seat assignment for that flight (probably at their origination) that it would have been wrong to deny them that seat through no fault of their own.

It's a situation that has no perfect solution. Similiar in many respects to holding flights for late connections - either way someone wins and someone else loses and nobody likes being on the losing side.

Jim

goheelswks

I was not perfectly clear, but IME, and as common sense would hold, you do not have a right to IDB (nor has any of the T&C's I have seen indicate this) if you are given a boarding pass onto an earlier flight at the gate that you are STANDING BY for and then have to make way for someone else (i.e., the late-arriving pax whose seat you were almost able to take.)

I have been in this situation and didn't mind leaving the plane at all, because thinking about it from the other perspective, I would have been furious had I shown up to find my seat "taken" if I were at the gate before the flight left.

I agree that they should not have used the, "Move Up" terminology, but that is irrelevant.

Bad situation, yes. Rare, yes. IDB-eligible, no. You did not pay for that flight and US did not deny you the reservation you booked.

My perspective on this would change if you were given a BP at the ticket counter and truly confirmed via, "Move Up," but everything I have seen indicates you got on as a stand-by, which is different. Better luck next time , I too often am playing the stand-by game myself!

Kwidhalm

Actually, I was denied my originally paid for flight including my FC seat. Like I said earlier, at the end of a very long day I still made it home. It is what it is and in NO point in any of my posts have I suggested that I was due compensation for this. My orginal post was a question if this has happened to someone else before.

goheelswks

Sorry, guess the conversation drifted from other to IDB. To answer your question, yes, it has happened before (to me), but is rare. IME, the anal focus on getting doors closed so early leads to rush situations like this at the gate. (And trust me, I am no US apologist!!!!)

Now, according to your OP, it seems like you were going DTW-PHL-(DCA?)-BOS. Once you got pulled from this flight in the Move Up/stand-by snafu, you lost your FC seat DTW-PHL and/or PHL-BOS and/or to/from DCA.

1. If you paid for FC, and they didn't fly you FC, you are due compensation and/or fare adjustment back to coach. If you were upgraded due to elite status....stinks, but see point 2

1a. If you confirm/get a boarding pass on an earlier flight, and something happens like this, your FC seat on the later flight is unfortunately no longer a guaranteed option, which is part of the annoying risk/reward sometimes when you're debating what to do

2. It seems like the flight to (and/or from) PHL was going to be much delayed, so they connected you through CLT instead, in coach...consider yourself lucky to avoid PHL! and see point 3

3. It's not uncommon to lose/give up upgraded FC seats on an itin to go catch connections that will give you a better chance of arriving on-time (or somewhere close to it)

4. I am confused about how you were routed, being that you mentioned being in DTW, but were confirmed PHL-BOS and were going to DCA? Were you trying to rack up a bunch of segments?

Kwidhalm

I was in Detroit and was able to leave earlier then anticipated so I headed to the airport. My original flight for Sunday was supposed to be DTW-DCA-BOS. The agent at the counter said that I would be able to make the 1:30pm flight from DTW-PHL-BOS since it was only 1pm and that flight was 20 minutes late arriving. From there I was pulled off the flight and told that my seat from DTW-DCA was 1)missing and 2) I would misconnect on my flight from DCA -BOS so we can send you to CLT instead. Oh yeah. I made it home by 11:45pm so at least I was in my own bed.

I definitely was not trying to rack up segments. I only venture to DTW when I have to visit my sister who for some reason likes living in Michigan.

tommyleo

If I have a companion on my PNR and I want to go to the airport early in the morning to arrange a Move Up for later that day, can I do so by myself? Or does my companion need to be at the airport with me in order to process a Move Up?

BoeingBoy

I would think you could do it since it's one PNR, but I don't know that as a fact. Just be sure to do it early enough for your companion to get there in time for the earlier flight. And take a good book in case Move-Up isn't available.

Jim

goheelswks

I have done it, with both boarding passes in hand, by myself, on separate PNR's. FWIW!

(I am plat, other pax was not elite, not sure it matters.)

tommyleo

Fortunately, I live close enough to PHL so that I can go to PHL early in the AM, arrange a Move Up to an afternoon flight instead of my scheduled evening flight, and still go back home for quite a while. If no Move Up is available, I'll just take my scheduled flight.


Very good to know! ^

tommyleo

Went to PHL this morning and had the exact same experience! BTW, I was told that being Platinum or Chairman's mattered in this case. ^