Another CO Pet Peeve

Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move them to
First Class until it is full. I feel taken advantage of. I either pay for
1st Class, use miles or upgrade with elite status and here are people who
have done virtually nothing to earn the perk getting it for free. Now you
know they are not elite flyers, because
CO automatically upgrades even Silver Elites before/at flight time. The
person they sat next to me the other day though they had to pay for a glass
of wine. What's the sense of going out of one's way, taking longer flights,
more plane changes, etc., to attain elite or earn miles if the perks are
just handed out free to anyone a flight attendant fancies?

acenturi wrote:
Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move them to
First Class until it is full. I feel taken advantage of. I either pay for
1st Class, use miles or upgrade with elite status and here are people who
have done virtually nothing to earn the perk getting it for free. Now you
know they are not elite flyers, because
CO automatically upgrades even Silver Elites before/at flight time. The
person they sat next to me the other day though they had to pay for a glass
of wine. What's the sense of going out of one's way, taking longer flights,
more plane changes, etc., to attain elite or earn miles if the perks are
just handed out free to anyone a flight attendant fancies?

Maybe they were holding the FC seats for no shows. After everyone had
boarded they had people with some status for upgrading. Maybe they paid
a higher fare, and had no status to upgrade sooner.
What do you care? You got your first class seat. That is all you are
entitled to. You are not entitled to determine who gets to sit in the FC
cabin. One thing I have noticed. I normally don't see more people
upgraded than there are seats to put them.

By your own plane and you won't have the problem.

"acenturi" wrote in message
...
Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move them to
First Class until it is full. I feel taken advantage of. I either pay for
1st Class, use miles or upgrade with elite status and here are people who
have done virtually nothing to earn the perk getting it for free. Now you
know they are not elite flyers, because
CO automatically upgrades even Silver Elites before/at flight time. The
person they sat next to me the other day though they had to pay for a
glass
of wine. What's the sense of going out of one's way, taking longer
flights,
more plane changes, etc., to attain elite or earn miles if the perks are
just handed out free to anyone a flight attendant fancies?

That's not what's happening at all. If First Class is fully reserved, but
has not checked in full, Elite-level flyers who are eligible for upgrade are
told to take their assigned coach seats. Once the door closes, those seats
are released and the eligible Elites are brought up to F. This avoids the
problem of having someone who has bought an F seat showing up at the last
minute, only to find someone with an upgrade sitting in it. As someone who
buys full-fare F, I'd certainly be unhappy if I get there 9 minutes before a
flight, only to be told by a gate agent that, because I'm 1 minute past the
deadline, I'll have to sit in coach for the $2300 or so that I've paid for
my ticket.

"PTRAVEL" wrote in message ...
"acenturi" wrote in message
...
Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move them to
First Class until it is full. I feel taken advantage of. I either pay for
1st Class, use miles or upgrade with elite status and here are people who
have done virtually nothing to earn the perk getting it for free. Now you
know they are not elite flyers, because
CO automatically upgrades even Silver Elites before/at flight time. The
person they sat next to me the other day though they had to pay for a
glass
of wine. What's the sense of going out of one's way, taking longer
flights,
more plane changes, etc., to attain elite or earn miles if the perks are
just handed out free to anyone a flight attendant fancies?

That's not what's happening at all. If First Class is fully reserved, but
has not checked in full, Elite-level flyers who are eligible for upgrade are
told to take their assigned coach seats. Once the door closes, those seats
are released and the eligible Elites are brought up to F. This avoids the
problem of having someone who has bought an F seat showing up at the last
minute, only to find someone with an upgrade sitting in it. As someone who
buys full-fare F, I'd certainly be unhappy if I get there 9 minutes before a
flight, only to be told by a gate agent that, because I'm 1 minute past the
deadline, I'll have to sit in coach for the $2300 or so that I've paid for
my ticket.


Excellent, and absolutely spot on, explanation!

CO has changed its rules on upgrade and Elite upgrades for domestic
flights this year, to depend on fare class, time of purchase, over and
beyond mere Elite Status. As a result, many more flyers are eligible
for upgrade to F who had virtually no chance before.

Although I have not missed a single Elite Upgrade yet (ever since I've
been a member of the new Platinum, which began in 1999), I've been
Elite upgraded this way TWICE this year, after I've been seated in
the coach class, and upgraded to F only within 10 minutes from
departure.

Platinum cards still carry weight. But not nearly as much weight as
before. It's another CO's measures to bring in more revenue. I ain't
complaining even though I sense my Elite upgrades are getting more
and more precarious, and may even find the FIRST time since 1999 that
I'll not be Elite upgraded, before 2003 is over.

It's the FREE MARKET. I like where I stnad in this free market,
relative to CO and the rest of the airlines in the world to which I
am absolutely free to jump. :-) I DO fly the other airlines,
but nearly always on routes CO doesn't fly, such as to Papeete,
Tahiti (several times this year).

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" wrote in message
om...
"PTRAVEL" wrote in message
...
"acenturi" wrote in message
...
Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move
them to
First Class until it is full. I feel taken advantage of. I either pay
for
1st Class, use miles or upgrade with elite status and here are people
who
have done virtually nothing to earn the perk getting it for free. Now
you
know they are not elite flyers, because
CO automatically upgrades even Silver Elites before/at flight time.
The
person they sat next to me the other day though they had to pay for a
glass
of wine. What's the sense of going out of one's way, taking longer
flights,
more plane changes, etc., to attain elite or earn miles if the perks
are
just handed out free to anyone a flight attendant fancies?

That's not what's happening at all. If First Class is fully reserved,
but
has not checked in full, Elite-level flyers who are eligible for upgrade
are
told to take their assigned coach seats. Once the door closes, those
seats
are released and the eligible Elites are brought up to F. This avoids
the
problem of having someone who has bought an F seat showing up at the
last
minute, only to find someone with an upgrade sitting in it. As someone
who
buys full-fare F, I'd certainly be unhappy if I get there 9 minutes
before a
flight, only to be told by a gate agent that, because I'm 1 minute past
the
deadline, I'll have to sit in coach for the $2300 or so that I've paid
for
my ticket.


Excellent, and absolutely spot on, explanation!

CO has changed its rules on upgrade and Elite upgrades for domestic
flights this year, to depend on fare class, time of purchase, over and
beyond mere Elite Status. As a result, many more flyers are eligible
for upgrade to F who had virtually no chance before.

Although I have not missed a single Elite Upgrade yet (ever since I've
been a member of the new Platinum, which began in 1999), I've been
Elite upgraded this way TWICE this year, after I've been seated in
the coach class, and upgraded to F only within 10 minutes from
departure.

Platinum cards still carry weight. But not nearly as much weight as
before. It's another CO's measures to bring in more revenue. I ain't
complaining even though I sense my Elite upgrades are getting more
and more precarious, and may even find the FIRST time since 1999 that
I'll not be Elite upgraded, before 2003 is over.

It's the FREE MARKET. I like where I stnad in this free market,
relative to CO and the rest of the airlines in the world to which I
am absolutely free to jump. :-) I DO fly the other airlines,
but nearly always on routes CO doesn't fly, such as to Papeete,
Tahiti (several times this year).

-- Bob.

I agree with you completely, Bob. I've been pretty lucky with upgrades. I
usually fly full-fare, so I don't have to worry about them. The times I've
flown on a discounted ticket, I've almost always gotten an upgrade and, if
not, was given either an exit row or bulkhead seat.

I had a weird experience with CO on Wednesday. I'm curious how you would
have reacted. Warning: this is LONG.

I was returning ATL to SNA (via Houston, of course). My return ticket
(full-fare, unrestricted, F) was for Friday, but I finished my business on
Wednesday. My TA booked me a one-way F seat for Wednesday (I wasn't sure
whether I'd be able to make it to the airport on time and didn't want to
give up my Friday seat, just in case). I checked in electronically, got my
boarding pass out of the machine, and then went to the Presidents Club.
Once there, I told the desk agent to cancel and refund my Friday flight.

Well, unknown to me at the time, the desk agent, by mistake, cancelled the
Wednesday flight that I had just checked in for.

I boarded the plane, and took my assigned seat -- 1F -- which is my favorite
seat on CO's 737-300/500s. Sure enough, another passenger shows up with a
boarding pass for the same seat. The FA takes both boarding passes, comes
back in a few minutes and says, rather curtly, "You've cancelled your
flight. You'll have to leave the plane." I toldl her that I hadn't
cancelled my flight (remember, at this point I had no idea that the desk
agent had screwed up), and I wasn't leaving the plane unless the Captain
told me to. The FA left, and I pulled out my cellphone and called my TA
(who is, I swear to god, Wonder Woman!). She checked the record, figured
out what happened, and told me she'll call CO and get them straightened out.
Next thing I knew, the captain was standing next to me. He said, "I'm the
captain, and I'm telling you to leave the plane." I said, "Okay -- I always
follow the instructions of the crew. I'm leaving." I got up, and started
to get my bags out of the overhead. He said, "You don't have to do that."
I said, "Yes I do. My bags travel with me. If you're throwing me off this
flight, I'll take them off, too."

I disembarked with my carryons, and was met by a gate agent in the jetway.
She told me that F was full, and I'll have to fly in coach. I told her that
I have a valid F ticket and boarding pass, for which I've paid $1,200 (for
the one-way portion). I advised her that if I wind up in coach, or miss my
flight, I'll sue CO. She asked me to wait a minute.

She came back about 10 minutes later (during which time I was left standing
in the sweltering jetway), much chagrined, and explained that the agent at
the Presidents Club had mistakenly cancelled the wrong flight (I already
knew that, thanks to my TA), and that I can take seat 2E. I told her that I
need a window seat, never fly in an aisle seat (this is true -- I have a
flight phobia that is ameliorated by looking out the window), and had made
sure that I'd have one by calling my TA to reserve it the moment I knew I'd
be flying. Her response to me was: "Well, the agent made an honest
mistake." I said, "Yes, but it was Continental's mistake, not mine. I
don't appreciate the humilation of being thrown off the plane, and I don't
appreciate the cavalier and hostile treatment to which I've been subjected."
(Yes, I actually talk like that) She asked me to wait, went on the plane,
came back and said, "You can have 1F."

I re-boarded, re-stowed my carryons (now in a bin several rows back), and
sat through the flight, silently fuming. When we touched down in Houston, I
called my TA back and asked her to confirm that I wouldn't have trouble on
my Houston. She told me she had spoken with CO, and everything should be
fine. She checked the record again and said it showed I had my seat (1F)
for the next leg.

We pulled up to the jetway, and I sprinted through the terminal to the gate
for SNA. On the way, I passed a "Customer Service" counter. I run up to
the elite desk, give a quick account of the story to the desk agent and ask
her to check the record. She looked and said, "You're not booked on this
flight, and there are no available seats." I responded, "I have a valid F
boarding pass. I'm going to the gate and get on that plane. If CO denies
me boarding, I _will_ sue this airline, make no mistake." I went to the
gate, boarded, and took my seat. An FA offered to take my coat, but I
declined and told her the whole story. I said, "I'd better keep it, just in
case there are more problems." She, unlike any of the other CO personnel I'd
dealt with that day, was very sympathetic, and went to check the passenger
manifest. She returned and said, "You're Mr. PTRAVEL?" I said, "Yes." She
said, "Everything's fine. May I take your coat now?"

And so ends this saga.

It was your comment about how CO regards its elites that prompted my tale.
Yes, mistakes get made, but that doesn't justify treating me like a
stowaway, rudely and discourteously. I'm still trying to decide whether to
take my business elsewhere.

Seems like every time that I fly CO now, they go into the back of the
aircraft after the doors close, pluck people out of coach and move them
to
First Class until it is full

There is another category of folks who get bumped up to FC and that's the
non-revs (employees). I worked for CO for 3 years and was put in the front
cabin a number of
times after having been originally seated in coach. Employees can pay a small
premium (around $25 dollars) to be listed for FC. After the plane is loaded and
ready to go any remaining empty FC seats are given to the non-revs who paid to
sit there.

It's always upsetting for a non-rev to see a redcoat (supervisor) walking down
the isle with boarding passes in his/her hand just before they close the cabin
door. It means an employee is either getting upgraded or getting kicked off
because of some late arriving revenue passenger.

Jerry in LAS

"PTRAVEL" wrote in message ...


Gigantic snips throughout

It's the FREE MARKET. I like where I stnad in this free market,
relative to CO and the rest of the airlines in the world to which I
am absolutely free to jump. :-)

-- Bob.


I had a weird experience with CO on Wednesday. I'm curious how you would
have reacted. Warning: this is LONG.

Since you asked me directly, I'll respond with my usual candidness telling
you WHERE and WHY I owuld have acted differently.

You did a great job (which required verbosity) to describe both the factual
situation AND how you felt about it as events unfold, so that I did get
a vivid picture of what transpired.


Short answer: I would have been as perturbed as you were at some part
of the course of events; but I would have been more considerate of
the OTHER side, which did make an honest mistake and DID accommodate
all your wishes even though you were IMHO as guilty of being
unnecessarily rude and uncooperative (from the OTHER side's point of
view), as you view the other side to be unnecessarily rude and
uncooperative.


Longer answer: I'll only comment briefly on a few specific points.



Well, unknown to me at the time, the desk agent, by mistake, cancelled the
Wednesday flight that I had just checked in for.

So the Prez Club agent made a mistake. "Sh*t happens" as they say.

But I wonder why you bothered to cancel the FRIDAY flight? If you don't
show up, you can use the value of that ticket (minus penalty for ANY chance
of itinerary), and your Wednesday problem would not have occurred in the
first place.

OTOH, since you had already gotten a BOARDING PASS for your Wednesday
flight, then you HAVE to cancel it before flight time, or else you lose
the full amount.

I think that may be the reason the Prex Club agent thought you meant
to cancle the flight you already had the boarding pass. But
it was a mistake on the agent's part. I've seen much worse, some
with much less plausible excuse.


I boarded the plane, and took my assigned seat -- 1F -- which is my favorite
seat on CO's 737-300/500s. Sure enough, another passenger shows up with a
boarding pass for the same seat. The FA takes both boarding passes, comes
back in a few minutes and says, rather curtly, "You've cancelled your
flight. You'll have to leave the plane."

The FA could have said it less curtly perhaps. But she was right! How
is she expected to know that it wasn't you who made the mistake?



She came back about 10 minutes later (during which time I was left standing
in the sweltering jetway), much chagrined, and explained that the agent at
the Presidents Club had mistakenly cancelled the wrong flight (I already
knew that, thanks to my TA), and that I can take seat 2E.

They rectified the Prex Club agent's mistake (that's the best they could do,
isn't it?) not knowing your inflexible insistence of a window seat, if
not the seat 1F.

At THAT point, I would simply ask someone with a window seat if they would
be willing to swap your 2E, or ask the FA to ask. It's almost a certainty
that it would not be a problem, as many passengers, such as both my wife
and I, PREFER to have an isle seat to a window seat.



mistake." I said, "Yes, but it was Continental's mistake, not mine. I
don't appreciate the humilation of being thrown off the plane, and I don't
appreciate the cavalier and hostile treatment to which I've been subjected."
(Yes, I actually talk like that) She asked me to wait, went on the plane,
came back and said, "You can have 1F."

Did you insist on seat 1F rather than just any window seat? If so, I would
say you were very unreasonable. In eny event, you did get back your
original 1F, with much nore fanfare than necessary.


We pulled up to the jetway, and I sprinted through the terminal to the gate
for SNA. On the way, I passed a "Customer Service" counter. I run up to
the elite desk, give a quick account of the story to the desk agent and ask
her to check the record. She looked and said, "You're not booked on this
flight, and there are no available seats." I responded, "I have a valid F
boarding pass. I'm going to the gate and get on that plane. If CO denies
me boarding, I _will_ sue this airline, make no mistake." I went to the
gate, boarded, and took my seat. An FA offered to take my coat, but I
declined and told her the whole story. I said, "I'd better keep it, just in
case there are more problems." She, unlike any of the other CO personnel I'd
dealt with that day, was very sympathetic, and went to check the passenger
manifest. She returned and said, "You're Mr. PTRAVEL?" I said, "Yes." She
said, "Everything's fine. May I take your coat now?"

And so ends this saga.

It was your comment about how CO regards its elites that prompted my tale.

I wasn't speaking about CO personnel per se, but the perks of its Elite
membership, especially the Platinum. CO has some rude agents and some
who make mistakes. That's just a fact of life that I shrug off and not
make a big deal our of some trifle (such as changing an aisle seat to
window, or vice versa).

Your tale has little to do with CO Elite or non-Elite. It's just a case
of an "honest mistake" that with a little consideration and curtesy on
BOTH sides, there would have not been a "problem" as you escalate it to
sound, and in the end you were accommodated exactly as you wanted. What
more do you want -- hang the Prez Club agent? :-)

It seems to me that the one "mistake" by one agent was rectified as well
as CO or any other airline can, under the same circumstances, perhaps
better accommodated than some other airlines might have done, about your
"1F" seat.


Yes, mistakes get made, but that doesn't justify treating me like a
stowaway, rudely and discourteously. I'm still trying to decide whether to
take my business elsewhere.

By the same token, one mistake by the Prez Club agent, unbeknownst to
the FA and Captain, and even YOU, before you phone your TA, doesn't
justify your attitude and action toward the FA and Captain because they
were just doing their job, with the INFORMATION on hand.

To your ultimate sentence, I would say the same as I would to anyone:

It's the FREE MARKET.

Do whatever you think is best for YOU. It may or may not be actually best
for you, but if you THINK "take my business elsewhere" is best, then it's
probably best for all concerned. :-)

Just heed the cliches, "Look before you leap" and not "Jump from the
frying pan into the fire". :-))

-- Bob.

"Reef Fish" wrote in message
om...
"PTRAVEL" wrote in message
...


Gigantic snips throughout

It's the FREE MARKET. I like where I stnad in this free market,
relative to CO and the rest of the airlines in the world to which I
am absolutely free to jump. :-)

-- Bob.


I had a weird experience with CO on Wednesday. I'm curious how you
would
have reacted. Warning: this is LONG.

Since you asked me directly, I'll respond with my usual candidness telling
you WHERE and WHY I owuld have acted differently.

You did a great job (which required verbosity) to describe both the
factual
situation AND how you felt about it as events unfold, so that I did get
a vivid picture of what transpired.


Short answer: I would have been as perturbed as you were at some part
of the course of events; but I would have been more considerate of
the OTHER side, which did make an honest mistake and DID accommodate
all your wishes even though you were IMHO as guilty of being
unnecessarily rude and uncooperative (from the OTHER side's point of
view), as you view the other side to be unnecessarily rude and
uncooperative.


Longer answer: I'll only comment briefly on a few specific points.



Well, unknown to me at the time, the desk agent, by mistake, cancelled
the
Wednesday flight that I had just checked in for.

So the Prez Club agent made a mistake. "Sh*t happens" as they say.

But I wonder why you bothered to cancel the FRIDAY flight? If you don't
show up, you can use the value of that ticket (minus penalty for ANY
chance
of itinerary), and your Wednesday problem would not have occurred in the
first place.

It was a fully refundable, unrestricted full-fare ticket. I don't need a
$1200 credit with CO -- that money would have come out of my pocket.


OTOH, since you had already gotten a BOARDING PASS for your Wednesday
flight, then you HAVE to cancel it before flight time, or else you lose
the full amount.

Not for full fare tickets.


I think that may be the reason the Prex Club agent thought you meant
to cancle the flight you already had the boarding pass.

The agent knew it was full fare, fully refundable -- I told her.

But
it was a mistake on the agent's part. I've seen much worse, some
with much less plausible excuse.


I boarded the plane, and took my assigned seat -- 1F -- which is my
favorite
seat on CO's 737-300/500s. Sure enough, another passenger shows up with
a
boarding pass for the same seat. The FA takes both boarding passes,
comes
back in a few minutes and says, rather curtly, "You've cancelled your
flight. You'll have to leave the plane."

The FA could have said it less curtly perhaps. But she was right! How
is she expected to know that it wasn't you who made the mistake?

She wasn't -- at least not at that point. She could have said, "I'm sorry,
there's obviously some kind of mix up. Would you mind talking to the gate
agent so that we can try to straighten this out?" She could also have
simply let me sit where I was, until whatever CO powers-that-be finished
investigating what happened. Instead, she treated me like a stowaway.




She came back about 10 minutes later (during which time I was left
standing
in the sweltering jetway), much chagrined, and explained that the agent
at
the Presidents Club had mistakenly cancelled the wrong flight (I already
knew that, thanks to my TA), and that I can take seat 2E.

And, needless to say, during the 10 minutes it took her to find out what
happened, I could have been sitting in my seat.



They rectified the Prex Club agent's mistake

No, they didn't. They honored the ticket, but not the boarding pass or the
seat assignment.

(that's the best they could do,
isn't it?)

It isn't for a few reasons. First, the pax who was subsequently assigned
_my_ seat could, and should, have been asked to take 2E, since I had 1F
first, and it was CO's screw-up, not mine. All it would have taken was an
explanation to the pax, i.e. seats are assigned first-come-first-served.
Minimizing the disruption caused to me by CO's mistake would have minimized
my upset.

not knowing your inflexible insistence of a window seat, if
not the seat 1F.

My preference for window seats notwithstanding (and I would have simply
taken 2F, if it had been offered), bulkheads are preferred seats, even in
first, and particularly on CO 737-300/500s. If it had been coach, would it
have been okay to dispossess a passenger from a bulkhead seat (and do it
rudely and in an insulting manner) because of an error made by the airline?


At THAT point, I would simply ask someone with a window seat if they would
be willing to swap your 2E, or ask the FA to ask.

That's what they should have done in the first place.

It's almost a certainty
that it would not be a problem, as many passengers, such as both my wife
and I, PREFER to have an isle seat to a window seat.

Sure, but why should it have been made my problem? That's the core of my
dispute with CO: they made their error (and a stupid one at that -- who
cancels the ticket of a passenger who just handed them a boarding pass for
that specific flight?) my problem. Instead of taking a few obvious and
elemental steps to smooth my ruffled feathers, they acted annoyed they I had
caused them an inconvenience.




mistake." I said, "Yes, but it was Continental's mistake, not mine. I
don't appreciate the humilation of being thrown off the plane, and I
don't
appreciate the cavalier and hostile treatment to which I've been
subjected."
(Yes, I actually talk like that) She asked me to wait, went on the
plane,
came back and said, "You can have 1F."

Did you insist on seat 1F rather than just any window seat?

No. I insisted on a window seat. As a point of reference, I have actually
changed schedules to allow for flights that had available window seats,
rather than take one that didn't.

If so, I would
say you were very unreasonable. In eny event, you did get back your
original 1F, with much nore fanfare than necessary.

I did, indeed, get 1F. The point, though, is this: the only physical
inconvenience to which I was subject was having to pull my bags off and
stand in a sweltering jetway for 10 minutes. If that had been caused by,
for example, a mechanical delay that required disembarking, it wouldn't even
be worth mentioning. My objection was to the way everything was handled.
CO screwed up, and I got hustled off the plane like a criminal. CO
discovers the error was theirs and, instead of, at minimum, a sincere
apology, I get treated like someone who was waitlisted as a courtesy because
they had missed their earlier flight. Again, I'm a frequent flyer with this
airline, and had paid full-fare for a first class seat. Without looking,
I'm going to guess that I spend between 30 and 50 thousand dollars a year on
CO tickets. If I treated my clients, who pay me that kind of money, with
the same cavalier discourtesy, I'd have very few left.



We pulled up to the jetway, and I sprinted through the terminal to the
gate
for SNA. On the way, I passed a "Customer Service" counter. I run up
to
the elite desk, give a quick account of the story to the desk agent and
ask
her to check the record. She looked and said, "You're not booked on
this
flight, and there are no available seats." I responded, "I have a valid
F
boarding pass. I'm going to the gate and get on that plane. If CO
denies
me boarding, I _will_ sue this airline, make no mistake." I went to the
gate, boarded, and took my seat. An FA offered to take my coat, but I
declined and told her the whole story. I said, "I'd better keep it,
just in
case there are more problems." She, unlike any of the other CO personnel
I'd
dealt with that day, was very sympathetic, and went to check the
passenger
manifest. She returned and said, "You're Mr. PTRAVEL?" I said, "Yes."
She
said, "Everything's fine. May I take your coat now?"

And so ends this saga.

It was your comment about how CO regards its elites that prompted my
tale.

I wasn't speaking about CO personnel per se, but the perks of its Elite
membership, especially the Platinum. CO has some rude agents and some
who make mistakes.

Let's count the rude CO personnel in this little adventu

1. FA on the Atlanta flight.
2. Pilot on the Atlant flight (though, actually, I'm more inclined to
overlook his role in this saga, as he had no idea what was going on, other
than one of his FAs wanted a passenger off the plane)
3. Ground service rep in Atlanta.
4. Customer service rep in Houston.

That's four in a row, all of whom knew that it was CO's screw-up, the class
of service I was flying, the fare basis for my ticket, and my elite standing
with the airline. What does that say about the extent to which CO values
its frequent flyers?

That's just a fact of life that I shrug off and not
make a big deal our of some trifle (such as changing an aisle seat to
window, or vice versa).

Window vs. aisle is no big deal to you, but it is to me, and is one of the
reasons, for example, that I will never fly Southwest -- a reserved seat
that I select in advance is an absolute requirement for me.


Your tale has little to do with CO Elite or non-Elite. It's just a case
of an "honest mistake" that with a little consideration and curtesy on
BOTH sides, there would have not been a "problem" as you escalate it to
sound, and in the end you were accommodated exactly as you wanted. What
more do you want -- hang the Prez Club agent? :-)

As I said, the only physical inconvenience to which I was subject was 10
minutes in a hot jetway. However, air travel has not yet degenerated to the
point where we're herded aboard like Jews in the cattle cars. I expect,
based on my ticket's fare basis and my elite standing, considerably more
respect and courtesy than I was provided. As for my consideration and
courtesy, two points: (1) I never raised my voice, called anyone names, or
was anything less than civil and polite. (2) Had I not objected,
unambiguously and firmly, I would have been shoved in a coach seat.


It seems to me that the one "mistake" by one agent was rectified as well
as CO or any other airline can, under the same circumstances, perhaps
better accommodated than some other airlines might have done, about your
"1F" seat.

This has nothing to do with my 1F seat, and everything to do with being
rudely ejected from an aircraft.



Yes, mistakes get made, but that doesn't justify treating me like a
stowaway, rudely and discourteously. I'm still trying to decide whether
to
take my business elsewhere.

By the same token, one mistake by the Prez Club agent, unbeknownst to
the FA and Captain, and even YOU, before you phone your TA, doesn't
justify your attitude and action toward the FA and Captain because they
were just doing their job, with the INFORMATION on hand.

What attitude and action was that? I told the FA that if she wanted me off
the plane, it would have to come from the captain. When he told me to get
off, I did, promptly and with no argument. I called the FA, "ma'am," and
the pilot, "sir," which showed them considerably more respect and courtesy
than they showed me.



To your ultimate sentence, I would say the same as I would to anyone:

It's the FREE MARKET.

Exactly!


Do whatever you think is best for YOU. It may or may not be actually best
for you, but if you THINK "take my business elsewhere" is best, then it's
probably best for all concerned. :-)

What I didn't mention in my story was that, the reason I was returning to
SNA early was because I had just completed a trial that ended sooner than I
expected. I've spent the last 2 weeks or so working between 18 and 20 hours
a day, 7 days a week. When I boarded, I was exhausted, but in quite good
humor, as I was looking forward to a relaxing glass of wine before take-off,
followed by roughly 6 hours of sleep on the two flights. A trial is a war,
and I had just fought the good fight and defeated my adversary. I did not
expect to be attacked by an airline I regarded as my ally.



Just heed the cliches, "Look before you leap" and not "Jump from the
frying pan into the fire". :-))

Quite true. I'm not particularly fond of Northwest, which is the obvious
alternative to CO, from the perspective of elite perks. However, they're
going to get my serious attention.

For what it's worth, I called CO, today, and spoke with a couple of customer
service reps and supervisors about what happened. They were, to put it
mildly, appalled at what had happened to me or, more specifically, how CO
handled things in Atlanta and Houston. They've promised me a response --
we'll see.


-- Bob.

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:53:09 -0700 "PTRAVEL" wrote:

[ snipped ]

:Next thing I knew, the captain was standing next to me. He said, "I'm the
:captain, and I'm telling you to leave the plane." I said, "Okay -- I always
:follow the instructions of the crew. I'm leaving." I got up, and started
:to get my bags out of the overhead. He said, "You don't have to do that."
:I said, "Yes I do. My bags travel with me. If you're throwing me off this
:flight, I'll take them off, too."

The captain was removing you from the flight and not only didn't INSIST that
you remove your bags, was willing to let you leave them behind??

That doesn't make much sense, especially post 9/11.

[ snipped ]

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

In article ,
"PTRAVEL" wrote:


That's not what's happening at all. If First Class is fully reserved, but
has not checked in full, Elite-level flyers who are eligible for upgrade are

I don't that's even the case. CO is still keeping P inventory available
right until time of departure. Gordon bethune is still waitng for the
last minute full fare pax to turn up.