Originally Posted by acl65pilot

I can tell you that it is DAL's policy not to upgrade tourist fares, but after getting slapped with a 375K fine for involuntary denied boardings they are doing just that.
I talked to a gate agent about it, and her response was if we have a paying passenger that does not have a seat in the back because we oversold it, we will upgrade the highest mileage passenger to First and keep doing this until the jet is full. They do not just take the pond scum from what I was told, there is a little reason and thought behind it, but yes we are giving people a
8K seat for their coach fare and not charging them for it.
Now in Europe they may not do this. It is just here in ATL and in NYC that I have seen this happening and quite frequently.