So I'm not an airline guy, but I was surprised at my wife's text about her Salt Lake to SFO flight about 30 minutes ago. She was standing near the check-in counter and there were a few FA's asking and eventually upgrading to first class. Is this normal for aircrew to take first class instead of giving them to customers? I thought a complimentary upgrade would be good for business? Just asking, not sure how it works.

 

It's only on a space available basis. If, and only if, there are no passengers who have the sky miles required or who purchase the upgrade, then aircrew and non-revs can sit up front. I thinks it's a great deal - says a lot about how we treat our people in my opinion.

 

I'm pretty sure most airlines will let passengers who are "gold", "silver", "platinum" members (or their equivalents) get complimentary upgrades when available before crewmembers do.

Otherwise, why would you give a premium priced product to a cheapest ticket passenger? How would you determine who gets it? First come, first serve . . . talk about a gate agent being swamped with requests!

What does that say to those who paid heavily for the perk of a first class accommodation who now gets to sit with a yokel who paid 1/8th of what he paid for his ticket?

Ultimately, you get what you pay for. The service should be good in both coach and business, but the other perks don't (and shouldn't) come cheap (or free).

Trust me though . . . this is really not much of an issue these days. I commute weekly, and I rarely, if ever see the first class cabin more than once ever 3-4 months.

 

Giving away first class seats for free doesn't really help business either. Not really fair for one passenger to pay a premium for a first class seat while another passenger gets it for free.
Also, how would a gate agent determine which passengers get the upgrade and which don't. Anyway you look at it, it equates to more headaches and workload for customer service agents.

 

I had a similar discussion with a non airline friend not too long ago. I was deadheading to Hong Kong and they are required to put me in Business or First Class (we still have both). He had the same question.

The majority of people in Biz/First have had the ticket purchased by their company. I'm no different, my company bought me a ticket too, the only difference is that we own the ride. At some point the product has to be protected and the seat can't be given to customers for a lower price. In this case, employees get the seat as that won't set a precedent of paying the cheap price and angling for an upgrade. It is a premium product for a reason.

 

Thanks for the quick replies...I guess I get it. It would definitely suck to pay for a first class ticket and then someone who pays $200 gets an upgrade and sits right next to you.

 

I travel on Delta all the time and am currently a Gold medallion. I would say that most of the people in First class are also Delta Medallions so they understand how the upgrade works. They basically make the decision to buy the first class ticket or standby for an upgrade. (or in most cases their company makes that decision for them).

World pays a lot for my coach tickets (no business/first for us) and I certainly enjoy it when I get the domestic upgrades. In most cases the tickets of the people being upgraded are way more than $200 and in some cases are only a few dollars less than a first ticket (I know you would think the company could spring for the extra cash!). I think that this year I have been upgraded to first on domestic flights 8 out of 10 times.

 

I jump seated on NWA gum-lax and back. I got first class 2 out 3 flights. The flights were pretty full (except gum-nrt).
LAX-NRT there was a DAL FA who got first class along with me. I do not work for NWA or DAL. It was very nice for the crew to let me ride along and put me up front.

 

To answer the question, yes, Delta allows employees to sit in first class. The priority goes Medallion upgrades, then paid upgrades, then deadheading crewmembers, then personal travel (non revs) according to seniority and priority.

They don't generally grab Joe Six Pack and offer him a first class seat just to fill the front. That would diminish the value of the product. They'd rather let employees sit there if the seats will be empty anyhow, which is a nice perk.

 

Except deadheading pilots on oceanic crossings. They contractualy get business class and take priority over any type of upgrades.