Witnessed a pretty odd occurrence yesterday on Delta 802 from ATL-LGA. I had taken a 2 hour delay for a VDB voucher and swapped from a ATL-JFK flight to #802. Ended up being #1 on the upgrade list out of approximately 40+ people.
GIDS showed 0 available seats in F but one seat reserved but not checked in. So when I asked the gate agent about this and whether I should stick around in the gate, she said yes. So I watched nearly the entire plane board. Eventually and finally, the agent told me she was clearing me and that "a diamond medallion never claimed his seat," so I proceeded to board. By the time I got into the jetway it was so crowded it took 10+ minutes to reach the plane. They had long since told everyone they'd have to gate check their luggage but made an exception for me since I was in F.
I was shocked to find as I turned left after entering 2L that nearly half the first class cabin was empty... I'm guessing at least 8-10 seats in a configuration of 20. There was tons of overhead space available.. in fact it was nearly entirely empty throughout the forward cabin.
Given all of the empty seats, I was certainly wondering why the agent kept me outside in the gate area for so long needlessly. Eventually, a huge group of people boarded and filled up the seats... at least three of them were kids under 14 and another girl looked like a college student. One woman was wearing a leopard print fur. I don't want to make inappropriate comments, but trust me these were not HVCs. The way these people acted, they'd never set foot in first class in their lives... or even flew much at all. Ms. Leopard Print actually was talking and texting the entire time even as we were rolling down the active taxi-way at the #1 take-off position. Some of the behavior I was witnessing would have made Alec Baldwin blush.
Someone I know checked travelnet and it shows that I was the only one to clear an upgrade on that flight. So where did all of the other people come from, and why did they board last minute? Why were none of the other 40+ medallions on the list accommodated?
GIDS showed 0 available seats in F but one seat reserved but not checked in. So when I asked the gate agent about this and whether I should stick around in the gate, she said yes. So I watched nearly the entire plane board. Eventually and finally, the agent told me she was clearing me and that "a diamond medallion never claimed his seat," so I proceeded to board. By the time I got into the jetway it was so crowded it took 10+ minutes to reach the plane. They had long since told everyone they'd have to gate check their luggage but made an exception for me since I was in F.
I was shocked to find as I turned left after entering 2L that nearly half the first class cabin was empty... I'm guessing at least 8-10 seats in a configuration of 20. There was tons of overhead space available.. in fact it was nearly entirely empty throughout the forward cabin.
Given all of the empty seats, I was certainly wondering why the agent kept me outside in the gate area for so long needlessly. Eventually, a huge group of people boarded and filled up the seats... at least three of them were kids under 14 and another girl looked like a college student. One woman was wearing a leopard print fur. I don't want to make inappropriate comments, but trust me these were not HVCs. The way these people acted, they'd never set foot in first class in their lives... or even flew much at all. Ms. Leopard Print actually was talking and texting the entire time even as we were rolling down the active taxi-way at the #1 take-off position. Some of the behavior I was witnessing would have made Alec Baldwin blush.
Someone I know checked travelnet and it shows that I was the only one to clear an upgrade on that flight. So where did all of the other people come from, and why did they board last minute? Why were none of the other 40+ medallions on the list accommodated?