Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

For a recent flight from Winnipeg to Calgary, I checked in online using my iPhone, and got my first offer of a complimentary upgrade.

It was a bit strangely worded: <My name>, would all passengers like a complimentary upgrade for the flight?

It didn’t entirely make sense – how would I know about the other passengers?  I took a screenshot, but deleted it accidentally and found out I can’t recover it from my iPhone (it is not like Windows with a Recycle bin).

However, the magic word was there: complimentary. I know that means it’s free, but being paranoid I read through all the fine print trying to find a catch. I didn’t want to pay anything to upgrade on that route, because it’s a short flight and the food is never anything to speak of. Eventually I hit ‘Yes’.

Then I had to answer to another question: 

Why would anyone say no to a completely free upgrade? Apparently some people would, because the option was there and at the airport lounge I was confirmed that some people say no.

They told me the economy class had been sold out so I imagined the airline’s software analyzing the passenger list and offering free upgrades to the most deserving people. When I talked to someone from the concierge, though, he explained that he had manually added passengers to the upgrade option list.  I was so disappointed, so after all there was no software, manual
intervention that was it. However I thanked him.

Once on the plane, I realized I was in the first seat, which I don’t like at all because I cannot store things under the seat in front of you  The meal I was served consisted of pasta with salmon – not a big fan of that combination – and cold tomatoes I could barely bring myself to eat. This is why I wouldn’t have paid for an upgrade. I wasn’t even asked what type of meal I wanted, maybe because I was listed as having a free upgrade (so a free loader so to speak) ?