I have a question for you FF mavens. I am in the process of booking a ticket on line through Continental, Gatwick to Houston. <BR><BR>The site allows you to choose a &quot;preferred&quot; seat assignment (they don't guarantee it). The schematic shows the seats available and the seats taken. It also shows about two rows of seat across three aisles reserved for Elite status passengers. These seats begin one or two rows behind the bulkhead, but they are the MIDDLE seats in a three-seat configuration. I do not understand this being a perk for an elite-status passenger. The only thing I can think of is that they are reserved for companion tickets, but that doesn't make sense since neither seat on the other side is reserved. Can anyone explain?<BR><BR>Thanks.

Take another look - you'll likely find that all seats in those first few rows are reserved for Elite flyers, and that the aisle and window seats are already taken, leaving only the middle seats available.<BR>CO generally does a great job taking care of their most frequent flyers.

Mmm. Of course. You are probably right. They are probably already taken by Elite flyers, so that is why they are gray rather than the blue, still reserved for blue.<BR><BR>Thanks for the much-needed lesson in logic.<BR><BR>And the reason I ask is I am doing my best to qualify for elite. Continental recently did me two huge favors on a recent flight, one being to upgrade me to business class, without my asking. I was told by the gate attendant that it was because of how I was dressed. Honest. He also told me to stand aside and be discrete, which was hard to do because I wanted to give him a big &quot;bacio.&quot;<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Isn't being upgraded &quot;out of the blue&quot; one of the best things to happen?!! I was flying from CDG to ATL in January, hoping for an exit row seat, none available. When we were boarding, I heard those five wonderful words, &quot;madame, you have been upgraded&quot;. Doesn't get any better than that!

Minimn: You're right, it doesn't get any better. But Continental had already done me a huge favor (long story), I was having a lot of stress due to family situations, and I had been hassled unnecessarily by security (another long story). Anyway, I have always been a fan of Continental; I am even more so now. <BR><BR>Too bad they fly out of CDG, but I am out of Gatwick this time. <BR><BR>