On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, the morning of my return to Fairbanks, I saw I was upgraded to First Class in seat 4D for the SJD to SEA segment.
A lady switched her 4A First Class seat with my 10A Main Cabin seat on the Seattle to Fairbanks flight.
We had never exchanged names. She had sat next to me in the Seattle terminal for maybe 20 minutes before the flight. The flight departure was delayed by maybe 40 minutes due to the plane arriving at the gate late with the previous flight. She had stated that she thought she was going to miss the flight from her connecting previous flight which landed late. She is 59 and has lived in Alaska her whole life based on her stating she was born in 1966 after I had give her my I waited until it was a state 63 years ago reply to her born and raised statement. When boarding finally started I had told her the rotten tomato story in my comment about active military being able to board before even first class. I think because the flight was late they called for first class and Gold MVP to board at the same time after the need extra time or assistance and then Active Military groups. When I got to 10A she had followed me and asked if I would change seats with her and then told me she was in 4A. The lady then switched seats again taking 10C so a little girl could have the window seat and the mother took the middle seat. A flight attendant held up the boarding so I could go back up from 10A to 4A.
On Tuesday, July 8, 2025 I got notice I was upgraded to first class for the FAI SEA segment a little over six hours before the flight departure.