Paydirt

It's a double edged sword. A few years back we had someone who used to work in the Skins TO. And he confirmed that they did try to fill odd number seats first to avoid the single seat. But there are a limited number of 3,5,7 seats together. It just is not a common ticket request. So if you there are more people with three seats than are available, it essentially cuts some people out of the upgrade process all together because a few at the top of the 3 seat list gets an upgrade but everyone else is **** out of luck because the ticket office does not want to fill a 4 or 6 seat whole with just three seats.

So it can work both ways. If you are at the top of the upgrade eligibility list by seniority and it is the beginning of the upgrade process, yes, your seats would get assigned first. But if you are low on the seniority list that year and particularly if upgrades have mostly been done, the chances of an upgrade are slim.

I would imagine it depends a lot on how many three seat STHs are in each section and how many open up in the next section over. We need to remember that the upgrade process is like a jigsaw puzzle with lots of tiny pieces. Not as easy as it may appear. The new software helps to keep things fair based on whatever upgrade rules they input. But in the end, it is not an easy process nor even fair sometimes. Spyder has a good argument to make and hopefully the TO can accommodate him.

But then, the Redskins make it very clear that an upgrade is not guaranteed. We complained three years ago for a more fair upgrade process and in general I think that has happened. Not so long ago, it was the luck of calling in and depending on which agent you got, you got no upgrade or a fantastic upgrade....or something in between. Location and seniority had nothing to do with it.

I've had 3 tickets since 2005. I took 3 because the seats were better than the 2 ticket option I was given at the time I first got my tickets. I apparently recieved one of the best upgrades seen around (from the upper level to the lower level sidelines), a couple years ago. Then, last year I was moved down a couple rows in the same section and over a few seats closer to midfield, but didn't get an upgrade this year. Not sure how well going with 3 tickets will serve me in the future, but so far it's been pretty great. I'd definitely recommend it based on my own personal experience, but have no idea if others have experienced the same success. Here's my ticket upgrade history:

2005-2006 Section 402 Row 21 seats 12-14

2007-2009 Section 402 Row 19 seats 16-18

2010 Section 103 Row 27 seats 17-19

2011-2012 Section 103 Row 25 seats 5-7

DButz65 and SkinsNatsFan were upgraded to some pretty sweet sideline seats in the last couple years. I believe they were between the 30's. But is is very rare.

Add me to this list.

If I remember correctly, in the past, there have been items such as signed jerseys or mini-helmets offered to people that had not committed to renew their tickets beyond the "deadline." I am not completely sure because I always have paid on time. There should have been a benefit to that, other than the other way around. In fairness to the current ticket office, if I am even right about that, it has been a few years since this happened.

I somehow paid extra on my season tickets, and got a credit for it from the Redskins. I'm not sure if it was my mistake or theirs, but I didn't ask questions. Regardless, the next year I got moved from the upper deck to the lower sidelines in one of the best upgrades anyone ever heard of. Extra stuff is nice, but perhaps paying ontime has its perks as well.

---------- Post added February-8th-2012 at 08:47 AM ----------

I went from row 14 to row 17 last year

I moved up 2 rows last year.