Originally Posted by
CO Insider
Even though formerly-waitlisted customers are prioritized ahead of complimentary Elite upgrades on the airport upgrade standby list, this list isn't used until the closing minutes before flight departure. EUA, on the other hand, is simply referring to the list of eligible Elite members in heirarchy order, and in its scheduled runs (which occur up until 3 hours before departure), there's a good chance it'll fill up the front cabin or come close to it.
We're working on a solution that'll address this discrepancy, which involves expanding our EUA to include upgrades for customers who had expired reward waitlists. We had originally hoped to have this sooner, but I can at least confirm it's in development.
So, for example, if I am using my Gold miles to waitlist a non-elite, at T+24, the waitlist expires and they have no chance of getting an upgrade at the T+24 or T+3 EUA runs.
So in theory, a non-elite waitlisting with Gold miles could appear above a Plat on a L fare on the PDA standby list after checkin, but that Plat might get upgraded ahead of them at T+24 or T+3. After the final EUA run, the non-elite would be prioritized ahead of the Plat?