Last night flying out of LAX I discovered an interesting detail on the workings of the waitlist. I had booked this trip about 6 months back. t time of booking the flight was almost empty and no preferred seats were occupied. When I checked in for my connecting flight earlier I was told that F was almost full but that I had a chance of upgrade.

Arriving at T4 I looked at the upgrade list and my name was not amongst the 13 names. I got in line and eventually got to talk to the gate agent. She said that you have to request on the day to be on the list (this has not been my experience but OK).

She proceeded to put my name on the list and said that I was number 2 of 14, and that another EXP was ahead of me. I expressed some suprise at this given when I had booked.

She replied that the EXP at the head of the list was on a continuing flight. I replied that I was also on a continuing flight.

She confirmed that I was indeed on a continuing flight, had booked the flight 3 months earlier than the EXP she had at the top of the list, and further told me (this is what I found interesting) that the fact you are on a continuing flight is not flagged by their system but rather has to added manually by a Desk or Gate agent. So unless you mention this apect you may not be placed in your correct place in the order.