Upgrade Hierarchy for Battle Field Upgrades
There is one assertion here that is now wrong, and an ambiguity that interests me greatly.
Note: ALL waitlists expire 24 hours before the flight. If you're an elite attempting upgrade with miles, and it has not cleared by the 24 hour mark, regardless of the kind of upgrade (domestic or international) it will not happen.
With the increased commerce in all forms of upgrades, a lot has changed. I can't pinpoint the date, but a few times in the last six months I expressed puzzlement at my Plat upgrade standby position, in a President's club while waiting for my flight. It was explained that a number of people ahead of me had put in miles. Hmmm. I'm swimming in miles, so I started waitlisting a mileage upgrade on all westerly EWR SFO flights. I'm now usually in the first few passengers on the upgrade list; when someone leaves the exit-row "on deck circle" ahead of me, I've also confirmed they had put up miles.
So this is anecdotal, but I'm convinced that the mileage upgrade waitlists now dramatically influence the upgrade standby list after checkin, and determine battlefield upgrades.
As for my unanswered question, I'm willing to risk the experiment: I am now offered a confirmed mileage upgrade BOS IAH, which waitlists IAH SFO. This will of course deduct 15,000 miles whether I clear the second leg or not.
I would like to believe that I go on the PR-1 list for the second leg, at the absolute top of the battlefield upgrade queue, even though this is sort of a "Plan B" end run on capacity controls. (This wouldn't be so bad; Y and B fares are clearing now.)
Does anyone know how this works, with a certainty that would permit a FAQ clarification?