Originally Posted by
Syzygies
As of a few months ago, flyers who have waitlisted miles for an upgrade appear on the upgrade standby list ahead of elites waiting for a complimentary upgrade. If these "Reward" flyers clear, they do not get their miles returned.
What no one has specified online, is how this particular cluster of flyers is sorted, within the upgrade standby list, as of a few months ago.
I can shed some light on this - in May I flew EWR-PDX-EWR, on a cheapo ticket, and had each segment sponsored with miles (neither cleared). At the time I was the equivalent of a GM (non-elite), as there was no UA reciprocity as of yet. Checking in day-of I was #1 on the PDA site list, and there were ~15-20 fliers below me. I refreshed the PDA site all the way til the doors closed. I believe I ended up #1 on the outbound and #2 on the return.
So I was ahead of all the EUAs, and I'm
guessing that on the return there must have been an Elite (of some level of status) who was also using miles.
Guess there's no way to know if it was sorted by status, fare code, or any other way though.