Originally Posted by
econflyer
I'm flying with my then wife JFK-BCN on Y sometime late August and since we are in different PNRs, I decided not to waitlist for SWU due to the risk of not being seated together (currently 21A/B). I looked at expertflyer and it looks like there are quite a lot of seats available, currently J7 C0 and not much evidence of elites flying (preferred seats are empty). I have no experience with asking the gate agent to put us in the upgrade list before but I assume this is possible. I think what I'll do is to make sure there are available seats first and that our upgrade will clear before asking for an upgrade. Any thoughts? I'm a little bit skeptical of linked PNRs being handled together wrt SWUs...
If the flight is really as empty as you think it is, set an EF notification for C2, since at some point multiple seats will open up.
Or when one seat opens up grab it, and then call the EXP desk and ask them to send a request to RM to "complete the party".
The option you describe in your post can work, but remember by the time you get to the GA, much of the J cabin will be full thus diminishing your odds.