My wife and I are going VPS-ATL-DCA this evening. I usually just use the kiosk at the airport to check in. Our airport is small and I never have to wait. She is FO.

Our first segment UG cleared at our respective windows. ExpertFlyer showed no upgrade availability for the second segment, but there were a few J seats for sale.

After reading a somewhat incoherent post by aubreyfromwheaton a couple of days ago in which he expressed the belief (well, his rambling post seemed to express his conviction) that by checking in as close to T-24 as possible, it had bumped his UG priority above several people who were ahead of him on the UG list. I figured that I had absolutely nothing to lose. Even if the 3 seats for sale on EF were made available for UG at the gate, I did not think I had much chance to snag one. So I checked the two of us in at about T-23.5 last evening.

Much to my surprise, I found that I had cleared overnight. I did not have to wait for the gate battle. I have no idea how many people were competing for the seats that were cleared...dl.com showed 0 on the UG list (not even me) after I checked in. It now shows my wife as 6 of 8 for only 1 remaining uncommitted seat at T-6, so her odds are essentially nil. But this is the first time I have missed at the window and then cleared before the circus at the gate.

I honestly don't think that checking in early had anything to do with this. I think that DL simply held onto those seats hoping to sell them, and when they reached a point less than 24 hours prior to departure, they just released them.