Originally Posted by
iahphx
Well, from previous experience, that's not true either. On a flight last month, I checked in about 22 hours before the flight and was about 6th on the upgrade list. To my surprise, I was automatically upgraded in advance (not at the airport) on a CPU in front of other pax on the list who had already checked in earlier (presumably based on the criteria of the "5-day list"). So how would that be possible under your theory?
The CPU list (or EUA list in the CO days) will run even after the T-24 mark but usually stop before airport control (3-5 hours before scheduled departure). If R is available, it will clear you (or atleast supposed to) via that "hidden" list. Hence why you will see this sometimes and see a lot of inconsistencies. There are other possible scenarios: example - some of those pax are on the continuing flight (same flight number) and will not clear until both segments Rs are available (hence why we suggest splitting segments on here if possible).