Originally Posted by
SkyTeam777
If wait listed for SWU on intl flight and there are seats available at the gate, do they clear those willing to use SWU before pushback or does there still have to be C availability? Basically I'm asking are they willing to let seats go out empty or will they take your SWU and put you in it if available?
I think the way it works is that your SWU goes on the PALL list and thus you're on the airport upgrade list (although it's a different notation than sticker/complimentary upgrades, but that doesn't apply on most international flights anyway). If there are seats, they will utilize the list, so your upgrade will clear. It's not like an award where they'd sometimes rather let a seat go empty than open up an award.
What they
won't necessarily do is roll J forward to F in order to make room for Y->J upgrades. They'll only do this in oversell situations.