Originally Posted by
rylan
You can't get on the upgrade list with the coach companion cert. The only chance is if there are empty seats and you talk to the GA and they go out of their way to put you up front.
Correct. If an upgrade occurs while you're using the companion certificate, the gate agent processes it similar to an op-up on an international flight (e.g. you keep your original fare class, and they just assign you a different seat).
We've had really, really good luck with this happening, but that's because we usually only use the companion cert on short routes we don't care about seating on like SEA-LAS or ultra heavy leisure routes like SLC-MCO.