Originally Posted by colourmix
Really ? So in the waitlist for a P4F0 flight, a silver elite who checks in early is ahead of a gold who checks in 2 hours before the flight ? I thought the waitlist was strictly "Some magic combination of status and ticket-price"...(I'm sure there are a gazillion posts debating the algorithm used)
That said, conventional wisdom (diligently followed by self) here on FT is to check in at the 36 hour mark.
(edited for grammatical mistake)
I'm pretty positive that when a silver checks in before a gold it doesn't matter. The gold will always trumps the silver, and the plat will trump the gold. Checking in early puts you ahead within your elite level (fare class as well). The only way a silver would get upgraded ahead of gold or plat is/was if availability came open within each respective upgrade window and called the elite line for a manual upgrade (no longer allowed).