Originally Posted by
HKBelonger
HKG-SFO-IAD return flight now with a split PNR. 2x GPU applied. 1K Checked In at T-24 and appeared #1 on waitlist. GM checked in at T23:59 and jumped to #1 on waitlist, bumping 1K to #2 . GM maintains BG1 and E+ but loses TSA Pre. At T-5, someone gets between us on the waitlist so it now goes: 1. GM (w/1K GPU) 2. Unknown. 3. 1K companion of #1 GM with GPU. 4-28. Unknown combination of GPU, MUA, NRSA. Told the GA we would take one upgrade rather than stay together. Of course, #1 and #2 battlefield clear. On the SFO-IAD leg, GM remains immediately ahead of 1K the entire time.
When speaking with 1K desk, they said that system would clear actual 1K members before non-1Ks traveling on 1K instruments. That makes sense except the non-1K traveling on the 1K instrument cleared first.
Not sure what to make of it all except to only book R=> # of seats you need.
"Clearing actual 1Ks before companions" is definitely false, as you experienced.
I think what's a buggy black box is the actual tiebreak. Your companion should have your status and fare class for the list, and I would bet that #2 was a 1K on the same fare class.
There is no independent variable that I can think of to explain tiebreak priority; I split a similar 1K+GM with GPU PNR and checked in for two segments GUM-TKK-PNI and we were 1&2 on the first and 2&1 on the second. All things I could think of - relative sequence numbers and ticket numbers, pax names, etc. were identical for the two segments.
To make things even more confusing, I cleared TKK-PNI off the invisible list (jumping my companion) and got a form email that looked like a CPU.