Originally Posted by
docbert
When I've done it previously they would book (and charge) you for business, seat you in economy (as that was all that was available), and waitlist you for business. If the waitlist didn't clear, the difference in miles between economy and business were refunded.
This time I called in to get them to do that, and they said it's changed. You now need to book what's available on the website, call to waitlist for business, and if the waitlist clears they will charge the additional miles when they reissue the ticket. Sure enough, after booking (in YN) I called back and a second agent confirmed that was how it worked and waitlisted me.
No. What should have happened is that you should not have been able to waitlist, because there was no economy saver award available, so Plan B (what you described — paying the miles for a business class award with no confirmed business class segments) doesn’t apply.
Now, this isn’t the first time that I’ve seen a YN -> I/IN waitlist, but it’s definitely against policy, and an agent who knows the policy and is in a bad mood can cause problems for you. Under no circumstances would I call just to get I -> IN changed on the p.s. flight, since the chances of that clearing prior to the gate are almost zero anyway, and at the gate it won’t matter. (Prior to the gate, all waitlisted upgrades would have to clear first).