Originally Posted by
Flying for Fun
Good thoughts, however the passenger was #3 on the waitlist at OLCI. I was #1 with 2 available F seats, 1A & 1D as per EF. At ~T-12, I got upgraded and assigned 1D. I am not sure what happened to #2 but both myself & #2 were removed from the waitlist leaving #3 in the #1 position.
The list you see at OLCI is
the list but again, it isn't visible to airport agents. So if that guest didn't look at the actual waitlist online, got to the airport and asked about upgrades and the agent looked at the airport list, their name wouldn't be there (nor would anyone else's), it doesn't show up until D60. The airport agent could have then added them to the airport waitlist. Doesn't affect the waitlist you see online though. I think the distinction is that someone upgraded at the airport by an agent off the waitlist inside 60 minutes stays on the list whereas anything more than 60 minutes prior by the processor is removed.
I think having both the list be more transparent and visible to agents in advance would go a long way towards instilling trust in the process. I will say that pre-January, I had a couple upgrades that shocked me as I knew where I should have fallen in the pecking order. After the changes, my name has always appeared exactly where it should per the published rules and no upgrades (or lack thereof) have been out of the ordinary.