Originally Posted by
Tracer_SEA
Thanks anteater. I'm curious to see if flyingforfun, missy and others agree with you on those two points
I cannot speak for them, but I know James definitely has some interesting stories; and, you'll definitely find experiences where the UG processor failed (e.g. a 100K was processed behind a 75K).
Totally understand that waitlist jumping is possible when U is open but the processor has not yet run. I believe AS also sells upgrades to F during OLCI when U is open, leading to even more potential jumping (!!)
Yes, this is another method of bypassing the waitlist. If U is available but the UG processor has yet to run, you could bypass the waitlist via an OLCI upgrade offer.
But I'm more interested in understanding how things work when U doesn't come open. Are there cases in which 100ks buying or reissuing close to departure time are not expected to be ahead of all others on the day of departure upgrade waitlist??
The waitlist is purely: elite status, fare class, MM status, and time of booking. That's how it
should be processed. The waitlist exists for any specific flight, whether that flight is T-330 days or T-24 hours. If an elite purchases a qualifying fare, they are immediately placed on it. If an elite purchases a non-qualifying fare, they are placed in their respective elite status queue until their elite tier upgrade window opens. Once the respective window opens, those elites are then moved to the waitlist and placed in order based on the criteria previously mentioned.
For example, if a 100K purchases a T class award ticket at T-330 days, a 75K purchases a Y class paid ticket at T-121 hours and a 100K purchases a N class award ticket at T-23 hours
and no U space has yet to open, then at T-23 the waitlist would be: 100K (N class, award), (100K, T class), and 75K (Y class). If a 100K were to then SDC onto that flight at say.. T-4 hours, they would still be ahead of the 75K.
Personally, as a 100K who frequently exercises a SDC (qualifying or non-qualifying fare), I have not seen an issue with being placed on the UG waitlist. I am usually #1-#3 and have never been behind a 75K.
If you have a specific example of a flight or pax, I would be glad to walk you through how it
should work. However, as you will undoubtedly read from myself and others, there are a multitude of examples of where the waitlist does not perform as expected. When it doesn't your best case for future resolution is to escalate it with AS so they can investigate and fix it (if applicable).