Originally Posted by
abaheti
Wow, shocked. I ended up putting us both in for miles upgrades on the redeye, then did one paid upgrade which split the reservation. Figured I would give my wife the first class seat if the upgrade didn't clear. Surprised to find her upgrade cleared -- we were 4/5 on list and she was then 4. Watched as the three front of her cleared. The person after her cleared. So, theoretically, we both would have made it even if I hadn't paid for one upgrade. At boarding it read 18/20 checked in, with her as number one on list. She and number two made it. Friendly gentleman swapped w me so we got to sit together.
So a positive data point. And I got to bore her with explanations of seat swap etiquette, battlefield upgrades, upgrade rules and process, how to approach a gate agent and when to inquire... so there's that. :-).
(as an aside, just after doors closed and ramp pulled away, two people ran to the front engaged in conversation w the crew... ramp came back, doors opened, more discussions, they went back to their seats and our 10 minute early flight turned into on time flight. No clue what their issue was. Never seen that before)
Weirder. I noticed that miles for my on of the upgrades for my wife (20k) and for me (15k which I later just paid cash for) had not been redeposited. I waited. Just called in 3 weeks later and ended up on a LONG hold because they can't access past itins, got mi+ desk on other line and had me wait. Comes back to tell me that instead of miles I would get cash back for my outbound upgrade because the mileage upgrade had cleared first. So they refunded my cash upgrade. I thought paying cash was locking in by paying for F? I guess I was still on a list and somehow my cash upgrade was behind my miles upgrade request? In the end they also found my wife's info and refunded the 20k miles. So, I paid miles one way and cash for the return upgrade, for my wife miles one way (the return did not clear).
Moral... while you may have to wait a few days to see if the redeposit happens, don't wait "too long" (2 weeks) or they won't be able to find your info.
Learning... paid upgrades can be behind mileage upgrades? That is just counter to everything I assumed.