Originally Posted by
tomtaylor23
I had an unusual upgrade experience this week while flying from IAD to DFW. I was second on the upgrade list for an M fare, with one passenger ahead of me. However, 12 hours before departure, I received a notification that I had been upgraded to FC, while the passenger who was originally ranked first remained in that position. The only difference was that I had already checked in, whereas the passenger at number one had not. Does anyone know why the upgrade algo skipped me the passenger at number one? Do you need to be checked-in to clear the upgrade list at T-24?
This is a very niche situation but if the person in #1 was standing by for First class only it's possible for them to be skipped. My partner had this where they were dealing with IRROPS / cancelled flights and so were put on standby on a full flight. The FA apparently only put them in standby for First class so they didn't appear on the flight Standby list but did appear #1 on the upgrade list. However, folks on the upgrade list started clearing ahead of them. In the end they had to be manually cleared by an agent when a seat opened up.
Again, this is very niche so may not have applied here but is a situation where I've seen this exact behavior.