Originally Posted by
Lori_Q
Speaking of which, in the past I've made a habit of watching the upgrade lists for routes I want to take, and observing how many of the upgrades clear before the flight departs. This habit once helped me score a BOM-EWR upgrade on a day of the week when upgrades cleared most consistently. Obsessive and time-consuming? Yes, but understanding the patterns helps me make better decisions.
I do the same thing. In February of this year, I booked a MUA SEA-MUC round trip that gave me the u/g on the outbound leg at purchase, and was waitlisted on the return in March. I started tracking the return flight, and realized I had no chance to get an upgrade on the return flight I had selected, so I changed my return flight one week out to a different return. In the end I had to buy the u/g because I could see the new flight wasn’t going to clear, either, but the tracking really helped.