mauld wrote:

I've been meaning to ask about this new 72 hour BF upgrade policy. I find 3 references to it in the 2001 Elite Member's Guide, all on page 8 (all paraphrased here):

1. Waitlists are not permitted within 72 hours of departure. Waitlisted segments that don't clear by then are cancelled.

2. Standby for Int'l Rewards: "All Elite members who have redeemed an int'l reward ... in BusinessFirst ... but can confirm only in Coach, may stand by at the airport within 2 hours of departure."

3. BusinessFirst mileage upgrade rewards are not valid for standby.

These items say a lot, but they are silent on what I think is a very important issue: *confirmed* upgrades within 72 hours of departure. Mauld mentioned that the agent at LGW said that no upgrades were allowed after 72 hours. This clearly is not the case, per rule 2 above.

But more importantly, I think it is also true in the situation that I mentioned: having an upgradeable coach ticket, not clearing the waitlist by the 72-hour cutoff, but then having seats open up between then and departure time. In this case, you should be able to confirm a mileage upgrade over the phone. This violates neither rule 1, because you're not using the waitlist, nor rule 3 because you're confirming the upgrade, not standing by at the airport.

I called CO reservations, and asked about this situation. At least as far as the agent I spoke to was concerned, I am correct in my interpretation. She said that the computer won't allow them to place you on the upgrade waitlist within 72 hours, and that's why the wording was added to the Elite member's guide. However, if an upgrade became available (and us FlyerTalk folks would see this on itn of course :-)), you could call in to CO res and confirm it. If you had a paper ticket, you'd need to already have the certificate in hand. With an e-ticket, they can now reportedly do an electronic debit of your OnePass account and upgrade it for all e-tickets, regardless of who issued them. I remember at one time they could do these only for ones issued by CO reservations. But, they now apparently can do it also for e-tickets issued by eService Online, Travelocity, or any other travel agent.

So, although those of us with certificates in hand will no longer be able to stand by for an upgrade at the airport for flights that are J0 Z0 in hopes of a no-show, it looks as if we'll at least be able to get upgrades when inventory is not released into Z until after the 72-hour waitlist cutoff.

The only thing that worries me is that I can't see the rationale behind disallowing standby mileage upgrades at the airport for those that already have certificates. I know that if you don't have a certificate, and if CO res could not revalidate the ticket themselves (perhaps because you have a paper ticket), it used to be a big rigmarole to complete the paperwork at the airport (taking at least 15 minutes, at the ticket counter only, and not done at all at stations without CO personnel). Perhaps this is all they are trying to eliminate.

Does anyone have a different interpretation?