Originally Posted by CO 1E

The secret to eliminating upgrade anxiety, as I've already shared on other threads, is never to ask your place on the upgrade list, and never ask a CSR what your chances are irrespective of your place on the list.

I'm fortunate enough that the EUA-able segments I've flown this year have resulted in a 75% upgrade rate as a Gold (I didn't take Y-up's into consideration in that statistic). Every time I fly, I see people hovering around the GA asking about where they are on the list or what their chances are. It's the same story every time - you can tell they're asking about the waitlist by the looks on their faces and the short duration of the conversations. They always walk away with either a sad or angry look on their faces. The last time I queued up at a gate to ask about standby on a flight, there were about six people in line ahead of me - every one of them asked about their place on the waitlist (it was a IAH-DCA flight, very elite-heavy). Each time I witness this behavior, I feel glad that I long ago chose not to subject myself to such anxiety.

If I open my email throughout the EUA windows and don't get the EUA notification, I wait until OLCI. If nothing comes through at OLCI, I check again when I reprint boarding passes at the airport. If I haven't gotten upgraded by then, I assume I'm in coach and don't bother asking the PC agents and certainly not the GA's. The process is sufficiently automated that if you get upgraded, they'll find you. I think some people are so paranoid that they think they won't get a battlefield if they don't ask a GA where they are on the list.

It would be nice if CO implemented DL-like upgrade waitlist displays at CO gates. But we all know that CO is not going to make that type of infrastructure investment anytime soon.

My advice is never to ask - just sit back, relax, go to the gate a few minutes before boarding, and hope for a battlefield. Why give yourself the anxiety of witnessing yourself drop on the upgrade list as more full Y's or misconnects get added to the list? The GA will find you if you've been upgraded.