From reading here, i was under the impression that checking in online put you on the day of departure waitlist and if you did this early you upped you chances, but is that really true? yesterday I had flight 907 ORD-SFO. This is always one of the few flights i have trouble upgrading on even as a 1K.

I checked in on-line within a minute of the flight opening the previous day. At the gate yesterday, they called 6 passengers to wait in the gate area for upgrades and I was not one of them. Does that mean that 6 people checked in on line ahead of me in that same minute? Would 6 GS trump a 1k regardless? Would I have been better not checking in early? Thoughts?