A quick overview of the BusinessFirst (BF) upgrade policies can be found on the Continental website here by scrolling halfway down the page.

If you are unsure if your flight is operating into a BusinessFirst market please consult this post for a quick review.

Anyone with a OnePass account may upgrade to BusinessFirst (or equivalent) on Continental using your OnePass miles. You can locate the amount of miles necessary on the Continental website here.

Upgrades must be requested at least 24 hours prior to departure.

Please note that only Continental Onepass members redeeming Onepass miles, irrespective of elite status, may request a waitlist.

Currently BusinessFirst upgrades can be requested by calling the Continental Rewards desk at 800.621.7467 between 7:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m. Central Time or by managing your reservation online. If you want to waitlist for an upgrade (see below for details) then you must use the phone approach.

If an upgrade seat is available at the time of your call you can immediately upgrade by paying the miles and fee (depending on your fare class). A list of fees can be found at the Continental website here.

As of 6/17/08, service fees for mileage upgrades are applied immediately at the time that you request to be put on the waitlist. They may be refunded at any time before you clear the upgrade.

If no seats are available you can be placed on the waitlist for an upgrade seat. You can only waitlist as a Continental Onepass member so you will never be competing against other partner upgrade passengers on an upgrade waitlist. Waitlists are no longer closed. If you are eligible you can waitlist for any flight. At the time that you request the upgrade, the miles will be deducted from your OnePass account. You will also need to provide the credit card to pay the service fee if necessary.

Upgrade availability comes from the R fare bucket. This is different from the award BF seat bucket. This fare bucket is not published publicly in any GDS systems, though it can be searched for using the co.com website.

As of 6/17/08, it is possible to continue to waitlist for a mileage upgrade on the day of departure until the flight is closed. See the following post for the announcement.

Upgrades from the waitlist are processed first by Elite status of the account of the miles that are used (Platinum, Gold/Silver, everyone else) and then by time of upgrade request. If your status changes from silver to gold or vice versa it does not affect your placement on the waitlist as these levels are treated equally. Please see this post for reference. It is not common to be told over the phone what number you are on the waitlist so please do not be surprised if this happens to you.

Once the 24 hour window has been reached, waitlists are transitioned over to the airport. At this time the priority is determined by the following: 1. Elite status 2. Fare class paid 3. Time placed on original waitlist. Fare classes are prioritized as follows: Y, B, M, H, K, Q, U, V, G, W, E, S, T, N, L.

In 2007 if you add yourself to the waitlist as a Platinum, then drop down to Gold status for the new Elite year (i.e. 2008) your original Platinum-level waitlist status will remain intact. Conversely if you waitlist as a Gold and achieve Platinum status your original Silver/Gold-level waitlist will remain unchanged. In this case you should call to have your priority adjusted. This waitlist processing is anticipated to change for the 2008 Elite year where your status will change automatically as you change from Gold to Platinum and vice versa.

Note that this applies only for waitlists, not for complimentary EUA which only takes into account your real-time Elite status.

If your BF upgrade does not clear, miles should be automatically re-deposited to your OnePass account. Continental recommends that you keep your boarding passes until the mileage has been credited.

If only your domestic legs clear but your BF upgrade does not you are entitled to have all of the miles for the upgrade redeposited. This policy has been in place since December 2006. See this thread for more details.

Note: There is no longer a 24 hour cut-off for the waitlist. This section has been retained to explain the historical purpose of this cut-off.

The explanation was detailed by Continental in this post. There had previously been problems with phantom bookings in BF (fully refundable J tickets) that were cancelled within 24 hours of the flight and would have freed a potentially upgradeable BF seat as a result. Continental will not risk their ability to sell BF seats at their intended retail value.

Note that policy only applies for mileage upgrade BF seats. If you have redeemed miles for a BF award seat and have been assigned an economy seat because no BF seats are available you may stand-by for a BF seat at the airport; see this post (Plan B) for more details.

Note: Continental has already stated they will be VERY CAREFULLY monitoring this new upgrade system for phantom bookings. Also note that various clauses of your Onepass membership contract stipulate loss of status and miles for abuses.

Please see the dedicated post regarding partner upgrades for additional information on upgrades for flights not operated by Continental (specifically, the *A Upgrade program).