There are two kinds of "waitlists". When you request an upgrade at alaskaair.com its going to consider either of these situations as "waitlisted".


First there is the actual "Waitlist". To be on this list means that you are already eligible to be upgraded (this could be due to being within your upgrade window or having purchased an H+ fare) and there is no upgrade space available at the time the upgrade request is made. Waitlists are cleared in the order in which they were waitlisted.

The second is actually a "Request Queue". This is where your reservation goes to wait for the upgrade window to arrive if you have not purchased an immediately upgradeable fare. These are upgraded or moved to the actual waitlist in the order of purchase.

Some examples. For simplicity sake, we are going to assume they are all on the same flight on March 15 at 8am.

Ms A. Gold purchases a upgradeable fare on Feb 1 but no F is available. She forgets to request upgrades immediately after purchase and goes onto the waitlist March 7.

Mr B. Gold purchases an upgradeable fare on Feb 1 but no F is available. He requests his upgrades immediately after purchase. and goes onto the waitlist on Feb 1.


Ms. C. Gold purchases the lowest available fare on Jan 10 but does not remember to request upgrades until March 3rd.

Mr D. Gold requests the lowest available fare on Feb 15th and requests upgrades immediately.

C and D will stay on the request queue until March 12th at 8am at which time they will be put on the waitlist in the order that they purchased. (their waitlist date will be March 12, at 8:00 and 8:01am respectively)

On March 13th, 3 U seats clear. Mr B. Gold will be first, then Ms. A Gold, then Mr D. Gold.

Clear as mud?