Originally Posted by
Anglo Large Clawed Otter
On CO, Sequence Number is a part of the equation (used to be a much larger part) for determining EUA Complimentary Upgrades. Sequence Number is used as a tie-breaker nowadays for persons who would otherwise be at equal priority for upgrade:
e.g., Two Plats traveling on H fares. One checks in 24 hours before the flight (Seq 1), the other a few hours before the flight (Seq 57). Guess who gets the upgrade if there's only one F seat left and no one left ahead of them in the queue (previously non-upgraded elites on Y fares, presumably)? Seq. 1.
Absolutely. And I believe this applies to UA with OLCI as well. Tiebreaker is the time added to departure management, which would be the time checked in, which serves the same function as the sequence number.
Also, sequence numbers used on many airlines to check in passengers and as a quick look-up to your record. Saying "Sequence No. 8" is far safer than saying "Seat 8C has checked in" because 8C might have been upgraded and someone else inserted since the BP was issued. And faster, and doesn't require typing in lastname firstname, etc.
But I think we're now OT ... back to how the RCC staff can tell from your BP, I've always been surprised at the lack of consistency in this regard. Many of the clubs (SFO, SEA, LAX, ORD come to mind) will simply look where the BP was issued (as described correctly in this thread) and that's all they need to know. But others, for some reason (yes, this means you, IAD), insist on seeing your inbound BP ... even when you point to the "NRT" or "FRA" or "GIG" or whatever on you BP. Now, I'm anal about saving my BPs, but I still think it's silly and a waste of time to have to disgorge my spent BP from its safe hiding place.