Well, many of us think it's not a waste. DL used to close the UG list when it got to a certain number. There's a big problem with doing that, though.

Suppose there are five open seats in F, and list is closed when it reaches 25, because there doesn't seem to be any point in keeping the list open--there are already 5x more people on the list than there are open seats, right? But suppose a PM on a Y fare asks to be put on the list, and is told "Sorry, you can't be put on the UG list--it's closed".

That's completely unfair to that person, because their status and fare class would have a very good chance of putting them in the top five on the list. There were several reports on FT of people who had good shots at a UG if they had been added to a list, but were told the list was closed.

So, keeping the list open seems like the most fair thing to do, and I'm glad DL does it.