<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by transpac:
I just experienced this "system" at SFO last Thu. On the information screens behind the gate desk (left-side screen, at the bottom), it says something like, "will passengers with seat assignments 10H, 30D, 11C please wait to board as your upgrade is pending." I noticed that, as time went by, 11C dropped off the screen, then 30D dropped off the screen, leaving just me in 10H. I was the only one who got an upgrade (at the gate, from that original list of three anyway). So I'm not sure if the priority on the screen matches the waitlist priority, as it did in my case.</font>
I was just in the middle of posting the same observation and question. I was on the behind-podium monitor only once (also at SFO), and as you mentioned, noticed that the upgrade possibilities started dropping off the end of the list. So I would guess that the list is ordered by DM rank.