Originally Posted by
Barton Cove
I had a similar thing happen when I had a connecting flight with a confirmed upgrade canceled during the plane inspections a couple weeks ago.
Not only did I go to the front of a 22 person upgrade request list, I wasn't listed on the board. I'm sure it was very frustrating for the person who was #1 to see me walk up and take the only upgrade released when I didn't even appear on the list. The GA couldn't explain why I didn't appear, and dismissed me by saying that the GAs never look at that list, so they have no idea whether the information it's showing is correct or not.
What sort of upgrade was it? Perhaps if it was a mile-based upgrade, you were rebooked in "confirmed first" but without a seat assignment for first.
If a flight is overbooked and you lose your seat assignment in coach, you don't show up on the standby list even though you're a standby passenger. I'd imagine the same thing would happen if your ticket says "first" but you don't have a first-class seat assignment yet.
In other words, you may not have been waiting for an upgrade but rather entitled to a seat in first. So you wouldn't be on the list, and would be given a seat ahead of the list.