As per what I posted earlier:

Customers on the airport WL are upgraded according to their individual status. Before we start a debate on this - we can't win either way on this one, for example - if there's 1 seat left and we let the non status customer clear along with the status pax, the status pax next on the list will feel unfairly treated that the 1 seat remaining went to someone who personally has no status; so the 'fairer' way to do this is to sort the list according to everyone's own individual status for any leftover J seats.

(And not sure why you're 'annoyed' with me above... I didn't really read all of this thread yet as many are just discussions among you guys on the program. You can't expect me to be reading every single posts and get 'annoyed' at me when I don't reply right away)

Would it be accurate to rephrase it this way?

When requesting an upgrade for a nominee, the nominee gets the benefit of your status only if there is R space available and you are inside your upgrade window. However, once you are at the gate, the remaining upgrades are not R-space upgrades but J leftovers, and the status of the nominating pax becomes irrelevant, except as a "tie-breaker" between non-status companions.

thanks for spending your Saturday nights to clarify things for us

can you let us know in the following scenarios who gets the upgrade?
1)if there are 2 J seats leftover, and the WL consists of the following:
SE+non status guest on same PNR
Elite

2)
SE+non status nominee on different PNRs
Elite

based on my interpretation of individual status, it would seem like the SE and E will get upgraded and the friend no status will be in the back?

My 2 cents...yes, your assumption is correct. Elite trumps a non status passenger. The status who used their credits to nominate you for an upgrade is irrelevant on the WL. It's the status of the individual vying for the spot in J, thus the non status passenger is only cleared once all Elites (and Prestige) are accounted for.

What I would like to know is the following...

SE (not travelling) has requested (via nominee) an E passenger upgrade in the 7 day window, I'll call that individual E1. At the 4 day window, an E passenger (E2) requests an upgrade using their credits. Assuming there is one seat left left in J prior to boarding, does E1 or E2 get the upgrade? I would think E1 but a previous post indicated it would be E2 so thus the reason I would like the clarification.

Don't forget some AC employees have super priority on J seats even over SE.

I have found the change from 4 days to 96 hours (for Elite) very inconvenient. I wish AC can be more flexible to make it 50 hours, 100 hours and 180 hours for P, E and SE respectively.

Since the upgrade priority is not publicized, it is potentially subject to abuse.

I had one personal experience where I held confirmed upgrade seat and was bumped in favour of an AC employee.

as others have reported earlier this year, nominee eligibility is determined based on individual status and not the donor's

This discussion (and a few others on FT) are zeroing in on several areas where questions remain as to how it works. My main interests are:

Is the pecking order different before and after the airport WL?

Does this waitlist kick in at the OLCI 24 hours or at some other time?

Most particularly, if me and and my non status "travel companion" (ie, spouse - that's an important part of the puzzle) are first on the list at 4 days and R= or >2, will we get it?

If not, at airport WL time, it seems very possible that I could get upgraded but not my spouse. From what has been posted here, I can't refuse the upgrade without paying any Y fare difference and losing my seat next to my spouse. Right? AC - not good for relationships! Can an escape clause be built in? Will you let me put my spouse in the J seat instead of me?

Deadheading captain only.

I once saw someone already seated in J on a YYC-FRA who was asked to move back to J to let the captain in front. (BTW he was not in uniform.)

Gate agent tried her best to handle the matter gracefully. Most have offered some compensation.

Ok fair enough about the annoyance part which, if expressed would not be directed at you but the lack if clarity of the rules we need to and wish to play by.


About airport WL. This is not what I was told happened. I was told at yyz lounge that the priority is SE, E, guest of SE, guest of E. Regardless of status of guest.

That means if i use my elite spouse's eupgrades I would rank below a non status SE guest even though I am SE. You are stating that this is not correct?

The fact as it was explained to me at the airport is that my spouse was trumped by other elites because she was a guest of an SE and therefore did not rank equal to other elites. However reservations twice told me she would have the status if SE using my SE eupgrades. My question remains Which of the three stories is the correct one?

HKG staff told me before eupgrades that upgrades are done by the status of the passenger........ based on that, others experience and AY's response if your E spouse sponsored you as SE, you'd be entitled to upgrade at SE times 7 days in advance and at SE waitlist levels at the airport...... vice versa, if you are an SE sponsoring your E wife, then your wife will only be able to request upgrade 4 days in advance and at E waitlist levels at the airport... if the sponsored pax have no status, I guess you'd be looking at the very last minute on call.

I've re-read Andrew's explanation above several times and I see him talking about the priority on the "airport WL ... for any leftover J seats". This is what prompted my question about R versus leftover J, because it sounded to me like leftover J might be prioritized differently than R.

edit: [From my reading of ac.com, what you were told in HKG appears to be incorrect: "The eligibility criteria that apply to your Top Tier status will be the same for your eUpgrade nominee. For instance, if you are a Super Elite member, your eUpgrade Nominee can be upgraded from the same eligible fares and within the same applicable booking window as permitted by your Super Elite status." (Source: http://www.aircanada.com/en/aeroplan...des/share.html)

Based on this, together with what Andrew tells us, it seems that available R space and leftover J at the airport are indeed treated differently. So an E who is nominated for an ug by an SE will get the T-7 window, but if not cleared before hitting the airport WL will revert to E priority on the WL. Or at least that's how it reads to me.]

If you are correct, then there is no difference at all in priority between the original upgrade request/pre-OLCI waitlist and the airport WL. In this case, the easiest way to avoid future confusion is to stop talking about the "airport WL" as if it is a different animal -- the waitlist is the waitlist, period.

That's not what I read in Andrew's message.

Two different pecking orders.

Of course, Souvlaki raises yet another question: what if the companion of the SE/E has status on his own? Is he/she dealt with as companion (with lower priority) or based upon his/her own status?

Actually, I didn't ask this, and it seems that Andrew has already answered it in response to Allvest.

Again, the ac.com excerpt I quoted above seems clear to me: when requesting the upgrade, it is the status of the sponsor that governs and the status of the nominee is irrelevant. Andrew then added the information that the airport WL operates strictly by individual pax status. Taken together, I interpret it all as follows: in the pre-T-24h phase, the Sponsor's status governs and the Nominee's is irrelevant. At some point inside 24h, the waitlist is transferred to the gate and the reverse is true.

If my reconstruction is right, what is unclear to me is when exactly the priorities reverse. Is it at 24h? Or is it when the flight is handed over to the GA's? The reason this is important is if R=0 at, say, T-12h, and a confirmed upgraded pax cancels. What is the priority for reassigning the free R seat? Is the nominee placed based on Sponsor status or Nominee status?

It's all very confusing. And so rather than trying to piece it all together like this, I would join Allvest in asking for a more comprehensive answer as to what the rules are. What we have at the moment remains piecemeal.

Seems simple and clear to me...
 

Translating all the above seems to confirm:

To be confirmed for eUpgrade prior to check-in:
-Top Tier customer and Companion/Nominees eligible for R class will be confirmed, or upgraded from WL, as per the status (and booking window) of the Sponsor.
-A travel Companion must be booked on the Sponsor's PNR.
-All travellers on a PNR must be booked in the same booking class, whatever the cabin. Hence, if unable to confirm and there are 2 people on a PNR on WL for the upgrade, if only 1 R seat later becomes available, it will not clear anyone on that PNR.

Once the waitlist passes to gate control (standby for upgrade after check-in):
-Upgrade pecking order will be in accordance with each individual's status.

wasnt that part of the selling point from AC, that one does not need to re-request to be on the waitlist? (ie. it transfers over from the original upgrade request over to the OLCI wailist)

anyways, so lost now as people are reporting stories, experiences, mind meddlers and staff responses all over the map...............