Were they wearing a hat? If so, what colour was it? I believe the priority is toques, then baseball caps, then the hatless.

Since AC has never made this process transparent, we're all speculating. My guess would be something along the lines of a connection as others have mentioned.

Here is all I know for sure

I requested my upgrade as a S100 at 7 days out...
On day of check-in, An agent tells me I am on the list but not at the top ....stating to the effect, how odd that you are trumped by an E75
Then they state that the E75 was a nominee and upon closer examination their upgrade went through and they are now confirmed in Business
I ask....what gives given that I was placed on a waiting list
Then I get the story that they purchased their ticket way before me
Then I asked that if R >0 can I get upgraded, they said no because after 24 hours it is now under gate control

I cannot even begin to fathom how all this works except that this was one of those rare times I purchased a flex fare instead of latitude and had to play the lottery

But the OP is saying something about being R1 and him not getting the upgrade. Not clear at which point in the process the thing was R1 though.

The OP also mentions that the E75 had been nominated by an SE. And he "reserved" ahead of him. Not sure whether by "reserved" he meant "requested" or "confirmed?"

I suspect not.

It sounds like

1. The E75 was nominated by an SE at the SE window. At which point either it was R1, and the E75 got the upgrade, or he would be ahead of the OP on the priority list and he get the upgrade before the thing went to gate.

2. The OP requested after the E75, at which point R had dropped to zero, moved to 1, the E75 got the upgrade, R dropped to zero and stayed so until at the gate.

If that was indeed the scenario, then no mystery, this is how the system is supposed to work, and yes the E75 would have got an upgrade ahead of the OP. Just like, a P who buys latitude and confirms at time of reservation would have trumped an SE.

E75 nominated by S100 but I also requested at the window
R>1 was at the gate but the E75 was already upgraded and I remained on the list

Did you check any bags?

It happened to me not too long ago, where I was wait listed and then at T-2hrs R became 3. I went to see the agent in the MLL about it, she said she could not confirm my upgrade using the res system since I was now under airport control. To do it she needed to offload me, and that was not possible since I checked a bag.

I ended up getting the upgrade at the gate, but my point is that once you are under airport control (IE wait listed, checked in) R space does not matter unless you get offloaded (cancel check in), confirm the upgrade, and check in again.

The wait-list priority in the week leading up to the flight works very differently than gate priority. If any waitlist upgrades were cleared before the day of departure, OP would be behind any more senior SEs, their nominees, and, in my experience, senior fare classes held by Elites.

What do you mean, "more senior SEs?" Only differences I could envision is about MM status. Or fares.

I thought that you could cancel check-in, and call res to get them to process the upgrade. The problem with this is if you have bags you now can't get checked back in. if you had no bags this should work

I meant senior on the list (ordered by whichever variables AC chooses). The point being that there seems to be some agreement here that a nominee gains the status of the nominator until the day of departure.

We know that factually.

It is definitely the consensus here. And it seems there is pretty solid evidence.

Not sure I would go as far as saying we know it *factually* though.

I've been told this directly by multiple AC staff including Concierges.

I watched an SE go to board for YVRLHR and subsequently get in an argument with the GA about his daughter not getting upgraded. It got quite heated to the point where she pulled up the rule on her terminal and read it out loud to him about his daughter's status being the relevant one at the gate, even though she was on the e-up waitlist on his SE account.

Last week my girlfriend, on the same PNR of me, was denied an e-up being E35 and we were told there were those higher then E35 that would get e-upped. I was immediately offered my upgrade, which I declined.


I'm going with 'fact'.

Strong evidence perhaps. Not fact. :D