yyznomad

So I simply un-upgrade-waitlisted myself and then upgraded just now. Manually, DIY.


DIY works best I guess. Was AC going to give the ug to others even though I was already on the waitlist at T-7?

Be paranoid, always check!

Jasper2009

Just curious: Are you departing within the next 24h? This issue isn't uncommon once the waitlist goes to airport control, though I've never seen it happen earlier than that.

yyznomad

No. Sunday July 20.

yyznomad

Additional lameness: When I went to "un-waitlist" myself on the eupgrade account page for that itinerary, it showed "waitlisted" but with the green hue as the background indicating that there was R space.
Then I go un-waitlist myself which causes the checkbox for upgrading to disappear entirely. After hitting F5 to refresh the page, the checkbox reappears and then says that the flight is available for upgrading, in which I do so.

I am now in J, but only because I took care of it myself by exercising paranoid due diligence, manually.

loosegoose

The operative word is paranoid. It takes a little while (several hours) before the system picks up your WL request once the flight is opened up like that. It is the way the system works and you would not have been screwed. The fact it opened up means there were no SE's buying higher fares prior to and you would have been no.1 in any event.

yyznomad

Nothing stops someone, while R>0 to snatch up P or R space with a late purchase.

The fact is, R was exposed to the masses.

Pray tell, what is the "latency" period of expectation between R freeing up and someone near or at the top of the waitlist to be "cleared"?

YEG USER

IIRC waitlisted upgrades are cleared manually, even prior to T-24. My experience has been that R can go from 0 to something else but until someone actually processes the upgrade they can be snagged by others. I've used Expert Flyer seat alert to let me know when R space opens so that I can see if my upgrade has been processed.

My advice is to check back constantly.

Nitehawk

how quick is the expert flyer seat alert? Reading this thread makes me think EF is a solid investment.

theseatbelt

This issue has happened to me before.

I had a latitude pass ticket and was wait listed at T-7.

my travel companion had a flex ticket and I upgraded him on the same flight at T-5. He doesn't have status. I was still wait listed.

Then R inventory became zero and I was still stuck in the wait list.

I was still wait listed at T-2 and I called in to do a complimentary upgrade manually

Air canada IT fails.

Tax Dude

Yup, I've had almost exactly the same experience with Mrs. TD. At the time I was SE, she was E, we were both waitlisted on separate flight pass tickets. I got an ExpertFlyer alert that R=1 and was able to upgrade her ticket even though according to the rules, I should have been upgraded automatically before her. In the end I was able to do the complimentary upgrade for myself.

If I'm waitlisted, I always set an EF alert. Sometimes my upgrade clears without getting the alert, sometimes I end up doing it myself. yyznomad is correct, nothing stops someone else from coming in and scooping the R space before AC gets around to 'automatically' doing it.

I don't know for certain, but my impression is that EF scans about hourly for alerts.

rehoult

Are you kidding? If it goes to R=1, and a P25 calls in for it before the system clear the waitlist, then whoever was #1 gets nothing until/unless something else opens up. In the past I've screwed many a SE out of an upgrade by quickly grabbing newly opened R-Space as an E.

loosegoose

Lets just say I doubt the veracity of your comment. P25 cannot get an U/G 5 days out which is what the OP was writing about.

Paranoid is still the operative word. it takes from a few hours to a few minutes depending on the system availability to process.

rehoult

All of my steals were between 2 hours and 3 days before departure; while a P25 couldn't steal one at 5 days, they could do at 2 days.

yyznomad

Not exactly... I was also including last minute Y/B/O buyers who can be any status and snatch up the R space... etc. etc.

SYD/YYZ

Could someone tell what P is? I thought it may be Prem Y but is it in fact a business fare class or upgrade space like R?

I see it listed ex-SYD so obviously not Prem Y.

Thanks

SYD/YYZ