capedreamer

The site is back up for me!

You are probably right regarding EF. But the thing is...I usually have to book well before the upgrade window opens, so EF is more informational rather than decisional for me. That being said, I should probably do it anyways so I can stop annoying the good folks here.

On a related note -- and not sure if this has been discussed in the past -- I was pondering this hypothetical scenario: If someone with an Y/PY ticket is fairly confident they will be at the top of the waitlist, what's to stop them from booking a fully refundable J seat before the upgrade window opens only to cancel it last minute? I think airlines sweep for having the same passenger on the same flight, but you could easily buy the revenue J ticket under someone else's name / identity, no?

EDIT: I'm sure this is frowned upon if not illegal and would never do it, but just wanted to see whether this is something people / airlines have considered.

canadiancow

What about for finding flights with N space? I had to do a ton of searching to find Europe-NA in N space, because the entire weekend I wanted to fly, most flights were N0. Also, R space can open when you're on the list, without you being upgraded. Set an alert for that, and you can snag it, potentially jumping the list. EF is quite useful.

I seem to recall about one airline not doing gate upgrades specifically to discourage the behavior of holding seats like that. I suspect they'd revoked your status if they caught you doing that. They certainly have the data to see if there are often last minute cancellations of premium cabin tickets when you're on the list. Whether they look for this is another matter. But I wouldn't chance it. It's one thing to "steal" a preferred seat. It's quite another to stop them from selling a last minute J ticket because you want a free upgrade. That's how they make all their money.

capedreamer

More often than not, I have very little flexibility over specific routings / dates I can pick. Pretty much limited to what Concur / Amex GBT tells me is cheapest for a certain class of service. What ended up happening with your AMS trip btw? Were you successful in getting yourself into J? And when is it again? I'll be in AMS Sep 9-15.

Ah yes. Totally forgot about this use case.

+1

canadiancow

SFO-YYZ-AMS//LYS-YUL-YYZ-SFO. It departs more than 14 days from now, so aside from YUL-YYZ, it's all still PY.

capedreamer

Good luck!

yyznomad

They're already overbooked, by your own statement, meaning heck why not overbook it a little more... until their experience/historical numbers tell them to stop overbooking anymore?

F 1

Could someone kindly check EF for me so I can get a sense of loads and upgrade chances? AC123, Fri Sep 7. I know it's a long shot, just wondering if PE might have a better chance than J. Thanks!

Bohemian1

Here you go.

AC123 / Sep 7: J6 C5 D0 Z0 P0 R0 O6 E5 N2 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 Q7 V2 W0 G0 S0 T0 L0 A0 K0

RangerNS

AC 123YYZ 6:00p → YVR 7:52p
J6 C5 D0 Z0 P0 R0 O6 E5 N2 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 Q7 V2 W0 G0 S0 T0 L0 A0 K0

F 1

Thanks! And next question, based on the experience of others,what would you say my odds are clearing the wait-list into J? I'm P25k this year and flying on a Standard Fare. The conservative answer is I should just go for PE, but at J6 is there hope? Go big or go home, right?

jc94

YYZ to YVR on a Friday evening, with pods, and you're P25k on almost the lowest fare bucket? I fear your chances are poor at best. Especially as without an EF subscription you're not going to find out if R space gets opened (unless you just check the AC website regularly).

But hey, you never know. If it was me I'd ensure I had a backup plan - a preferred seat. They'll auto waitlist you for PY if the J eUp fails, but that list is processed at the very end, so people aiming for a PY eUp and not J eUp are ahead of you in terms of processing.

As a comparison AC123 tonight is also full with 4 people having cleared into J, and 11 more on the list.

vernonc

I would say slim to none. And I think slim has also left the building. Specially on a pod flight Fri evening.

jc94

Perhaps pay the change fee to go later Friday or Sat morning when the odds are better and join us (well, 7 confirmed FTers) for a few drinks Friday downtown

Disclaimer: I have no idea what loads are like. But the AC website currently is saying no waitlist indicating >=R1 for the 22:30 Friday and the 7-10am ones Sat (not all may be pods)
Of course, on a standard fare that's probably $100. But an agent doing that should be able to confirm the eUp at the same time. If within your window ... I can't recall if Standard requires a co-pay, but if it does it's probably $150.

F 1

You're 100% right, poor at best. But I rolled the dice and waitlisted for J. I don't seem to mind a $250 copay if it means a pod on a Fri night. But the $100 copay for PE didn't seem worth it vs a preferred seat. Fingers crossed and maybe the eup gods will smile upon me one last time.

Jumper Jack

AC1626
YYZ to FLL Friday, Dec 14

Would a kind soul please check the bucket for me?