Last edit by: canadiancow
The gist of this thread is that if you board while waiting for an upgrade, and someone no-shows for J, there is a decent chance the agent will not come on to upgrade you. There are no guarantees either way though.
YBYL (You Board You Lose) on AC?
#46
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
YVR AC118 today, GA announced that if anyone is waiting for upgrades, do not board until after the flight officially closes and upgrades processed. She explicitly mentioned that if you board before the upgrade is processed, you will lose your upgrade.
#47
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
Yep, I was a victim of the "You Board You Lose" approach at AC last week. I was #2 on the upgrade list. Capacity: 16, Booked: 15, Checked-in: 14. I boarded at the end of Group 2, asked the GA if there were any hope for an upgrade for me and she said there was no chance I'd get a J seat, so I boarded. The number of booked seats dropped to 14 as boarding progressed.
Sure enough, when boarding was complete, there were two free seats in J. The GA came on board, exhanged a few words with the SD while handing the manifest over. after which the SD came in the back to fetch two people and put them in the free J seats. One of them was an FA in uniform (deadheading?) and the other was a man in a suit. So at least one seat was given to a non-rev and I don't know about the other.
A bit frustrating to watch from my 12C seat but not a big deal considering this was a pretty short flight.
Sure enough, when boarding was complete, there were two free seats in J. The GA came on board, exhanged a few words with the SD while handing the manifest over. after which the SD came in the back to fetch two people and put them in the free J seats. One of them was an FA in uniform (deadheading?) and the other was a man in a suit. So at least one seat was given to a non-rev and I don't know about the other.
A bit frustrating to watch from my 12C seat but not a big deal considering this was a pretty short flight.
Last edited by jasdou; Jan 22, 2018 at 11:11 am
#48
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Yep, I was a victim of the "You Board You Lose" approach at AC last week. I was #2 on the upgrade list. Capacity: 16, Booked: 15, Checked-in: 14. I boarded at the end of Group 2, asked the GA if there were any hope for an upgrade for me and she said there was no chance I'd get a J seat, so I boarded. The number of booked seats dropped to 14 as boarding progressed.
Sure enough, when boarding was complete, there were two free seats in J. The GA came on board, exhanged a few words with the SD while handing the manifest over after with the SD came in the back to fetch two people and put them in the free J seats. One of them was an FA in uniform (deadheading?) and the other was a man in a suit. So at least one seat was given to a non-rev and I don't know about the other.
A bit frustrating to watch from my 12C seat but not a big deal considering this was a pretty short flight.
Sure enough, when boarding was complete, there were two free seats in J. The GA came on board, exhanged a few words with the SD while handing the manifest over after with the SD came in the back to fetch two people and put them in the free J seats. One of them was an FA in uniform (deadheading?) and the other was a man in a suit. So at least one seat was given to a non-rev and I don't know about the other.
A bit frustrating to watch from my 12C seat but not a big deal considering this was a pretty short flight.
GA's tend to DGAF when it comes to the question of "what are my chances". The answer is almost always "none" when in fact they kinda don't know and just go off hunch and DGA
#49
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: YVR, KUL
Programs: AC, MH, BA, AF-KL
Posts: 2,904
Quite a stark contrast with AC121 YYZ-YVR the other day. The GA proactively told the hopeful elites to board as there was "no chance" of an upgrade. There ended up being 2 empty seats in J...
#50
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(I can hear others here going "well, clearly those empty J seats were malfunctioning")
(and, "well, the Earth is clearly flat")
#51
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I was booked on AC 753 yesterday. At the gate, they announced "if you're standing by for business class, it's booked full, and checked in full".
I subsequently changed to 759, freeing up a J seat. I think boarding had begun already.
I wonder what happened...
I subsequently changed to 759, freeing up a J seat. I think boarding had begun already.
I wonder what happened...
#52
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They often make these types of announcements. I ignore them and wait to the bitter end.
#53
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: YVR
Programs: UA Premier Platinum
Posts: 3,759
I have a worse version of YBYL than not getting cleared for the upgrade: when the GA *did* upgrade you after boarding (& the upgrade instruments were withdrawn from your account) but nobody actually bothered to tell you and you sat in Y for the flight.
#54
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,161
I learned this the hard way once just like you did, and ever since I've never boarded until the bitter end if I'm on the waitlist.
GA's tend to DGAF when it comes to the question of "what are my chances". The answer is almost always "none" when in fact they kinda don't know and just go off hunch and DGA
GA's tend to DGAF when it comes to the question of "what are my chances". The answer is almost always "none" when in fact they kinda don't know and just go off hunch and DGA
#55
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Yeah this happens to me often as well. They clearly judged us on our young punk looks and "assumed" we were pond scum.
#56
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//the 7 year old.... err, my 7 year old apparently had more seniority on the upgrade list
#57
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I had a gate agent apologize that the best she could get us upgraded to Premium Economy from YYZ-DXB. Turns out when she handed us our boarding passes, she had upgraded a 7yr old to J... Rather than pointing this out, I quickly traded boarding passes and got the better end of the deal.
#58
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#59
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#60
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: YYZ
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Posts: 3,099
Also if you were indeed upgraded, it would be printed on the manifest. It should be pretty apparent that someone was missing in J.