I have a business class ticket booked at Christmastime. Owing to the date of travel (close to Christmas), the routing (to YYT, a place that is difficult to secure Classic rewards), and the fact that it is in continuation of a first class reward ticket from overseas, I have only one of the three flights connecting me from YVR to YYT in business class.

If I am not automatically upgraded in advance of my journey (and if this happens, please let me know how and when it does happen), do I ask to be put on an upgrade waitlist at the airport? I'd like to know a little more about the protocol here.

The Aeroplan agent who found me the flight was very helpful and good at turning up this routing, but she seemed to be a little less clear and knowledgable about this process. She did suggest that I could call in to see if upgrade space has "opened up", but said that there is no automatic upgrade process. I guess I could continue to check seatcounter.com for such information. What's the real deal here?

check out these posts for answers:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=876087

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=872011

If your upgrade doesn't clear before you check in, you can transfer yourself to the departure waitlist at the airport when you do check in - either using OLCI or by phoning after you've checked in to make sure you've been transfered.

If you are still waitlisted before doing OLCI, you won't be able to check in on-line unless you remove yourself from the waitlist, check in, then add yourself to the departure waitlist.

Good luck.

The OP is not talking about the certificate upgrade process. S/he has used points for a Business Class ticket, but 2 segments only had Economy availability.

There is not an automatic upgrade process for these situations. You must constantly look for Business inventory and then call into Aeroplan to make the free change. If you are an ExpertFlyer user, you can set alerts to notify you when space becomes available.

If by the day of departure you still do not have a Business seat, you can be put on the standby list at the airport. There has been no comfirmation, but it's thought that Reward tickets have a lower priority than status pax using certs to upgrade.

Good luck!

I've always been able to OLCI when on the waitlist for an upgrade, and then have also been able to get on the standby list at the airport.

Note that calling after doing OLCI won't help, as reservations does not have access to the airport system and they won't be able to get you on the standby list after OLCI.

My apologies - I guess I should have read the OP more carefully.

I guess I've had a different experience with OLCI, as mine have been multi-segment journeys.

I'll refrain from responding to posts in the future as to not provide misleading information.

We're all always learning, stick around and you'll learn more and hopefully we'll be abel to learn from you.

As for your OLCI issue...when you are on a multi segment itinerary, you will only be able to check in 24 hours before the last flight - not the first flight. But, OLCI never gives reasons on why you can't complete check in, so it might have not been obvious why you couldn't complete the transaction.