An extremely useful post that I have used many times in the past.

I usually fly on my own dime in T+ (and upgrade at 7 days) or someone else's in paid J. When I have booked latitude in the past, I do so on flights where R/I > 0. I have an upcoming trip where this is not possible. I'm booked in Latitude and R=0 so I am on the waitlist.

I have two questions for the experts

How do SEth and SErgio find out that their upgrade has cleared? Is there any advantage to doing what I am inclined to do, which is check seatcounter compulsively, or will the waitlist clear automatically as R inventory is released? Does calling AC repeatedly and pestering the agent help?:)

For SEs on a Latitude fare, already waitlisted, is the 7 day window utterly irrelevant? Do T+ pax who request an upgrade at the window automatically get added below me on the list. (I'm so used to calculating 12:01 in the right time zone at the right day - it will be tough to just go to sleep)

In case anyone is interested, the flight in question is 873 (FRA-YYZ) on April 16. 15 J seats available, so I guess my chances are good. But I hate the idea of actually paying the higher fare and sitting in the back

Thanks

SEsym

It makes no difference what you do. You could check Manage My Bookings every once in a while to see if you've been upgraded.

Yes.

The only additional action you might need to take would be if your upgrade doesn't clear by the time OLCI opens. Then you need to check in and request the upgrade again. At this point you should be at the very top of the list as a SE on a Latitude ticket.

Thanks - really appreciate the (almost) instant response.
Unfortunately this was a complicated itin that had to be phoned in so it doesn't show up on Manage My Bookings. We've heard a lot about this in the past - I can't understand how this is an insurmountable IT issue.
Luckily I checked my emailed itin. - turns out the agent hadn't assigned me a seat in Y. It would have added insult to injury to get a middle seat if the upgrade didn't clear.
On OLCI, given the tie-breaker rules, it seems that I don't even need to worry much about checking in early, since I'll only be competing with others in the same category.
Anyways, thanks again.

It is not impossible for the upgrade to clear after OLCI starts but before Aerolotto at the gate. It happened to me recently. I play the game again at midnight tonight - R currently 9 but I have seen wide fluctuations so who knows.

I'm keeping track of a flight I'm trying to get an upgrade on and noticed just as the SE window opened R went from 9 to 0. I doubt 9 people called to upgrade exactly at the stroke of midnight as the seat map is unchanged and still has J=9. Is this common? Still waiting a few more days for the E window to open to request my upgrade..

3 weeks ago, I was keeping track of a flight YYZ-PEK. It has been R9 until 23:50, 10 minutes before the 7-day window!! When midnight came, it was already R1. So I could only ug my wife and I put myself on the WL :confused: I doubt 8 people called to ug before midnight. It must be a trick the inventory management played on me. It stayed R0 and my ug cleared just before the E 4-day window opened.

I was told by AC staff in HK that the upgrade sequence are as follows:

SE
E
P
SE Guest
E Guest
P Guest

I have my 1st T+ of this year to MIA in the back. After 50,000 mi of J now a lowly T+. Can a SE sponsor me at 7 days to upgrade on my cert or does he have to use his?

Actually you'll be surprised how many people stay up just to call in for their upgrades... no advantage for us to close off a flight to 'play tricks' on our tier customers if your upgrade is going to clear anyways. The only time we would close it off is if we think we could sell the seats for revenue. Since your upgrade did clear 4+ days before departure, it was obvious in your case that we went ahead and released more seats afterwards after the initial batch was gone.

You would have to find an SE on the same flight as you. You could use your cert if you found a sponsor.

Andrew
Does an *SE that offers to sponsor an *E for an upgrade ,with the *E certs, early window really need to be booked on the same flight?

Yes. The E is actually the SE's +1...the only difference is that the E is providing his own cert.

You can't get an SE to randomly upgrade someone on a flight that the SE isn't even flying on.

thanks I must have misunderstood a message i reads some weeks back.

Hi guys,

I sponsored an upgrade for my partner (who is E*50) from LAX - YYZ - MUC. the LAX - YYZ portioned cleared automatically, He is the waitlist for YYZ - MUC. The chances are not looking really good (J=5 at the moment). Would he has a better chance, if we cancel the upgrade request from my account (SE*100K) and re-request the upgrade under his account? We are not travelling together.

Thanks for the advice!

no -- he will have a better chance under your account if they choose to upgrade before day of departure (as you say--not likely, but always possible).

On the day of departure, it switches over automatically to his status so there is no benefit to changing now.

It has been suggested that nominated upgrades rank below all other upgrades, and if that's true, an E50K nominated by a S100K would be below a P25K at the airport.

may have been suggested but my E50K spouse has always had her upgrades clear as my nominee even beating out some SEs on connections. It is bizarre I know but the upgrading thing is so complex, that I don't think anyone (including AC) always know how it is done.

In its simplest form, a 50K nominee should not drop below a 25K on day of departure on same fare class etc.

Since it appears that nominated requests are ranked lower than self-upgrades, then my 2 nominees (neither had status) have had great luck this year. :)

A couple of YYZ-SFO or SFO-YYZ segments, and the one I'm very pleased with: YYC-LHR, LHR-YYZ, YYZ-YYC (same itinerary).

I'm not even sure how I'd want it to work.

Should an E50K nominated by a S100K beat an E75K using their own credits?

Upgrade Waitlist Worked Example
 

I would think that a nominated E50 would trump an E35 using his/her own credits. At the gate, how does the system differentiate who was nominated and who wasn't? Do we really think AC IT is that competent? But we do know that they can list statuses.

Of course, like everyone else, I'm speculating too.

You keep mentioning this, but it is absolutely not true. I have been nominated by Mrs. YVR over the last couple years (either as AC*E or E50K) and a couple times I have beat out other SEs (requesting themselves) for an upgrade when J=1. I was on a flight pass, they weren't. So my higher fare class beat them out.

Sure you are, you want your upgrade to clear first before anyone else. :D

Adding to that, everyone else wants their upgrade to clear first. ;)

I really wish Air Canada would publish the upgrade list like other airlines. It would make the system more transparent and it may increase revenue as many hopeful requesters would be inclined to buy a LMU if they perceive they don't have a chance for an upgrade.

"So my higher fare class beat them out"

This is definitely the best way to secure an upgrade but not everyone is willing to pay it seems . . . :D

I have no experience with this, but it's been reported on here several times.

All I have to say is... yowza! :eek:

I am having great success with my (l)-atitude flight passes :-)

There's a difference between being reported because an AC agent has told us that's how it works and our own experience. Many AC agents/concierges don't even know exactly how the upgrades work, because AC won't tell anyone.

It's been reported on FT as anecdotal evidence.

We should send someone undercover to AC to figure this out :p

I'm also pretty sure we have an FT member who works in the right department at AC to know exactly how it works, but I don't think (s)he would be willing to share anything about it :p

I haven't used my e-credits to upgrade anyone else except for family. All my upgrades were from my wife's account (E50K) nominating me (~15). All except 1 were on a flight pass, most went to the gate (at T-4 or T-5) and on many of these flights I beat out SEs nominating themselves.

The only upgrade I missed was on a Flex (T) fare, and there was only 1 spot with at least 2 other SEs outside of me waiting for it.

It's not hard to extrapolate based on this.

Next year this problem will go away somewhat, as nobody (except SEs) will have nominees. With upgraded companions required to be on the same flight, I imagine we'll figure out how the system works pretty quickly. Hopefully the companions will clear with the same status as the Altitude member, otherwise you'll wind up with a lot of spouses sitting in the back!