Upgrade Waitlist Worked Example
Jan 21, 2009, 2:02 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: YOW
Programs: AC E75K *G
Posts: 7,107
Upgrade Waitlist Worked Example
This thread may or may not contain accurate information past February 28, 2011, when the new upgrade system kicks in.
People have many questions about how the upgrade waitlist works. The theory is contained in the How to Upgrade FAQ.
Here is an example of how the upgrades would work for a hypothetical flight. Some of the details are known AC policy. Other details are inferred from the collective experience of FTers.
The flight will be AC412 YYZ-YUL on May 15, 2010 on a 320 with 14 seats in the J cabin. I will begin the hypothetical progression of upgrades on March 1. The hypothetical people will be named according to their status:
SE - names starts with SE
E - names start with E
P - names start with P
B - basic members start with B
For fun I gave all the SE evil personality traits.
March 1
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 M9 U9 B9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R3
There is nobody on the upgrade waitlist.
Elise and her lovely wife Edith make bookings in B class (Latitude) and request upgrades immediately. Since the flight is at R3, their upgrades are confirmed immediately and the availability becomes:
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R1
Later that day SErena makes a booking for herself and one of her minions Peter, both in B class (Latitude). She requests her own upgrade first (typical SE behaviour) and is cleared and the availability becomes:
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R0
Peter is waitlisted for his upgrade. He is at the top of the list. The waitlist is now:
1. Peter
March 4
Boris books flights in A class (Tango+) for himself and his boss SEbastian (who is in an "important" meeting and too busy to book his own flight, but in reality is text messaging his mistress during the entire meeting). They cannot go on the waitlist yet, but SEbastian has promised to use SSWU for the both of them on the flight (mainly to prevent Boris from telling his wife, who is pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest, about the mistress).
March 6
Egbert books an Aeroplan award flight in I class, but his YYZ-YUL leg can only be confirmed in X. He too cannot go on the waitlist yet.
March 9
Ethel books a B fare (Latitude) and goes on the upgrade waitlist, which is now:
1. Peter
2. Ethel
Later that day SEth (who beats his dog) books a flight in B class (Latitude) and goes on the waitlist, which is now:
1. Peter
2. Ethel
3. SEth
March 15
SErgio books himself a mileage run in A class (Tango+) crisscrossing North America for $212 all-in so that he can maintain SE status. The only AC segment on his mileage run (and in fact his only AC segment he will fly all year) is our YYZ-YUL flight. He cannot yet go on the waitlist, which angers him so he complains on FT about how he is one of AC's best customers.
March 19
AC Operations decides to release two upgrade seats, which go to Peter and Ethel. The waitlist is now:
1. SEth.
In the meantime, AC has sold some Executive Class fares for our hypothetical flight (and other flights that day) and many economy class fares. The availability is now:
J8 C8 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R0
April 1
It is reported on FT that all upgrade certs can now be used on all fares and can be confirmed at booking. This report is revealed to be an April Fool's joke.
April 3
Benjamin purchases a B fare (Latitude) and decides to purchase a booklet of Rapidair Upgrade Certificates that he hopes to be able to use.
April 7
Edward has a Latitude flight pass. He books a segment on our hypothetical flight. He plans to request a complimentary upgrade 48 hours before the flight.
April 9
AC operations decides to release two more upgrade seats. So SEth clears the upgrade waitlist. So the waitlist is empty and the availability becomes:
J7 C7 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R1
May 8 - 7 days before flight
At midnight SErgio phones AC reservations and requests the upgrade for his A class flight. It clears and the availability becomes:
J6 C6 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R0
SEbastian calls AC reservations to request an upgrade for his companion Boris, who is put on the waitlist.
Later on May 8, SEan (who crows on FT that he only flies US or WS) books a flight in L class (Tango+) and requests an upgrade and is put on the waitlist. The waitlist is:
1. Boris
2. SEan
May 10 - 5 days before flight
AC Operations decides to release an upgrade, so Boris clears and the list is now:
1. SEan
and the availability is:
J5 C2 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V4 Q1 L0 A0 S0 R0
Later that day SEamus (a vegan) books a Q fare (Tango+) and goes on the waitlist, which is now:
1. SEan
2. SEamus
May 11 - 4 days before flight
At this point Elites could call in to go on the waitlist, but there are none who want to.
However, Pauline books a B fare (Latitude) and goes on the upgrade waitlist, which is now:
1. SEan
2. SEamus
3. Pauline
May 13 - 2 days before flight
Benjamin calls AC reservations and gets an upgrade out of the available J space to use one of his Rapidair Upgrade certs.* The availability is now:
J4 C1 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H6 V0 Q0 L0 A0 S0 R0
24h before flight
The upgrade waitlist disappears!
Pauline does OLCI and makes a standby upgrade request. The new standby upgrade waitlist is:
1. Pauline
Meanwhile, Edward logs into his Flight Pass page and requests a complimentary upgrade from available J space. The availability becomes:
J3 C0 Z0 Y6 B6 M6 U0 H0 V0 Q0 L0 A0 S0 R0
May 15 - Day of flight
Egbert checks in at the airport and asks to be waitlisted for an Exec seat on his I award confirmed in X. The new standby upgrade waitlist is**:
1. Egbert
2. Pauline
SEan (who had an L fare) checks in at the airport and goes on the standby upgrade list, which is now:
1. SEan
2. Egbert
3. Pauline
Behind him in line at the SE check-in desk was SEamus, who had a Q fare (higher than L). He goes on the standby upgrade waitlist which is now:
1. SEamus
2. SEan
3. Egbert
4. Pauline
At the gate
SEamus and SEan are bothering the gate agent asking about "their" upgrades. AC Captain J. Random needs to be on the flight so that he can fly a plane out of YUL, so he gets one of the three remaining J seats right away, leaving two left.
A new person Brenda shows up at the gate. She asks to go standby in Exec on this flight, which is allowed because she was on a paid Exec fare for another YYZ-YUL flight that day. She clears the standby list, leaving 1 J seat left.
The gate agent calls SEamus to the desk to give him his J boarding pass, which he takes without making eye contact because he is talking on his Blackberry.
The flight closes and it seems there is a no-show for the J cabin. SEan gets this seat, leaving Egbert and Pauline in the back.
Summary
Here is the order on which people made requests to sit in J on our flight, and what happened to them:
1.Elise (cleared immediately R>0)
2. Edith (cleared immediately R>0)
3. SErena (cleared immediately R>0)
4. Peter (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
5. Ethel (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
6. SEth (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
7. SErgio (cleared immediately at 7 day SE window R>0)
7. Boris (waitlisted by SEbastian within 7 day SE window and cleared before day of flight)
8. SEan (waitlisted within 7 day SE window and did not clear before day of flight)
9. SEmus (waitlisted within 7 day SE window and did not clear before day of flight)
10. Pauline (waitlisted and did not clear before day of flight)
11. Benjamin (got Rapidair Upgrade Cert confirmed out of J space two days before flight)*
12. Edward (got Latitude Flight Pass complimentary upgrade out of J space one day before Flight)
________DAY OF FLIGHT_________
13. Pauline (waitlisted B fare and did not clear)
14. Egbert (waitlisted I award confirmed in X and did not clear)
15. SEan (waitlisted L fare and last to clear at gate)
16. SEamus (waitlisted Q fare and second-last to clear at gate)
17. Capt. J. Random (space available J contract entitlement cleared at gate out of J inventory)
18. Brenda (paid J standby cleared at gate out of J inventory)
*I'm not certain about this one. I think the purchased upgrade certs come out of J, but they might come out of I space too. If anyone knows I can alter the example.
** As of April 1, 2010, it is once again possible to standby for J on an I award confirmed in X. It isn't certain exactly what the upgrade priority for such a request is, since it depends on the value of the tickets on the standby list, and the value of an award ticket is not public information. So I have guessed that the day-of-flight upgrade list will go by status first and then by ticket "value". But this could be wrong - in the past such requests used to come before all other upgrade requests. Then the policy changed and they went all the way to the bottom of the upgrade list. Then you couldn't standby at all. Now you can standby again, but there is not yet enough collective experience to determine where on the upgrade list such a request will stand.
People have many questions about how the upgrade waitlist works. The theory is contained in the How to Upgrade FAQ.
Here is an example of how the upgrades would work for a hypothetical flight. Some of the details are known AC policy. Other details are inferred from the collective experience of FTers.
The flight will be AC412 YYZ-YUL on May 15, 2010 on a 320 with 14 seats in the J cabin. I will begin the hypothetical progression of upgrades on March 1. The hypothetical people will be named according to their status:
SE - names starts with SE
E - names start with E
P - names start with P
B - basic members start with B
For fun I gave all the SE evil personality traits.
March 1
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 M9 U9 B9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R3
There is nobody on the upgrade waitlist.
Elise and her lovely wife Edith make bookings in B class (Latitude) and request upgrades immediately. Since the flight is at R3, their upgrades are confirmed immediately and the availability becomes:
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R1
Later that day SErena makes a booking for herself and one of her minions Peter, both in B class (Latitude). She requests her own upgrade first (typical SE behaviour) and is cleared and the availability becomes:
J9 C9 Z9 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q9 L9 A9 S0 R0
Peter is waitlisted for his upgrade. He is at the top of the list. The waitlist is now:
1. Peter
March 4
Boris books flights in A class (Tango+) for himself and his boss SEbastian (who is in an "important" meeting and too busy to book his own flight, but in reality is text messaging his mistress during the entire meeting). They cannot go on the waitlist yet, but SEbastian has promised to use SSWU for the both of them on the flight (mainly to prevent Boris from telling his wife, who is pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest, about the mistress).
March 6
Egbert books an Aeroplan award flight in I class, but his YYZ-YUL leg can only be confirmed in X. He too cannot go on the waitlist yet.
March 9
Ethel books a B fare (Latitude) and goes on the upgrade waitlist, which is now:
1. Peter
2. Ethel
Later that day SEth (who beats his dog) books a flight in B class (Latitude) and goes on the waitlist, which is now:
1. Peter
2. Ethel
3. SEth
March 15
SErgio books himself a mileage run in A class (Tango+) crisscrossing North America for $212 all-in so that he can maintain SE status. The only AC segment on his mileage run (and in fact his only AC segment he will fly all year) is our YYZ-YUL flight. He cannot yet go on the waitlist, which angers him so he complains on FT about how he is one of AC's best customers.
March 19
AC Operations decides to release two upgrade seats, which go to Peter and Ethel. The waitlist is now:
1. SEth.
In the meantime, AC has sold some Executive Class fares for our hypothetical flight (and other flights that day) and many economy class fares. The availability is now:
J8 C8 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R0
April 1
It is reported on FT that all upgrade certs can now be used on all fares and can be confirmed at booking. This report is revealed to be an April Fool's joke.
April 3
Benjamin purchases a B fare (Latitude) and decides to purchase a booklet of Rapidair Upgrade Certificates that he hopes to be able to use.
April 7
Edward has a Latitude flight pass. He books a segment on our hypothetical flight. He plans to request a complimentary upgrade 48 hours before the flight.
April 9
AC operations decides to release two more upgrade seats. So SEth clears the upgrade waitlist. So the waitlist is empty and the availability becomes:
J7 C7 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R1
May 8 - 7 days before flight
At midnight SErgio phones AC reservations and requests the upgrade for his A class flight. It clears and the availability becomes:
J6 C6 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V9 Q5 L5 A0 S0 R0
SEbastian calls AC reservations to request an upgrade for his companion Boris, who is put on the waitlist.
Later on May 8, SEan (who crows on FT that he only flies US or WS) books a flight in L class (Tango+) and requests an upgrade and is put on the waitlist. The waitlist is:
1. Boris
2. SEan
May 10 - 5 days before flight
AC Operations decides to release an upgrade, so Boris clears and the list is now:
1. SEan
and the availability is:
J5 C2 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 V4 Q1 L0 A0 S0 R0
Later that day SEamus (a vegan) books a Q fare (Tango+) and goes on the waitlist, which is now:
1. SEan
2. SEamus
May 11 - 4 days before flight
At this point Elites could call in to go on the waitlist, but there are none who want to.
However, Pauline books a B fare (Latitude) and goes on the upgrade waitlist, which is now:
1. SEan
2. SEamus
3. Pauline
May 13 - 2 days before flight
Benjamin calls AC reservations and gets an upgrade out of the available J space to use one of his Rapidair Upgrade certs.* The availability is now:
J4 C1 Z0 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H6 V0 Q0 L0 A0 S0 R0
24h before flight
The upgrade waitlist disappears!
Pauline does OLCI and makes a standby upgrade request. The new standby upgrade waitlist is:
1. Pauline
Meanwhile, Edward logs into his Flight Pass page and requests a complimentary upgrade from available J space. The availability becomes:
J3 C0 Z0 Y6 B6 M6 U0 H0 V0 Q0 L0 A0 S0 R0
May 15 - Day of flight
Egbert checks in at the airport and asks to be waitlisted for an Exec seat on his I award confirmed in X. The new standby upgrade waitlist is**:
1. Egbert
2. Pauline
SEan (who had an L fare) checks in at the airport and goes on the standby upgrade list, which is now:
1. SEan
2. Egbert
3. Pauline
Behind him in line at the SE check-in desk was SEamus, who had a Q fare (higher than L). He goes on the standby upgrade waitlist which is now:
1. SEamus
2. SEan
3. Egbert
4. Pauline
At the gate
SEamus and SEan are bothering the gate agent asking about "their" upgrades. AC Captain J. Random needs to be on the flight so that he can fly a plane out of YUL, so he gets one of the three remaining J seats right away, leaving two left.
A new person Brenda shows up at the gate. She asks to go standby in Exec on this flight, which is allowed because she was on a paid Exec fare for another YYZ-YUL flight that day. She clears the standby list, leaving 1 J seat left.
The gate agent calls SEamus to the desk to give him his J boarding pass, which he takes without making eye contact because he is talking on his Blackberry.
The flight closes and it seems there is a no-show for the J cabin. SEan gets this seat, leaving Egbert and Pauline in the back.
Summary
Here is the order on which people made requests to sit in J on our flight, and what happened to them:
1.Elise (cleared immediately R>0)
2. Edith (cleared immediately R>0)
3. SErena (cleared immediately R>0)
4. Peter (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
5. Ethel (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
6. SEth (waitlisted and cleared before day of flight)
7. SErgio (cleared immediately at 7 day SE window R>0)
7. Boris (waitlisted by SEbastian within 7 day SE window and cleared before day of flight)
8. SEan (waitlisted within 7 day SE window and did not clear before day of flight)
9. SEmus (waitlisted within 7 day SE window and did not clear before day of flight)
10. Pauline (waitlisted and did not clear before day of flight)
11. Benjamin (got Rapidair Upgrade Cert confirmed out of J space two days before flight)*
12. Edward (got Latitude Flight Pass complimentary upgrade out of J space one day before Flight)
________DAY OF FLIGHT_________
13. Pauline (waitlisted B fare and did not clear)
14. Egbert (waitlisted I award confirmed in X and did not clear)
15. SEan (waitlisted L fare and last to clear at gate)
16. SEamus (waitlisted Q fare and second-last to clear at gate)
17. Capt. J. Random (space available J contract entitlement cleared at gate out of J inventory)
18. Brenda (paid J standby cleared at gate out of J inventory)
*I'm not certain about this one. I think the purchased upgrade certs come out of J, but they might come out of I space too. If anyone knows I can alter the example.
** As of April 1, 2010, it is once again possible to standby for J on an I award confirmed in X. It isn't certain exactly what the upgrade priority for such a request is, since it depends on the value of the tickets on the standby list, and the value of an award ticket is not public information. So I have guessed that the day-of-flight upgrade list will go by status first and then by ticket "value". But this could be wrong - in the past such requests used to come before all other upgrade requests. Then the policy changed and they went all the way to the bottom of the upgrade list. Then you couldn't standby at all. Now you can standby again, but there is not yet enough collective experience to determine where on the upgrade list such a request will stand.
Last edited by zorn; Dec 11, 2010 at 3:32 pm Reason: Updated booking classes and reinstated award flight issue
Jan 21, 2009, 3:01 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2007
Location: YYZ, but my heart is in Asia
Programs: AC-SE, CX-DM, DL-G, Hyatt-DM, Hilton-DM, Fairmont-Plt, Marriott-S, Accor-Plt, SPG-G, IHG-Plt
Posts: 4,396
This is awesome! It illustrates the sequence of upgrade.
Just one minor typo:
Isn't it supposed to be SEbastian instead of SEth?
PS I like the April Fool's joke
Just one minor typo:
Boris books flights in A class (Tango+) for himself and his boss SEbastian (who is in an "important" meeting and too busy to book his own flight, but in reality is text messaging his mistress during the entire meeting). They cannot go on the waitlist yet, but SEbastian has promised to use SSWU for the both of them on the flight (mainly to prevent Boris from telling his wife, who is pregnant with twins and on strict bed rest, about the mistress).
PS I like the April Fool's joke
Jan 21, 2009, 3:33 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: YHZ
Programs: Sans souci
Posts: 2,190
I'd say you pretty much nailed the SE profile. They tend, too, to complain about meal choices, reading lights, coats not being hung up, kids in J, faulty IFE, and non-grovelling FAs. But other than that they seem to be very nice. 
You did a good job on explaining that upgrade thingy, too.
You did a good job on explaining that upgrade thingy, too.
Jan 21, 2009, 3:54 pm
#6
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold, UA Gold
Posts: 2,022
After ploughing through that, I think my understanding of AC's upgrade system was relatively good... except that the day-of-flight wait-list is done by status, then class. I thought it was status, then check-in time, then class. So it's not really worth rushing to check-in online as you're only competing against those with the same status, flying the same class.
Since I have mostly been using AC to fly from the UK to the US, upgrades are a lot easier, as I can pick any routing from many available based on what looks like being the emptiest.
Since I have mostly been using AC to fly from the UK to the US, upgrades are a lot easier, as I can pick any routing from many available based on what looks like being the emptiest.
Jan 21, 2009, 5:14 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 393
Wonderful presentation!
One clarification please. Does a basic member (Boris) sponsored by an SE rank higher than an SE on the same list? Would your answer be the same if Boris was given a SSW upgrade certificate by an SE on the flight who chose to remain in Y with his friends?
One other thing to cover. What about a P who had been upgraded using a certificate on a flight that was cancelled but had purchased "On MY Way"? Same situation except the passenger was on D award ticket on the cancelled flight.
One clarification please. Does a basic member (Boris) sponsored by an SE rank higher than an SE on the same list? Would your answer be the same if Boris was given a SSW upgrade certificate by an SE on the flight who chose to remain in Y with his friends?
One other thing to cover. What about a P who had been upgraded using a certificate on a flight that was cancelled but had purchased "On MY Way"? Same situation except the passenger was on D award ticket on the cancelled flight.
Jan 21, 2009, 6:58 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: YOW
Programs: AC E75K *G
Posts: 7,107
After ploughing through that, I think my understanding of AC's upgrade system was relatively good... except that the day-of-flight wait-list is done by status, then class. I thought it was status, then check-in time, then class. So it's not really worth rushing to check-in online as you're only competing against those with the same status, flying the same class.
1. Status
2. Fare category
3. Time of checkin
It is conceivable there could be many SE with the same fare category, for example. So early check-in could indeed be the tie-breaker, although I didn't have that in the example.
[/QUOTE]
But on the day of the flight, the upgrade priority is the status of the passenger himself and not the sponsor.
It makes no difference if the SE is seated in Y, or is even on an upgradeable fare at all.
One other thing to cover. What about a P who had been upgraded using a certificate on a flight that was cancelled but had purchased "On MY Way"? Same situation except the passenger was on D award ticket on the cancelled flight.
Jan 21, 2009, 7:40 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,803
But other than that they seem to be very nice.
Jan 21, 2009, 7:43 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,803
From 7 days before up until when the flight opens for checkin, Boris's priority is simple the time he was put on the waitlist. Since we was sponsored by a SE, he could have been on the list 7 days in advance.
But on the day of the flight, the upgrade priority is the status of the passenger himself and not the sponsor.
(Mind you, these days we usually don't buy if there is no I for confirmation at time of purchase. Except, more often than not my wife is on an Aeroplan ticket.)
BTW, how come you are allowed to reveal trade secrets? Where did you steal them? Aren't you exposing yourself to a lawsuit?
Jan 21, 2009, 8:00 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Ottawa, Canada.
Programs: AC*SE 2MM, Marriott*Plutonium Lifetime, other stuff
Posts: 485
I'm not sure the Latitude priority is correct. If I=0, time is before 7 days, and people are buying Latitude tickets and requesting waitlist for upgrade, doesn't status trump time of booking?
Concretely, in your example doesn't Ethel get priority over Peter, and Seth over Ethel?
Concretely, in your example doesn't Ethel get priority over Peter, and Seth over Ethel?
Jan 22, 2009, 3:52 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SE MM, Hyatt Globalist, SPG Platinum, hhonors Gold
Posts: 3,421
I'm not sure the Latitude priority is correct. If I=0, time is before 7 days, and people are buying Latitude tickets and requesting waitlist for upgrade, doesn't status trump time of booking?
Concretely, in your example doesn't Ethel get priority over Peter, and Seth over Ethel?
Concretely, in your example doesn't Ethel get priority over Peter, and Seth over Ethel?
1. SEth
2. Ethel
3. Peter
With SEth and Ethel getting the upgrade before poor Peter.
If he had to suffer the indignity of being after both Ethel and Peter in a standby list, it is no wonder he would be beating his dog.
Jan 22, 2009, 6:26 am
#15
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: AC MM E50 , Former SPG, now Marriott LT Plat
Posts: 6,263
I'd say you pretty much nailed the SE profile. They tend, too, to complain about meal choices, reading lights, coats not being hung up, kids in J, faulty IFE, and non-grovelling FAs. But other than that they seem to be very nice.
You did a good job on explaining that upgrade thingy, too.
You did a good job on explaining that upgrade thingy, too.
meal choices - yes
reading lights - yes!!!!
coats - no, I prefer to throw mine overhead
kids in J - no, I bring mine
faulty IFE - yes!!! ( I still cannot understand why AC cannot get technology
working that is now 10 years old ( VOD) or 20 years old
( maps)
FA's - I will never criticize if they do their jobs, but I will compliment if
they go above and beyond