I don't know whether it's a glitch, but the waitlist had me at #4 with 2 seats available. I got upgraded, and no one else did. My first thought was that #1-3 are a party of three, but while #2-3 have the same last name initials, #1 does not and entered the picture just a few hours before, and I was still on the waitlist then. Chances of calling Alaska Reservations: less than 50%. :)

It isn't possible to be a party of three on the waitlist. A PNR with more than 1 companion isn't eligible for upgrades, period. Currently, Only MVPG+ are eligigle for upgrades if and only if there is, at most, 1 companion on the same PNR. Soon, that will apply to MVP Members, too.

It is possible that #1 was traveling with #2 & #3 and #1 declined the upgrade skipping #2 & #3 and upgrading #4. Or, a number of other possibilities.

James

Mrs thabc was "upgraded" from 10F to 6A in a -900 this morning. The seatmap shows five rows of premium, but apparently no one notified the professor about the change.

I encountered two possible glitches today with upgrade processor, and wondering if others have seen this happen also.
This was for a companion fare, where the secondary (not the primary) passenger was MVP Gold status. I don't think it should matter who's primary vs secondary maybe others can clarify.

- Both of us were Number 1 & 2 on the list T-24 (ABQ-SEA route, so not that competitive).

- First issue: processor not running frequently enough: At T-8, I checked alaska website and saw two U space first-class seats available (by trying a dummy booking as if i wanted to use an upgrade cert). The "first class upgrade available" space was clearly available for two people (with three seats unsold). So I thought the processor would run soon and give us both the first-class seat. Did not happen. T-7, the U space was gone, so clearly there's some issue with processor not running frequently enough. Is there any way to force-run the processor on my end if I see space? Call/chat? Cancel checkin and re-checkin?

- Second issue: dropped from the upgrade list at exactly T-1: both me/companion were dropped from the upgrade list exactly 1 hour mark before flight time (I was monitoring it). Others below us got upgraded to the open seats, and I had to go to the gate agent to put us back on top of the list with a split-up pnr, take away the other people's upgrade (sorry) and replace it with ours. If i was not pro-actively monitoring this exactly at the 1 hour mark, and had not proactively asked the gate agent to fix the companion ticket by splitting pnr and putting us back on the list, it would've been too late (boarding would've started and then the gate agent is too busy to create a fuss).

Both are known issues that have been around for some time now. If there is U space available when you're upgrade window opens it should process almost immediately but it's not been like that within the last 24 hours and especially the last 3 or 4 hours. You use to be able to grab that U space by re-checking in on a revenue ticket but that loophole has been fixed for some time now. I noticed the dropping off the upgrade list problem way back in September and the gate agents are as perplexed as we are. Be careful about splitting reservations because one passenger could lose out on the benefits of the higher status passenger if there are future flights connected to that reservation.

I go into a reservation in the app and look at a flight. Where I would expect to see Seats, it says Tracking. Have you come across this? I also noticed the word in the list of reservations. Ten minutes later it was gone and said Seats again. When I go to purchase a ticket for the flight, the flight cannot be found. Puzzling too.

Perhaps # of posts on FT is the new upgrade tiebreaker and that moved you up the list.

My flight departs in an hour and I just checked the upgrade list and I'm at the top with 2 people behind me. There's a non-filled in green check next to each of our names indicating Premium Class seat assigned. Then, my name shows up AGAIN at the #4 spot, followed by theirs at #5 and #6

Four seats available, two of them together. We are the top two on the waitlist. At T-2 all four were given by the upgrade processor. Still somehow there were only two seats we could choose from, and not the two together. #4 and 5 were a couple, and I would be surprised if both #3 and #6 had picked a seat within seconds.

A person happily swapped seats with one of us on the flight though.

We are now in the same position as above on our upcoming flight. Four seats available, two of them together. We are the top two on the waitlist. Will we get the two seats that are together or be separated?

The way the system is (not) working these days, you will be lucky if you get upgraded. People will buy the cheap UG close in or AS will randomly UG someone from the "WAITING FOR SEATS" list. This is the most broken part of their IT system.

Let us know how it goes.

It quickly went downhill. First one purchased a seat in F, then one on the waitlist purchased an upgrade, then a couple purchased the last two seats. Check-in opened up, one got off the waitrlist, followed by someone purchasing a seat in F, back to zero. Then around T-8 two seats became available, and we got upgraded at T-1. We couldn’t believe our luck!

Good catch PDXPremier, I’ve actually had this happen, I’m a 100k and my wife has no status this year and she was bounced out of premium into a coach middle seat at the back for flights 2, 3 and 4. Guess who sat there!

My wife in F hopes the flight attendant took pity on you with a bar of chocolate :)

Upgrade Processor Going Out of Order?
 

I was flying EWR > SAN on AS 297 on July 29th 2025, and I was consistently #1 on the waitlist as an MVP Gold, starting from T-24 before departure with two open seats left in first. I kept checking the waitlist periodically throughout the day and on my way to the airport, and there were no changes. But right about 10 minutes before boarding started, I checked the waitlist again and discovered to my surprise that #3 and #4 from the waitlist got upgraded to the last two remaining first class seats (1D and 4A), skipping over #2 and me on the waitlist.

At this point I assume #3 and #4 paid for a last-minute upgrade, and since they have the same last name I figure they might be a couple traveling together. Just to check, I ask the gate agent why I was skipped on the upgrade waitlist and he says he's not sure, doesn't mention anything about them paying for a last-minute upgrade, but does confirm to me that I'm still #1 on the waitlist and next to be upgraded if any leftover first class seats open up.

I hang around the boarding area and end up getting upgraded anyway by the same gate agent because another first class guest never checked in and didn't show up for the flight. I end up sitting in 4C, immediately next to #3 from the original waitlist. When the FA comes around to confirm everybody's dinner orders, I hear #3 telling the FA that he was upgraded (and therefore doesn't have a meal choice pre-selected). Which throws my initial hypothesis (that #3 and #4 paid for a last-minute upgrade) out the window.

Has this happened to anyone else recently with the upgrade processor running out of order? I wonder if there's some software bug that caused #3 and #4 to get upgraded before me.