Jumped in the queue....AGAIN
Jul 30, 2012, 10:54 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: "the world is my country"
Programs: Alaska 100K (aka OWS)
Posts: 810
Jumped in the queue....AGAIN
A little peeved- this is the third time I've been jumped in the upgrade queue 
this month. The others were shorter flights, so no biggie, but thus one was to Hawaii. I asked the GA about it- he person who jumped was MVP (I'm gold) and they had no explanation but the "glitch" excuse. Awful new upgrade system.
this month. The others were shorter flights, so no biggie, but thus one was to Hawaii. I asked the GA about it- he person who jumped was MVP (I'm gold) and they had no explanation but the "glitch" excuse. Awful new upgrade system.
It's been around for years, and AS has never gotten around to fixing it.
Jul 30, 2012, 11:34 am
#3
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
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A little peeved- this is the third time I've been jumped in the upgrade queue this month. The others were shorter flights, so no biggie, but thus one was to Hawaii. I asked the GA about it- he person who jumped was MVP (I'm gold) and they had no explanation but the "glitch" excuse. Awful new upgrade system.
this month. The others were shorter flights, so no biggie, but thus one was to Hawaii. I asked the GA about it- he person who jumped was MVP (I'm gold) and they had no explanation but the "glitch" excuse. Awful new upgrade system.Are you sure you were jumped and that the MVP didn't have a higher upgrade priority than you?
Jul 30, 2012, 12:37 pm
#4
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SEA, SoCal
Programs: AS 75K, DL Plat, AA, WN, Hertz, HHonors, Marriott
Posts: 1,306
The OP didn't provide enough details to discern exactly what happened. Was the MVP's upgrade cleared at the gate or during OLCI?
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
Jul 30, 2012, 12:41 pm
#5
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
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The OP didn't provide enough details to discern exactly what happened. Was the MVP's upgrade cleared at the gate or during OLCI?
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
Jul 30, 2012, 12:54 pm
#6
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
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Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)
The leapfrogging game was supposed to have been fixed while I was on vacation. But I've only been back in the office for 3 hours, so I'm not up to speed on everything yet :
Unless it was towards the end of the vacation...I'm not convinced things changed yet.
Welcome back
^
Originally Posted by missydarlin
The OP didn't provide enough details to discern exactly what happened. Was the MVP's upgrade cleared at the gate or during OLCI?
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
In a T-24 upgrade situation, it's all about having the fastest fingers. It's not really fair, but that's how AS has it set up. If you don't want to be leapfrogged, then you have to learn to play the game.
Welcome back
^
Jul 30, 2012, 2:42 pm
#7
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 2,206
This thread here seems to give an indication they are, or have indeed possibly fixed the loophole.
I am curious how the OP knows they were jumped over so many times. That's obviously not public knowledge, and unless if you start taking a poll of F passengers or getting the gate agent to go into other peoples records for you I can't think of a way to figure it out.
Hopefully it is fixed, or will be soon. One less thing to worry about would be nice.
I am curious how the OP knows they were jumped over so many times. That's obviously not public knowledge, and unless if you start taking a poll of F passengers or getting the gate agent to go into other peoples records for you I can't think of a way to figure it out.
Hopefully it is fixed, or will be soon. One less thing to worry about would be nice.
Jul 30, 2012, 3:10 pm
#8
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
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This thread here seems to give an indication they are, or have indeed possibly fixed the loophole.
I am curious how the OP knows they were jumped over so many times. That's obviously not public knowledge, and unless if you start taking a poll of F passengers or getting the gate agent to go into other peoples records for you I can't think of a way to figure it out. This should no longer happen.
Hopefully it is fixed, or will be soon. One less thing to worry about would be nice.
I am curious how the OP knows they were jumped over so many times. That's obviously not public knowledge, and unless if you start taking a poll of F passengers or getting the gate agent to go into other peoples records for you I can't think of a way to figure it out. This should no longer happen.
Hopefully it is fixed, or will be soon. One less thing to worry about would be nice.
The fix did indeed go out over a week ago. If anyone has a legitimate reason to believe they were jumped, then please PM me your flight details.
And by legitimate, I need more than "an MVP was in first and I wasn't".
Jumping would consist of someone receiving a paid upgrade during check-in when there was still an active waitlist, or someone playing the "check in over and over" game hoping a U seat would come available and they could grab it before the agent started clearing the waitlist.
Edited by MD: Incorrect Info Removed
Last edited by missydarlin; Jul 31, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Jul 30, 2012, 5:56 pm
#9
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP Gold
Posts: 2,732
In the previous version of the upgrade list, where everything was converted to the Airport waitlist at check-in .. 75K's and Golds automatically floated to the top of the airport waitlist. Now that the original waitlist order is being preserved, that will no longer happen.
Let's say Mary the MVP books a ticket July 1 for a flight next month. It's a qualifying fare, but there's no U space, so she gets put on the waitlist.
On July 2, Gary the Gold books a ticket for the same flight. It's also a qualifying fare, but there's still no U space, so he also goes on the waitlist.
On July 3, revenue management releases 1 seat for upgrade. Who gets it?
Jul 31, 2012, 1:29 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: "the world is my country"
Programs: Alaska 100K (aka OWS)
Posts: 810
I'm sure I don't fully understand "the rules", but I really want to understand them 
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.
Jul 31, 2012, 6:03 am
#11
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,390
I'm sure I don't fully understand "the rules", but I really want to understand them
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.
Jul 31, 2012, 8:42 am
#12
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MM, MVPGold100k, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 1,475
I can understand the OP's frustration. I am used to seeing my name high on the upgrade list (2nd to 4th) on any DL flight and watch as it drops down into the 20's and 30's by the time boarding begins. Normally on AS flights if I did not get upgraded my position on the list stays static thru to actual boarding. Once though, I was first on the list with FC not checked in full yet. So, I was quite hopeful Along came two guys up to the GA desk and started chatting with the GAs, I could hear an occasional word now and then "please, laughing and joking, aw come on, etc) and wow, about 30 seconds after they left the desk two names appeared on the waiting to upgrade list ahead of me. The appearance sure looked like they sweet talked their way ahead of me, but they really could have bumped me for perfectly legitimate reasons. At that time it was not worth trying to see what really happened, as I would have felt too much like a DYKWIA too.
Along came two guys up to the GA desk and started chatting with the GAs, I could hear an occasional word now and then "please, laughing and joking, aw come on, etc) and wow, about 30 seconds after they left the desk two names appeared on the waiting to upgrade list ahead of me. The appearance sure looked like they sweet talked their way ahead of me, but they really could have bumped me for perfectly legitimate reasons. At that time it was not worth trying to see what really happened, as I would have felt too much like a DYKWIA too.
Jul 31, 2012, 9:18 am
#13
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: JNU
Programs: HH D, AS MM/MVPG for life/AL, Awesome Wipes VIP Club, NEXUS, Hertz 5-Star Gold
Posts: 2,893
Once though, I was first on the list with FC not checked in full yet. So, I was quite hopeful Along came two guys up to the GA desk and started chatting with the GAs, I could hear an occasional word now and then "please, laughing and joking, aw come on, etc) and wow, about 30 seconds after they left the desk two names appeared on the waiting to upgrade list ahead of me. The appearance sure looked like they sweet talked their way ahead of me, but they really could have bumped me for perfectly legitimate reasons. At that time it was not worth trying to see what really happened, as I would have felt too much like a DYKWIA too.
Along came two guys up to the GA desk and started chatting with the GAs, I could hear an occasional word now and then "please, laughing and joking, aw come on, etc) and wow, about 30 seconds after they left the desk two names appeared on the waiting to upgrade list ahead of me. The appearance sure looked like they sweet talked their way ahead of me, but they really could have bumped me for perfectly legitimate reasons. At that time it was not worth trying to see what really happened, as I would have felt too much like a DYKWIA too.
Jul 31, 2012, 11:34 am
#14
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
This is somewhat contradictory to the way I understand upgrade waitlists.
Let's say Mary the MVP books a ticket July 1 for a flight next month. It's a qualifying fare, but there's no U space, so she gets put on the waitlist.
On July 2, Gary the Gold books a ticket for the same flight. It's also a qualifying fare, but there's still no U space, so he also goes on the waitlist.
On July 3, revenue management releases 1 seat for upgrade. Who gets it?
Let's say Mary the MVP books a ticket July 1 for a flight next month. It's a qualifying fare, but there's no U space, so she gets put on the waitlist.
On July 2, Gary the Gold books a ticket for the same flight. It's also a qualifying fare, but there's still no U space, so he also goes on the waitlist.
On July 3, revenue management releases 1 seat for upgrade. Who gets it?
Last edited by missydarlin; Aug 9, 2012 at 5:39 pm Reason: correct misinformation
Jul 31, 2012, 11:35 am
#15
Moderator Communications Coordinator, Signatures
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: deep within the Eskimo lair
Programs: TubWorld, Bar Alliance, Borratxo Legendarium
Posts: 16,968
I'm sure I don't fully understand "the rules", but I really want to understand them
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.
By "jumped the queue" I mean that upon arrival to the gate, I am #1 on the upgrade list. I spoke to the GA, who says that there is one seat in F that hasn't checked in. 15 minutes before boarding, she calls #2 to the desk and upgrades her. How do I know she's MVP? I asked the GA. I spoke to the GA, who was truly confused, called several different "training centers" and gave them my info; they also don't know why it happened.
Either the queue listed at the gate is not ordered correctly (in which case I apologize for this rant) or the U fare was released minutes before boarding, or I'm just unlucky. The other two times this happened I did not check the status of the queue jumper, so perhaps they were 75K, but then wouldn't they be listed top of the list, not second or third? I pay attention to the names on the list, and the names being called for the upgrades, so I know that they were lower on the list than myself. Once, I and my daughter were 1 and 2, and I was upgraded, number 3 was upgraded, and daughter sat in coach.
Educate me.