[DON'T TAKE THIS AS GOSPEL...MISSY IS IN THE PROCESS OF CORRECTING ME DOWNTHREAD]

Not quite. Missy just confirmed that the list looks more like this before the elite windows:

75Ks on qualifying fares by time last added to waitlist
GLDs/MVPs on qualifying fares by time last added to waitlist

Then, once inside the windows:

75Ks on any fare by time last added to waitlist
GLDs/MVPs on any fare by time last added to waitlist

So if no U space ever opens up until 48 hours before departure, Mary MVP who books a T fare 330 days out will get upgraded before Gary Gold who books a full Y fare 329 days before depature. Something seems wrong with that. Or, a more likely scenario: Mary MVP will get the upgrade on a T fare booked 30 days out while Gary Gold who booked a Q fare 15 days out won't (taking instant upgrades out of the equation). On FT, we always assumed Golds get priority above MVPs in the upgrade process. To find out that is not the case is actually a major revelation.

(Note, too, the "time last added to waitlist" vs "original time of ticketing." That's an annoyance as when an itinerary has a glitch, it's too often that your position on the waitlist is reset.)

As long as 75k'ers stay on top I'm ok with this :D

Agreed! I am baffled to learn this. This needs to be fixed ASAP. Any suggestions who should we contact?

Something IS wrong with that. It's not correct.

Mary MVP who books a T fare, doesnt go on the waitlist until 48 hours out. Gary Gold who books a Y fare ..which is qualifying goes on the waitlist 329 days out. So Gary gets it first.

Again.... wrong.

An MVP on a T fare goes on the waitlist at 48 hours out
A Gold on a Q fare goes on the waitlist at 72 hours out

Gary gets the upgrade again.

you can contact Jackal to fix his erroneous examples ;)

OK, I think I get it now. I think there was a misunderstanding between the way we on FT use the word "waitlist" and AS uses the word "waitlist."

Since the AS site says "Waitlisted for First Class upgrade" when an elite opts to waitlist for a complimentary upgrade, we on FT assume you are "on the waitlist" at that point and the waitlist simply isn't cleared until the appropriate upgrade window.

It sounds like to the AS IT people, no one is actually on the waitlist until the applicable window opens, at which point they are then "added" to the actual waitlist in the order in which their requests were made. Thus, Golds are actually still ahead of MVPs on the complimentary upgrade waitlist because they are added to it at 72 hours before depature while MVPs are not actually added to the waitlist until 48 hours before departure.

Am I now understanding correctly?

That actually does address most of my previous concerns, although it is still odd that an MVPG who buys a full Y fare at 47 hours before departure is below an MVP who bought a T fare 14 days before departure. Even though I am never the MVPG who buys a full Y fare, it still seems to me that both being an MVPG and buying a Y fare (at least one of those two, if not both) should bump someone up a bit on the waitlist.

Ah, I think that makes more sense to me now. Basically the only time where a MVPG would be below an MVP on the waitlist, when both are on non-qualifying fares, would be if the MVPG bought the ticket less than 48 hours in advance?


Thanks for correcting him, I was thinking the same thing that he had originally posted. ^

any fare purchased after T-48, they would be below the MVP's who had already been cleared at the window. Unless you are a 75K

Yes, you now understand correctly.


If you are that close to departure, you should just buy the F fare... its not that much more ;)

A heartfelt thank you to Missy for her most helpful clarifications on this (and to Jackal, for ahelping the conversation along :)).

I don't know if the website was updated recently, but the relevant page on the Alaska website does make a clear distinction between the upgrade waitlist and the upgrade request queue. Along with Missy's excellent explanation here, I think I'm finally starting to understand how the whole process works.

Hmm. Seems to me that partner elites should be at the bottom of the list when we all get to the gate. AS doesn't agree. But this thread is about how things are so I will leave it at that.

It is very interesting to hear that there is no difference between MVPs and Golds after T-24.

It surprises me that AS doesn't put those on Qualifying Fares above those on Non-Qualifying fares if U class isn't available at the time of purchase. IIRC, DL puts Medallions traveling in Y class (government fares and some IROPS situations exempt) above Elites traveling on non-qualifying fares.

Being used to DL not clearing upgrades for AS elites until boarding, it seems odd to have a situation where passengers who SDC or are rebooked onto a flight due to IROPS will likely find that passengers of lower or no upgrade priority were upgraded.

Has AS fixed the computer system to allow pone agents and agents at other airports to add passengers to the upgrade list after T-24? When I've been rerouted onto an AS flight, the agents always tell me to ask to be put on the upgrade list when I get to the gate. In contrast, DL is very good about placing one on the upgrade list for rebooked flights.

Once the airport upgrade lists are fixed, maybe AS will begin to show the correct upgrade list on the mobile apps or online a la CO.

I want to say thank you to AS for finally closing the upgrade loophole and to Missy for explaining how AS processes upgrades.

Either that page is new or it has been hidden for a long time. This is the first time I've read it. Thanks for linking it.

I moved a bunch of posts from another thread into this one (it was more on-topic for this thread, anyway). You may want to review the several posts previous to yours as they may help answer your question.

The current upgrade system is not the most elegant solution (not nearly as elegant as how, say, DL handles it), but I get the impression that AS did it that way because they were trying to shoehorn the process into their ancient mainframe-based reservation system without a ton of reprogramming.

Thus, given the limitations imposed by SABRE, I suppose the current system is likely the best we'll see for awhile.

It's been around for quite a while and you can link to it from any reference to Complimentary Upgrades on the First Class Upgrades page, Elite Benefits page, the Side by Side comparison, and from the Elite Benefits that are listed inside your My Acccount.

I also linked to it in the first post of this thread.

missydarlin, how does the upgrade status work for DL Golds on AS? I'm booked LAX-PDX-LAX and I know that AS has my elite status (I was able to select exit row at booking). Is it going to be a gate issue?

Thanks