seacarl

10/11/17 LAS-SEA AS 615 MVPG-75K Upgrade at T-4 hours

Ticket was purchased Sep 12, so 29 days in advance, R fare. No upgrade at window or check-in.

eponymous_coward

10/10/17 SEA-LAS AS 403 MVPG cleared at T-72 hours

So what do you think is happening if you're calling "shenanigans"? GAs are putting AS employees in F seats from the employee standby list six hours before the flight? Because someone working gate doesn't have anything else better to do like work a flight that's leaving in 30 minutes?

Odds are very high that anything being processed before about T-30 is being done automagically (GA "shenanigans" are usually at gate boarding time when they start clearing standby). Now, the processor could be broken yet again, I suppose... I'm like 0-for-forever SDC'ing into F once the processor was changed to account for when you came onto the flight. I pretty much figure I will never get F if I SDC, and LAS is a station I fly out of all the time (I'd guess over half my lifetime AS flights are SEA-LAS/LAS-SEA).

dayone

I had a strange thing happen on a flight this week. Approximately three hours before departure, two names appeared on the "Awaiting Seats" waitlist. About an hour later, they both cleared in to F, ahead of me. I ended up #1 on the F WL.

Anything is possible, but this one puzzled me. If they were paid F, they should have cleared directly into F, not put on the Awaiting Seats WL. Different last names, so I don't think they were a party of two. If they were elites. they should have gone on Upgrades WL. FAMs are accommodated well before T-3.

seacarl

I don't think it's employees getting the seats.

One of two things. Either there is a glitch whereby the remaining seats become available as U space but the system doesn't put people from the standby list into the seats, so some lucky people who are checking in get an upgrade option.

Or more likely someone who calls in finds a res agent who switches them to F seat. In the past I have had that happen when I did an SDC with an agent.

I consider anything that violates the priority order to be a shenanigan, it doesn't have to have anything to do with employees getting the seats, it just means someone not on the list is getting the seat. My experience has generally been that if I don't get the upgrade before T-24, but there are still seats for sale, even as 75K, I rarely get an upgrade in the last 24 hours unless someone no-shows - the seats for sale often disappear without anyone on the standby list clearing.

CDKing

I can attest, they were Elites. This was my situation today. I was one of those on the "awaiting seats" list.

I booked on a 739 and grabbed row 6 when the seatmap was still non-premium config (booked in late December). I opted out of the Premium upgrade list at the time as I didn't want to get moved to lesser seat.

At OLCI, I had the Premium cleared check mark on the upgrade waitlist along with another person (listed at the top). I noticed in TSA line that seat assignments had disappeared from mobile BP and had a message to see agent for assignment. I also noticed I was now on the "awaiting seats" list and no longer on the upgrade list. One other person was on "awaiting seats" list with me (assuming same person). Looking at the actual reservation it said First Class Upgraded.

When I approached the GA about the "see agent" message, he told me to come back just before boarding. I then mentioned i was upgraded, he checked the list and said i was not near the top. I showed him where it said that upgrade cleared. He printed out an F BP. I went back and checked my email and i had one an hour before my seat assignment disappeared I received an email confirming upgrade.

My only guess is clearing premium puts you at the top of the F list.

I know it wont appease all the 75K's but in my case, they all cleared before the MVPG window. It was U1 for 24-48 hours prior to the MVPG window.

dayone

You're probably right, but the upgrade math is still off by one.

metallo

Excellent posts. Laughed when I read "wonder if F is the same." I've studied the AS system fairly closely since I began flying them more last year, and I believe this to be the case -- maybe not "no integrity" but definitely lots of confirmed queue jumping. Like the above poster, I've benefited myself from this myself by purchasing a last-minute ticket when U is available, being instantly upgraded, and later finding out there was a waitlist a mile long, so perhaps it all evens out.

I believe the bolded part is exactly what is happening most times after T-24. I lost an upgrade for this reason last week (phone agent confirmed there was 'U' space, supervisor confirmed I had been #1 on the list, and last seat went to a paid upgrader literally minutes after T-24 -- the AS agents are surprisingly forthcoming with this type of info ). She couldn't help me, so she just offered a $125 voucher or 5,000 miles after she researched the issue. She actually exclaimed, "Gosh, I don't know why the managers keep telling us to trust the system!" I cancelled the ticket and booked with AA.

This also potentially explains why this disappearing inventory isn't reflected on the upgrade list. Before I was an AS elite, I noticed that paid upgrades within the last 24h never show as cleared upgrades on the publicly displayed list. Of course, some of these cases of disappearing F inventory after T-24 will, in fact, be last-minute paid F (or F SDCs), but not always. I suspect that, more often, it's paid upgrades at check-in.

I believe the AS upgrade system is severely flawed. It won't make me stop flying AS, but it means I have to be annoyingly proactive (annoying to me and probably annoying to AS when I call them).

PV_Premier

IME, it comes and goes which is the most maddening flaw of all. Admittedly my AS flying this year has been exceptionally limited, but it seems like most of my upgrades have behaved as expected. However I haven't been on an AS plane since July and then I confirmed F at booking when U was open.

Recent reports here are troubling, suggesting that more "enhancements" are being made to the upgrade processing and that they aren't being implemented well by IT (a real shocker from AS, I know ). UA has had similar problems for years, and based on what I know about the upgrade processors at both airlines, it seems the problems are quite similar and may stem from the same "logic" or lackthereof that the processors apply.

ejg930

10/14/2017 EWR-SEA AS791 Gold, eight people cleared ahead of me and I ended up #1 on the waitlist. T class.

mbluecpa

10/18/17 AS304 SEA-SFO 75K on a T fare. #1 on the upgrade list and cleared some time between check-in at T-24 and around T-6. 4/18 on the list ended up clearing, which ended up being all of row 1.

10/19/17 AS391 SFO-SEA 75K on a K fare. Burned a 2017 GGU as I had nothing better to do with it. 1 of 42 on the upgrade list cleared.

dmodemd

10/19/17
AS3379
DAL-SEA
G Fare
MVPG 75K
Did not clear
Was #1 on the list all through T-24 with about 12 total.
F2 at T-24 then went F0 within T-8.
(Total 12 F seats on the E175)
It did seem there was a large group on the plane with some in F as they collected together to chat during time on the ground during diversion.

It was F2 U1 for a few days prior lasting for a few days but I didn't want to upfare to use a GGU.

lalala

in F? That is fantastic and unusual even for a Saturday.

LHG

10/13/17 (Friday) Alaska Flight 764 PDX-DCA(class L). MVG with companion (no status).
cleared T-48 (most surprised!)
10/15/17 AS 771 DCA-PDX. stayed on UG list (as expected).

pfpdx

Did the companion clear to?

dmodemd

10/27
DAL-SEA
3375
75K
G Fare Class
Cleared at window opening (was sitting at U1 for a few days at least prior, so I guess I was the first on the list)
Purchased about 6 weeks prior