Not showing on upgrade waitlist
 

I am on LAX-SEA flight for tomorrow (less than 24 hours) and see 7 seats open on ExpertFlyer. Still no upgrade and there are only three passengers on the wait list.

you need to call. they probably won't be able to fix it for you and/or will insist you are already on the waitlist.

if you are not on the visible waitlist you will not be upgraded.

if the phone agent cannot get you on the visible waitlist, an airport agent will have to.

None of the SEA-LAX flights tomorrow have U space open, so you cannot be upgraded immediately anyways and you should not ask the phone agent to upgrade you...but you do need to get yourself waitlisted correctly.

Upgrades are a terrible mess right now. Paging missy...

She's on vacay...

yeah i know. and i also know that she isn't able to fix it. i am just trying to push this forward as yet another example of how AS is not 'delivering the goods' as presumably concrete examples and data is what is needed to fix these issues.

Sadly, I am no longer on vacay.

Are you checked in?

Yes, checked in.

PM the confirmation #

There is a known issue with the apps where if you view the waitlist before you check in, it might cache and not display the updated info after you check in.

You can also check the waitlist using the flight status tool at as.com

They can work properly. Bought a ticket a couple days ago for next Monday. Not an instant upgrade fare (Q). Was bought through corporate TA Concur/Balboa. Has said waitlisted for upgrade since purchase. Today at 120 hours got the upgrade. return in on Feb 1, says waitlisted for first. It is a K fare. Will see how that one turns out. Leg cleared on Monday is SFO-SEA, return waitlisted is SEA-SFO. Of course the other 2 legs are SEA-YEG and YEG-SEA both on Q400's. Seat 2A SEA-YEG and 1B for YEG-SEA.

Color me flabbergasted! I only knew how to see the upgrade lists for a flight I was book on after checking in on my mobile app. It is great to know you can see the list for any flight by just knowing the flight number. This is awesome!

But remember, the only people who appear on the list are the ones who have already checked in.

Why not? I persuaded them to override and UG me a couple weeks back on a SEA-FLL flight when the 120 hour window had passed and plenty of seats were open and the terms of the program clearly state I should have been upgraded already (if the system was working correctly) and seats weren't being arbitrarily held back.

Don't ask, don't insist, don't persuade= don't get.

I will say, I was properly waitlisted and showing as such. For what that's worth.

:rolleyes:

Because it's cheating. If U isn't open, complimentary upgrades shouldn't be processed(...and as I recall, in your case you stated it wasn't open). That is how the system works and we should respect it for the integrity thereof. Just because AS has changed the pattern of U release to be late in the period/at the gate doesn't mean the terms of the program are being violated. The terms state that 75K are eligible for upgrades AS EARLY AS 120 hours before departure, not that they are GUARANTEED at 120 hours if F seats remain unsold.

AS has the right to manage its inventory as it sees fit, if they want to withhold 10 F seats until the gate that is their prerogative. Manipulating reservations agents into forcing non-existent U space is certainly not in good form, IMO.

I have no problem with people calling to get upgraded if U is open and the processor isn't running correctly, but if U isn't open and they call...they're cheating the system, plain and simple.

YMMV I guess.

If 2 out of 12 seats are not spoken for at T-96 I understand completely. If 9 out of 12 are unspoken for than I disagree. I'm pressing for them to upgrade me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Do not publish UG windows and show all of us a carrot for establishing status (showing loyalty) only to subsequently monkey with it and play the Battlefield UG game at the gate with a broken system and gate agents that aren't comfortable with the rules.

Agree to disagree

At MSP recently the GA did not release the ELEVEN unsold FC seats to upgrades until AFTER they called for the families, those needing time, military and then those seated in FC. Several of us on the upgrade list that "knew" we would be upgraded due to our position separately asked when she was going to release them, and she said each time she could not release until the scheduled boarding time. Evidently they are not releasing upgrade seats until the 40 minutes prior to departure cut off time for checking in? Cannot say when they did the UG list on my latest flight as I was an instant upgrade at time of purchase.

AS decides when to open up U inventory, not you. If inventory management indicates most seats get sold within a couple days of the flight they are well within their rights to hold back U to sell the seats. They are in the business to make money. Free upgrades are a benefit, not a right. And should they give it to you because you call? What if you are #6 on the list, is it right you get to bypass #1-5 just because you call?

I see this as more of a training issue, i.e., AS needs to establish a set of operating procedures and stick with them across the board. I'm not going to judge a customer's motivations for calling to request an upgrade. We all have different perspectives, as evidenced by the various posts. The answer a caller gets in seeking an upgrade should be (1) correct for the upgrade window status and (2) uniform across the board. Disparities among agents' handling of these demands are what help feed the "gaming" of the system. The caller is not repsonsible for there being different answers from different agents. My two cents.

I actually don't consider calling and insisting on being upgraded out of order as cheating or gaming just as being obnoxious. It could easily be shut down by instructing the agents to just keep saying no when U is not open. Some people are going to think the rules don't apply to them in any situation and so they will need to be told the same answer several times to get the message. If it sometimes works they will keep it up.

Awesome. This looks like what I have to look forward to. I am on flight 7 on Sat 1/21 from JFK to SEA. 13 first class seats have been open (but not auto upgradeable to) since before 120 hours out and are still all available.

I get that they want to hold some seats in the hope of selling them. But 13 in 36 hours? At this point they just start frustrating their loyal customers.

Do you know for a fact there were 13 unsold seats? Or just 13 unassigned seats on the seat map? Lots of people don't pick their seats when they buy their tickets. Seat map is not always a good indicator of how many unsold seats there are.

That is a good point. I have confirmed that at least 7 are available. It lets me purchase that many in first class. The other six I can't be sure about.

7 is still a huge number this close to the flight though.

All, please keep in mind that personal attacks are not allowed on flyertalk. I would like to point everyone to the flyertalk rules regarding personal attacks and inflammatory posting.
ryandc99, Moderator Alaska Airlines

I have found that to be the case this year as well that upgrades aren't being processed until right before boarding. The exception being if an instant upgrade fare is purchased with U inventory available. No big deal to me, really.

​​​​​​​I did have an unusual experience yesterday, though. Traveling with my husband to Puerto Vallarta, and I was added to the upgrade waitlist, but he was not, despite our being on the same PNR. Luckily, the nice gate agent in LAX fixed it for us and we both cleared. No one was sure how that happened.

There is something *seriouisly* wrong with companion upgrades at the gate. It's happened to me 3 times since the Dec change to the processor (all booked prior to the change). The companions clear in advance but it seems the waitlist is not carried over to the gate. I've had to talk to GA several times to have companions clear with me.

The problem is that the fact that they aren't clearing until the gate means that there are no U available during the auto upgrade window. And from what I've seen lately they aren't available for a long time before that window too. So now those gold guest upgrades are really hard to use. You have to basically agree to pay the higher price in the hope that when the flight takes off the first class seats haven't all been taken.

In the past you could watch out for U inventory and only pay the difference in fare then (but still way in advance of the flight). This is another thing pushing me to look at AA this year. I will have several Qatar airways business class flights where each R/T will give me a new status level. Combine that with Jetblue having Mint JFK->Sea in the near future and I may be ditching Alaska soon.

I just talked to someone at the gold desk. He indicated that because of all the weather issues lately they have been holding more seats. That way if a flight is cancelled and they need to move purchased F people over they have availability for them. He said that he would expect it to change once there are less weather incidents. Not an official response but seems like a reasonable explanation.

I have a flight booked SEA LAX coming up on Tuesday, last night/early this am I got a notice I was upgraded - that is the 105 hour mark so maybe things ARE going back to normal!

In case anyone is curious they ended up upgrading 15 people at the gate for my flight.

15 people at the gate and then one more onboard when one of the 15 no-showed. (And ENycSea got a better seat than I did even though I was higher on the WL, leaving me stuck with the quiche instead of the omelette! Truly a grave injustice.)

Thanks for taking one for the team! I was looking at the seat assignments and they really didn't make sense. I couldn't figure out any rhyme or reason to how they assigned them. Another annoying thing about gate upgrades, you don't have the time to change around your seat before more people get bumped up.

So...here is my dilemma. I have been flying recently with a companion who is an MVP. I am a 75k. We are on the same PNR. The last three times we have flown together, when I OLCI, her name is not right underneath mine, she is further down the list. From previous posts, it would appear that we would clear together at T-120 to T-2 hours. Since most upgrades aren't clearing until the gate, when we arrive at the airport, I go up and ask the gate agent to make sure that we would clear together because of my status. For the past three times this has happened, I have had to thoroughly explain the situation and then the gate agent has had to do some furious typing to finally get it to work. If I don't do this step, it sounds like I would have cleared and she wouldn't, which I don't want to happen. Last night, on AS 24 to BOS, Mary at the gate was amazing and got me taken care of me this time by removing my MVP traveling companions MP number and putting it back in, at least that is what she thinks might have fixed it (we didn't get the upgrade which was fine but at least her name was put under mine). Has anyone else had any clear cut way of telling the GA how to handle this? Or know if AS is trying to fix this issue? I have called the gold desk a couple of times and they haven't been aware of the problem.

Spiffieman, have you had success with getting your companion added at BOS? The GA on that side told me they don't add companions to the wait list.

Why don't they call up the upgradees by upgrade list order and just ask them? It wouldn't take that much time. Heck draw two boxes of two by four grids with the seat numbers in each one, cross off the selected seats, show the first person, assign seat & issue BP, ask next person to step forward, rinse, lather, repeat.

In BOS last time, I had to show the GA the Gold companion policy on my phone. I was 3rd on the list with 4 seats available. She kept on saying that is just how it is with my MVP companion is where she should be...with the other MVPs. I respectfully disagreed and showed her the policy. She agreed with me and did her finagling on the computer for my companion to show up underneath me on the list. Sigh. She was super nice, just didn't understand what was happening.

I would love a clear cut thing to tell the GA every time this happens but so far it is a lot of explaining and a lot of them trying various things for it to work. Or....just have it work as it should? heh...

I've been having the same problem as above. Agents swear I am on the upgrade list but I'm not showing after I check in nor at the airport. Airport gate agent has no clue why either and never interesting in trouble shooting. This has happened multiple times lately. Extremely frustrating to miss out on possible upgrades. Miss can you assist? Twitter team has no clue either

But the OP's experience and the comments above are really troubling as it shows that GA's can manipulate the upgrade list however they like. It was always my understanding that the list was ordered by computer and we could rely on the fairness of the process. Yes, in these cases it was valid and justified but the fact that a GA can re-order the list at will is disturbing.

We have all read or had cases where we were a bit surpised at where we were on the list - I know I couldn't believe that early last year I was number 3 as a Gold who bought a ticket 10 months in advance on a leisure route; one where there was no one else on the seatmap until about 4 months later. And even then, no one in the elite-only rows at all. I couldn't imagine who jumped ahead of me considering it was a non-elite heavy route and a very small chance that 2 x 75K's would have bought last minute tickets.

So the fact that GA's can reorder the list bothers me as we can no longer count on the integrity of the ordering if it can be manipulated by a GA. Even though it was correct in these cases, who's to say that is always the case?

Do fill out the post flight Alaska Listens survey AND the Feedback link (Customer Service and General Comments would seem to be most appropriate) when this happens. Ask them to forward your comments to IT for resolution, particularly in the Feedback form.

I know it won't fix your specific flights right then but the more comments and complaints Alaska gets about the broken upgrade process, the better.

Yes please do this.

I have flights next week with someone who recently lost his status. I'm afraid these same issues will continue. I've submitted one comment already for previous issues.

If you have an upcoming reservation and want to PM the code, I can take a look.

I have two theories: Either the system is waitlisting her as an MVP instead of as a companion ... or its putting her on the waitlist twice, but the MVP entry happens first and is therefore what the system is reading.