Alaska MVP Gold Upgrade question
 

Hi, I'm an MVP Gold. My flight is less than 72 hours out. Expert flyer shows four open first class seats with 2 d class available and no U class. Can someone explain when Alaska moves available seats to u class?

They may never. You might have to rely on at-the-gate upgrade from the waitlist. What route are you flying?

Neil

Bos / sea

Yeah, probably never. I'd hold out hope for an upgrade at the gate, although I expect the upgrade list will be lengthy.

Neil

Depends on the time of day, if you are on the first flight out around 7am or the second out around 9am odds are good, WL is low, but the afternoon flight is just about impossible, long WL and many 75ks in the back including me.

So I am new to Alaska MVP Gold, as I was a Virgin America elite... can someone explain why they have seats available but don't issue the upgrades as they say they do on their website?

(Flight is 7am on 8/30 - BOS to SEA)

It's not just seats but U-bucket inventory. It's often the case that there are seats available, but they are holding back U until the last minute.

This is one of those routes where if there is no U space, I pick a different day (or destination)....it is one reason why I've never taken the SEA-FLL flight.

Four unassigned seats but only D2 availability (assuming D is still "full refundable FC award") means two unsold seats and two FC passengers without seat assignments. At that level I'd expect them to hold onto the seats until about an hour before departure, then release any leftovers into U.

Agreed that the morning departures are better than the afternoon for upgrades, but not a lot better. On this route I always expect to sit in the back.

AS (like pretty much every other airline that offers upgrades) typically holds back at least a seat or two in first class until the gate in the hopes that they'll be able to sell it at the last minute. (Handling paid F customers who want to change flights voluntarily or due to irregular operations is also a consideration.) They have a (proprietary) algorithm which calculates the odds of selling F seats which informs the timing of releasing seats into upgrade inventory.

Bostonflyer - BOS/SEA isn't one of the easier routes to upgrade on. "U" class of service has to be open at the clearance window for a complimentary upgrade. This is the same class used by mileage upgrades and Gold Guest Upgrades - so there's a risk it won't always be available at 72/48/24 hours prior. In a perfect world, we then clear at the gate prior to departure unless it opens up and clear in our appropriate order.

I'm a newer MVPG and on a flight from SEA-LAS . Last night there was 11f/c seats available at the 72 hour mark....this morning there was 2. If I was selected for a MVPG upgrade at the 72 hour mark would they email by now or would I find out at check in time?
Losing 9 overnight seems like some people got or will be upgraded, and yes, they could have sold 9 f/c flights overnight....but really just trying to find out if within the 72 hour window when you are contacted? I'm sure it varies.

Thanks

I don’t get emails about upgrades (at least not that I notice!), but I think upgrades can be seen in the reservation pretty much immediately. So if you check your reservation online, what does it show?

Each and everytime I get an upgrade I receive an email notifying me that I have been upgraded. I take that opportunity to select my seat via the App.

@ashill

Did your email confirmation show that you were "waitlisted" for first class? Were you the only one on the PNR? If not, were there more than 2? Was a companion Certificate used? When did you purchase your ticket? What class? Did you confirm if U class was available? Check F and A availability for purchase at T-72? Where were you on the waitlist? There must be U space available to be upgraded. If AS holds back on U space to try to sell F last minute, no one will be upgraded. The system will process until 1 hour before flight time when it is handed over to the gate. I suspect that at T-72 there was either a rush of F sales or Y was filling up and they released some U to free up additional Y. If the later was the case, then the upgrade processor would upgrade the Gold 75K first based on class of service purchased and then date of purchase in the case of a tie. Once the 75K are processed and there is still U space open then Golds would be processed and so on.

James

There are a lot of Elites in SEA and LAS is a popular destination.