danielflyer

I'm an MVP Gold booked on a fight from JFK to SFO tomorrow at 9:30am and originally purchased a U fare a few weeks ago (upgraded at time of purchase) to upgrade directly to first class with a GGU. A few hours ago I decided to switch to AS 657 at 4:30pm, fully understanding that I would be on the upgrade waitlist with no special priority.

Here's where I'm confused:
1. After switching to the new flight, I now have a Y fare (originally purchased K before getting U at time of purchase)
2. I'm now 8 of 12 on the upgrade list-- how did I end up near the bottom?

Given that I have a Y or K fare and some upgrades have already cleared, as well as the time of the flight, I am surprised to be so low on the waitlist for upgrades. I expected to be closer to the top based on my experience with this route, especially given my higher fare class.

Could this be a glitch with the upgrade list? Or am I being penalized on the waitlist for switching flights? Or could it just be that this weekend route has an unusually high number of 75k elites? I feel like I should be higher on the list.

jrl767

others with more experience can confirm, but I believe the tiebreaker for UG list sequence is time of request

in other words, there may well be some 75Ks on the list, but any MVPGs above you were confirmed on this flight before you SDCd to it

DrAlex

It's not a glitch. You are indeed penalized for switching flights. Firstly, 75ks have their own wait-list, so there's that. Then you have been added to the wait-list after pretty much everyone else for the flight. All the other elites that were originally on that flight got onto the wait list at T-72 (Gold's) or T-48 (MVPs). And, they are all ahead of you. In fact, there maybe some listed below you that are actually ahead of you on the 'real' list. There's an entire thread dedicated to this topic - I will attempt to find it tomorrow (unless someone beats me to it ).

*Friday night rally* How Complimentary Upgrades Work - post 1 is most of it.

danielflyer

Thanks for the link. I feel slighted because I called in and asked specifically about the upgrade list before changing, and was told I would be added, but wasn’t told I would be prioritized last. This is frustrating but it's good to know how it works for the future.

Any chance the AS system will award miles based on my new Y fare class or will it detect the K basis?

SavvyTravvy

If you did a same day confirm change and the fare class changed it’s a glitch and would partially explain why you weren’t at a higher priority. The upgrade system still will read it as K class. However if this was a regular exchange from K to Y you would earn 50% bonus miles.