notquiteaff

That works if both travelers have the same status, but presumably not in situations (like mine) where one traveler has lower or no status.

Obviously, when I travel alone, I don’t want to have my upgrade delayed because of a pair of travelers being ahead of me because I might not be able to choose my meal. But when I travel with my spouse, I really hate it when we get skipped over as it takes away a significant benefit of elite status. Most of the time I am traveling with my spouse, so I would prefer if they handled the dual-traveler case better.

I don’t recall how UA handles it, but in many years of 1K-ness I don’t actually recall getting skipped over. I do recall occasionally getting called to the counter and offered one upgrade for the two of us.

vanillabean

I suggest that we agree on a date we all call Customer Care and flood their day saying just that.

jiburi

On a recent MKE to SEA flight, there were 7 open F seats available at gate. I was #1 with19 people on the upgrade list. #5 & #6 got upgraded first (a couple, taking the last seat together), and rest, populated shortly later. Tho I wasn't happy I was placed in Row 4, am glad they tried to accommodate a couple who would have eventually asked inside the cabin to switching seats within F)

Jiburi

VegasGambler

But this has downsides as well.

First of all, that U space can be taken by someone with a paid or instrument upgrade (or the first class seats could just be sold) while it's in limbo. It could be somehow "locked" but that would probably require a new booking code and an awful lot of work.

Second, there are advantages to being upgraded early rather than at the gate, other than preventing your first class seat from being bought out from under you -- a different poster mentioned wanting to pre-order meals. So this solution is somewhat diluting the benefit of having upgrades confirmed early.

I'm just pointing out that there is no "perfect" solution here, everything has its pros and cons.

clarrkkent

Things are becoming a lot more clear to me. I’m 0/4 on upgrades this year as a 100k with a companion. Similar experience where there are between 3 and 7 seats(marketed and also shown on EF) on each flight at T-24 (even more at T-120).

# 1 and 2 on the UG list. List gets shorter and FC seats fill in tandem, yet we remain on the list.

Have not had this problem before OneWorld. As a 75k in the previous 5 years, I’ve had a success rate of about 75% with a companion.

VegasGambler

I think the OW thing is just coincidental. This has been a common complaint for quite a while. As someone who almost always travels solo I know I've been the beneficiary of this several times.

vanillabean

The recent upgrade pattern for my wife and me suggests for our latest flight that we only got to sit together because another two shared a reservation, and they could say the same about us.

If one party instead had been on two separate reservations, the other party wouldn’t have been given seats next to each other by the discriminatory practice of Alaska’s automated upgrade processor, which prioritizes individuals over multi-passenger parties, not just for the sequence of being given upgrades, but also for being assigned a seat next to no one.

In other words, the upgrade algoritm is designed to give a higher priority to seating a party of one next to an empty seat than to seating a party of two together, even if the two are both 100Ks and the one is a base MVP. One may say that such a way of conducting business is not the most efficient use of space. One could even say the hostile policy may well turn away customers.

The layout of our latest flight is as follows.

X: taken seat
O: empty seat

At T-25, 4 taken seats, 12 empty seats:
OO XX
OX OO
OO OO
OX OO
Seven on upgrade list with 1,2 and 5,6 being parties of two.

At T-22, 11 taken seats, 5 empty seats:
XX XX
OX XX
OX XO
OX XO
Seven upgraded to F, none left on upgrade list.

If one of the two parties of two had been two parties of one each been given a seat next to an empty one, the other party of two would have separated.

spgaston

So I am within my 72 hour MVPG upgrade window (between 70-71 hours to be exact), there are at least 4+ U space available according to website when searching for MVPG Guest upgrades (7 empty seats in F), yet my 2 pax itinerary (MVPG + MVP) has not been processed for upgrade. I chatted online and was told that because I was with MVP companion that we would not be processed automatically and would be processed by airport.
Does the upgrade processor only process one at a time, even when there are multiple U available?

Anecdotally, we have been upgraded together before airport as recently as last November.

notquiteaff

I (75k) was upgraded with MVP companion before airport as recently as February.

samosa

same. Many times.

be_rettSEA

It seems like the windows are more like -4 hrs from what they're quoted.. So I'd assume (so long as U remains 2+ at least) within a few hours you'll both clear. Have not heard of Gold's w/ status companions requiring gate control to receive upgrades..

frankvb

Another confirmation for 75K + MVP upgrade just today. I did notice recent upgrades never happened exactly at the time it should, but 2-4 hours later.

vanillabean

Would you happen to have a waitlist progress outline handy?

spgaston

Yeah that was what I am hoping. There is U=7 available right now, but we are now 4 hours past the beginning of the window. Would be nice if they processed available upgrades in a timely manner so we don't need to wonder if something is wrong.

dayone

If it goes past T-5 the window, call.