PHL

More info I should have provided....It was a LUS ETOPS 757 with 12 F seats (the old recliners). About an hour prior to flight I saw 3 seats open on the seat map. #1 and #4 cleared. And when I boarded, I noticed one of those 3 seats from the open seat map was missing upholstery with a big "out of service" sign on it. So, 2 of those seats were given away to spots #1 and #4 as best I can tell.

rjw242

My money's on davie355's scenario - 2 and 3 were on the same PNR.

PHL

2 pax on same PNR sounds like the likely reason #2 and #3 got passed over. Sadly, I was #4 about 75 minutes prior to flight and then got bumped down to #5 when I checked again at T minus 40. I'm figuring someone with higher status booked onto my flight or checked in at the airport within that last hour prior to departure.

jordyn

Well, also keep in mind that people don't show up on the upgrade list until they check in. So the easiest explanation is that new #4 just checked in for the flight between T-75 and T-40, which seems like a pretty normal range of time for people to be checking in.

badkneeski

My money is 2 upgrades available and 2/3 didn't want to separate. I have had that occur before. I was #1 on the list in the 321 exit row, didn't want to separate from my companion, they cleared #3 on the list.

Rebob

I experienced a situation a couple of years ago using SWUs for my daughter and I flying to MXP from JFK. We were on the same PNR and I was #1 but my daughter (no status) was #8 . Originally, my wife and son were also traveling with us but illness caused them to cancel. Evidently the removal of them from the PNR left my daughter stranded in the list. When we checked at the club in SFO before heading to JFK, the AAngel tried to get us back together on the list but could not. She put a note that we were together in the PNR and we flew on to JFK. At the club in JFK, they called me up to the desk and asked if I was willing to separate and I declined figuring that would be the end of it. Anyway, we went to the gate for boarding and I check with the agent who said "that's odd" and proceeded to give us the only two upgrades that were available. Probably helped that I had a cute little girl with me...

AAExecPlatFlier

Dallas49er

MrsDallas49er and I (both EXP) have been #2 (her) and #3 TATL and domestic on several occaisions where #1 has chosen not to UG for a variety of reasons.

(SIDEBAR-badkneeski- MrsDallas49er and have met your companion. We wouldn't separate either. Restaurant week in Paris starts Sept 18-Hope to see you 2 there!)

CMDecadeFlyer

It's likely I could find the answer to this through the 88 pages of information in this thread but figure I'll see if it's an easy answer for the experts here:

I was confirmed on revenue first class seat tonight, I'm executive platinum.
I tried to go standby on an earlier flight that had first class seats available.
Agent told me that a passenger with a confirmed economy seat on the earlier flight, that was asking for an upgrade to first on the same flight , would get that upgrade seat before I got my standby seat in first.

That didn't make sense to me. It seems like the inconvenience of a revenue passenger should be prioritized over a gift to revenue passenger.

If I'm wrong I'm wrong but just looking for someone to tell me either way. Thanks in advance.

Kreative03

Standby pax have to be cleared before they can be on the upgrade list/upgraded--you can't only standby for first that I know of. If you do some talking to the GA and they can tell you'd pop to the top of the list and clear, I've seen some GAs process standby first to make that happen (ymmv). If there were truly seats open, you should have been able to SDFC into the other flight with a confirmed seat in first. Instead, it seems you couldn't even confirm in economy; hence the standby. My guess is someone, somewhere, did something wonky to accommodate your request. And someone more enlightened than I will have to suss that part out.

CloudCoder

This seems right, because of timing. They typically process upgrades at the 30-minute mark, and standbys at the 15-miinute mark. By the time your standby is processed, all the FC seats were given away (15 minutes earlier).

One solution is to pay the 75 bucks for Same Day Confirmed. I tend to avoid that option, for two reasons:

1. If SDFC is available, then you probably would have made that same flight on free standby (barring an expected cancellation of an earlier flight)
2. If you confirm onto an earlier flight, and then that flight is delayed or cancelled, you no longer have your original flight. But if you standby for the earlier flight, and that flight doesn't go, you still have your original rez.

Sometimes the Ticket Agent at checkin will go ahead and move you to an earlier flight, if there is plenty of available.

JonNYC

Worth nothing; with the introduction of EP award upgrades, several new PALL codes were created and much of the info on same in the wiki/thread is now outdated.

chuck1

I'm EXP with purchased I fare DFW-DCA. Wanted to go on earlier flight. Could not could not do Same Day Confirmed Flight Change because on the flight I wanted it was one seat open - J1 and nothing in I class.

I went to the airport to go stand by. Ticket counter agents insisted I would go behind revenue standby passengers on the earlier flight on the list for free upgrades. I said this didn't make sense as I was revenue first trying to get on earlier flight.

In any case, they gave me a Priority Verification card and I went to the gate. When I got there, it should I cleared but the agent said it was economy.

I explained to him the situation and he said the ticket counter didn't know how to properly list me. He fixed my listing and told me he could clear me (ahead of the upgrades) 30 minutes prior to departure. I was able to get the seat.

He told me (apologetically) that a lot of people at the ticket counter hadn't been through all the training.

I'm not sure that's it. I just think it's complicated and not necessarily they even bother to cover.

JonNYC

And a bunch of the codes just changed, so, even experienced agent getting used to the new codes.

FlyerBeek

Shouldn't CFC for paid premium-cabin fares simply require the existence of E inventory and any premium cabin inventory (including full-F/J) regardless of the original (likely discounted) premium fare class?

-FlyerBeek