I've searched the board and if the answer is here, I'm too thick to see it. Flight LAX-EWR on Wednesday pm, upgraded with miles. Waitlisted for mileage upgrade on Thursday am, EWR-IAH.

Does the waitlist expire on Tuesday pm (T-24 for LAX-EWR) OR on Wednesday am (T-24 for EWR-IAH)?

Want to be sure I get on the EUA standby list after waitlist expires. I know my chances for an EUA as a silver are almost non-exisitent, nevertheless.

The waitlist will expire just before the OLCI (online check in ) window.
Go ahead and check in online, then call the elite desk and remind them that you have the mileage upgrade and that they need to put in the special coding on your PNR. That should put you at/near the top of the list.

If you cannot checkin on line, call the elite line, tell them to remove the upgrade, keep them on the phone when you check in , and them have the put in the coding

Is that a LAX-IAH flight using EWR as a connecting point? I didn't think such a routing was valid. It sounds like you have two different "trips" there. Which one is waitlisted?

Either way, you definitely want to keep the upgrade applied since you remain at the top of the priority for R inventory - above EUAs - once you are checked in and the waitlist is transferred over. If you cancel the upgrade with miles you're back in the EUA pool which is much less likely to clear.

It was really a "circle trip" in it's entirety: IAH-LAX-EWR-IAH instead of my normal IAH-LAX-IAH (DEQM!!!!). So I should just do nothing and that gives me my bet shot at the EWR-IAH upgrade? That means no OLCI, but since I've already got an FC seat on LAX-EWR it'n no big deal.

There were some earlier posts (pre 2009) that made it look like the transition of the mileage UG waitlist to the FC stand by list didn't work all that well.

Is the EWR-IAH flight actually showing as waitlisted from the same reward that garnered you the LAX-EWR upgrade? I'm a bit surprised that one worked but I guess anything is possible.

I would not tempt anything that might cause the LAX-EWR upgrade to disappear. If anything ask at the PC/gate in LAX about making sure that you are transitioned to the correct list for EWR-IAH, and then only after checking the PDA site yourself and verifying that you aren't at or very near the top of the list.

I'd suggest that rather than do this you call co.com support and tell them you can't OLCI. They'll fix it. You can also remind them about the mileage upgrade - they should keep everything properly set up, and it's only one call.

I'm thinking "not". When I tried to OLCI for the IAH-LAX leg of the trip, I was told "no OLCI if any segment of the trip is waitlisted."

Upgrading EWR-IAH AND waitlisting the mileage upgrade for EWR-IAH cost me 30K in miles. I'm not sure if that makes it the"same reward" or not - but I have an FC seat assignment on the LAX-EWR segment and am waitlisted for a mileage upgrade on the EWR-IAH segment - with an assigned elite coach seat. So even if I don't get the EWR-IAH upgrade, all I miss out on is the chance for an exit row.

I was surprised I was offered this routing too when I originally booked. For about $100 more than IAH-LAX-IAH, I get 5,248 (times 2, with DEQM) instead of only 2,758 (times 2, with DEQM) EQMs.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Hmmm... I've had this happen to me and co.com support has taken care of it.

Typically, you actually need their help if something is waitlisted. That said, the waitlist is supposed to expire at the 24 hour mark - so if you can't OLCI then it's a co.com issue.

That makes it two separate awards. When you OLCI for your LAX-EWR flight, it probably won't try to check you in for your EWR-IAH flight. That flight will probably only be eligible for OLCI 24 hours prior to its scheduled departure. At that point, the waitlist will expire and you should be able to do OLCI. Historically, you could then add yourself to the upgrade standby list per your elite status. You would have to wait until you got to the airport to request that your position on the list reflect your mileage upgrade request. They were working on making that part of the OLCI process, but I don't know where that stands. There was a big thread about it a couple of months ago, got somewhat contentious. Thread started by belynch, IIRC, so you can search if you want.

Called co.com support. The reason I couldn't do OLCI had nothing to do with being waitlisted, it was because the mileage for the upgrade hadn't been pulled from my OP account. The CSR took care of that and I was able to check in and print boarding passes for both flights (FC in LAX-EWR and my elite coach seat EWR-IAH). I'm #1 on the upgrade standby list for the EWR-IAH flight.

Thanks all for your help.