PR-1 Verbage in record locator
 

Does anyone know what they need to put in the record locator after the mileage upgrade fails to clear in order to get pr-1 status in the waitlist?

I don't think you actually become pr-1, I thought that is only paid displaced Business.

Yup. An uncleared upgrade is still just an upgrade pending. You should be above EUAs that would clear at the gate but otherwise just another upgrade. And thanks to the recent change that has EUAs clearing at any time within the 24 hours but that doesn't include pending mileage upgrades there is, as I understand it, actually a chance to get screwed on that front.

This will be bad..if its the way it is set up.

I have never used mileage upgrades for Domestic itineraries .....but, a lot of people seem to try to do that...and someone is going to get upset soon.

I used to be able to call and make sure that it would be above eua's, but since the system changes that took place about 18 months ago, it seems like it wa automatic.
I'm number 2 on the list now for Wednesday. Is it worth a call?

I'm in the midst of a connecting transcon (SFO-IAH-BOS, BOS-IAH-SFO) where I put down miles each way for upgrades, and cleared one of two legs each way at the time. (Going indirect via IAH insures that I will make 100k this year.)

That (clearing one leg) qualifies one as displaced first (PR-1? PC-1? I forget) for that direction. Not for the return. Simply having one's name in play for a mileage upgrade doesn't.

Let me spell this out: Once you are definitely on the hook for the price of first (15,000 to clear one leg) but not sitting in first for all legs that you are entitled, you are a displaced first passenger. This is a nice loophole, reminding me of "Plan B" for international travel.

I also have plenty of recent experience waitlisting miles for the upgrade EWR to SFO. (I tend to get the return upgrade for free.)

My impression, which I bank on, is that displaced first has the highest battlefield priority (of the alternatives I'm discussing) followed by waitlisted first (see the difference?) followed by elites waiting for a free upgrade.

On routes where people are willing to waitlist mileage upgrades to first, anyone willing to do so trumps a Plat waiting for a free EAU. I've seen both sides of this. At least, only Golds and Plats are earning miles at a rate that allows them to do this regularly.

Our FAQ is wrong on this. I've made comments in the development thread, so hopefully it will be fixed.

In any case, I cleared my second leg at the gate on the way out, and in advance on the return.

I do not believe this is true. You will not get a refund or discount for only clearing part of the trip but it does not change your status on the pending segments.

Yeah...I've been lazy about updates there lately. Sorry. :o

Things change, most of how this is handled feels like it changed in the last year, with the new push to promote upgrades where CO gets something in return.

I've been told this is true, several times, by different agents. I have a special interest in these rules because they apply to me. Have you tried to get recent information?

It would be special for this not to be true. All signs that I've seen point to CO viewing mileage upgrades as paid upgrades, less expensive in general than cash upgrades, but still a resource transfer. When I was bumped from first on a mileage upgrade EWR - SFO, I received the same $500 cert as if this was a paid upgrade.

For another precedent, I changed flights on the domestic leg of a BF award trip Europe to SFO a few summers back, to avoid a forced stopover. The change had never been available as an EasyPass award, yet once I confirmed into coach I became "displaced first" and upgraded head of the list. At the time I was Gold and beat out a Plat for the seat, making this unambiguous. This is where I first heard the term.

On the other hand, I tried confirming that I was listed correctly at the gate in IAH recently, shortly before I cleared. The agent acted rather strangely, in the way a good poker player would pounce on; something was up. Either she didn't know about this status in this case (in which case you're right) or my record was wrong, yet I was #1 on the list, and she didn't want to say anything that would lead to (in her mind) pointless work. (Most people don't grasp probability theory, which is why they lose all the corner cases.)

Neither of the above situations describe what you were talking about above with respect to PR-1 on an upgrade having cleared for one segment but not the other. In your first example you're talking about downgrade comp and CO has stated that it applies to anyone in the forward cabin, not just folks who are on paid F fares. In the second you are talking about a reward ticket, not an upgrade, and if you've redeemed for a forward cabin reward but accept a seat in Y you are a displaced passenger. This is, essentially, the crux of the "Plan B" for reward travel.

As a mileage upgrade you should still be ahead of anyone listed as EUA but you're not a displaced F passenger. The difference may be subtle but there is one.

No one on an EUA gets this comp.

Forget the contextual evidence that it would make perfect sense to treat a partial mileage upgrade as displaced first. My direct evidence was that I asked twice while requesting mileage upgrades with one leg clearing, and two different Plat line agents told me my uncleared leg would be handled as displaced first.

I know they could be wrong, but what's your basis for asserting they are? All of my scientific training makes me squirm trying to accept an assertion just because someone I respect is making the assertion in an authoritative tone.

IAH club desk weighs in
 

On the way to my flight, I stopped by the customer service desk in the IAH club. I managed to hit the right tone describing our debate (something that is harder to do in print), and several agents took an avid interest in the question. They support sbm12's take on this: PR-1 is never used for mileage upgrades, and whether or not one cleared a previous leg has no impact on how one is coded for battlefield upgrades. How one is coded can vary with the original fare class, but always takes priority over anyone waiting for "free" upgrades. (This raises some interesting questions.)

This flagship club desk is probably one of the best customer service jobs to get, so failing a chance to study their screens "before" and "after", I'm more inclined to believe them than the two phone agents that told me differently. (We've all been there.) My personal experience is that I've cleared each second leg in this scenario, after always appearing at #1 on the standby list, but I've never seen the screen before upgrading.

Again, it would be helpful to know how sbm12 knows this with certainty? A culture that accepts assertions on "authority" alone isn't the same questioning culture that came up with air travel in the first place.

Interesting discussion. I guess it is somewhat related but can someone enlighten me on what happened in this occasion:

A few years ago, when I was a newly minted gold, I used miles to request an upgrade from LAS - EWR (the only time I have ever used miles on a domestic UG. It was a 752).

Got an email at t-24h saying sorry, UG did not clear. No mention of being added to a list. It basically said I would get my miles back.

Checked in for the flight, and was number 1 on the list (out of at least a dozen or more pax). I was naive (not a long time as a FF, and no detailed knowledge of the EUA process, or how likely it was to get a free UG, etc), and just thought thats where I would be as a gold. FC was booked full.

There was one no show, so I got the only UG. I thought, awesome. BF cabin back to EWR.

Again, I was naive, so I called the elite desk amd told them I should have had my miles redeposited, as I got an email that my UG did not clear. They said I flew in first, and I said (what I believed to be true) that the UG was due to my gold status, not the mileage. The agent kinda grumbled and said something about the GA not properly doing their job, and that they would have to take my word for it, and redeposit my 15k miles. So they did.

Was I supposed to get those miles back? Or was my 1st place in line due to a mileage upgrade? Did I unknowingly get something I should have not?

I didn't think at the time being 1st in line was so crazy, since I was a frequent traveler on the EWR-LAS market, and I had been able to even score a companion UG on the 752 as a gold prior to that. But now looking back and knowing how many elites are out there it seems unlikely.

I would bet that you got lucky in terms of getting the miles back.

As for how I "know" what I do on this topic, I'm honestly not sure. Lots of empirical evidence and a relatively close reading of tea leaves, I suppose. Plus the fact that the agents at the counters back up my version doesn't hurt. I don't have a GG code or other internal reference to cite, but I'd be willing to bet a round of drinks every time that I am in this case.

I'm not trying to talk over you or anything like that to assert myself in an authoritative manner; I'm just repeating what I've learned to be true over the years.

So when a mileage upgrade on a domestic flight does not clear by t-24, what happens if you are not an elite member? What about if you are an elite member? Just wanted to know for future reference.

Do you move up the EUA order if you try to use miles then? It sounds like the answer is no.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/5.0.0.591 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

The upgrade is supposed to transfer to the airport regardless of status. The current scheme with "near real-time" EUA inside 24 hours seems that it would skip these passengers as they are only listed for u/g at the gate. But they should be atop that list.

Being listed with miles should have you above anyone trying for EUA, with the potential exception of during the EUA sweeps inside 24 hours.