What did I do wrong in this upgrade process?
 

Greetings all. I believe I screwed up today, because I should have been upgraded and was not. I would appreciate your insights so this does not happen again. By way of background, since 2005 I have been Silver 4 years, Gold 1 year, and Pond Scum (the one even worse than Silver) one year. Long term low level elite. I actually fly in first class a fair amount, but that is because I either buy it or buy a Y/B fare which upgrades automatically. I have only been regular upgraded once on Continental (and twice on Northwest), and that was 5 years ago. Long story short, I don't know what I am doing.

Yesterday (18 October) I booked a flight for today (19 October). The routing was MAF to IAH on CO2088 and IAH to AUS on CO 35. When I got to IAH I saw I had plenty of time to make an earlier flight. As a bonus, CO 1541 also had lots of open seats in first class. At the time, pda.continental.com was showing only 12 of 16 seats booked with only one person on the waitlist. Score, says me. I went to the IAH North P Club and had them waitlist me for that flight. While enjoying some delicious gumbo, I notice that I am now on 1541 and am the first of two people on the waitlist for first class. It still shows only 12 of 16 seats booked, and all 12 are checked in.

It gets time to board, so I collect my boarding pass for 10F. I knew that F was wide open, so I saw no need to be pushy with the agent. I just sheepishly took my boarding pass, boarded the plane, and figured they would come get me the way I had seen them come on the plane to get other people who had been battlefield upgraded. While I am sitting on the plane, I notice that F is now only booked to 9 seats-- I assume some people misconnected. Yeah! I will now certainly enjoy a free alcoholic beverage, and the half hour flight will be just enough time to watch a news show on Direct TV. I was still listed as the first of two people on the upgrade list.

And then they closed the cabin door and we pushed back. There weren't any shenanigans with seating non-revs instead of me-- a man in a pilot's uniform walked to the back, and first class looked about half empty. It is not that big a deal, because there was an empty middle seat and I had a good book. Still, what probably happened here, and why was I (nor the other person on the upgrade list) upgraded when there were empty first class seats?

Are you one of these:

Customers Upgraded into First Class:
GER, J. 2E
HAR, B. 3E
HAR, C. 2A
HOD, C. 2B
HOW, R. 1A
MUN, C. 4F
SPE, J. 2F
SPU, L. 4A

I am not. I checked that part on the plane.

Sounds like the GA didn't run the upgrades. Usually when we see shenanigans, we see people upgraded with upgrades not delivered.

I would have asked about F when I got my coach BP. It's not pushy to just ask about it.

The flight went out with many empty up front:

Capacity: 16
Booked: 9
Checked In: 9

It seems quite likely that the GA messed up on this one.

After the GA cleared you onto the flight, the GA did not add you to the standby list to get a battlefield upgrade.

Next time you should remind the GA to please place you on the upgrade standby list, after you receive your Y seat.

Hmm, according to the OP he was on the list already. And there was another customer on the list as well. It sure looks like the GA either forgot or didn't bother to run the list.

No, he was on the list to get a seat in Y. He got his seat but the GA failed to then add him to the list for the upgrade. This is a two-step process.

He wrote, "While enjoying some delicious gumbo, I notice that I am now on 1541 and am the first of two people on the waitlist for first class."

So was he removed when his BP was printed?

Even if you get a battlefield upgrade, they don't always come tell you. My last FLL-EWR flight, I saw my name switch over to the upgraded list about 5 minutes before they shut the door. I just went up, showed the FA my name on the .pda, and took my seat. The GA never came on.

My mistake. Obviously the GA failed to continue to process the F class standby list. The OP did nothing wrong.

Yeah, my name was clearly on the upgrade list shortly after I cleared standby and it stayed on the upgrade list until they told us to turn off our electronic devices. Is it common for gate agents to just decide not to run the upgrade list? Having gotten 3 non-automatic upgrades in 6 years (with two of those on Northwest), I wanted my cushy seat for even the short ride!

In these circumstances, it's important to use the upgrade list and bring the situation to a FA's attention so they can get the GA to either process the list or tell them who to move up - if you sit there silently and don't say anything, it won't get fixed...even if it should never have happened in the first place.

Ditto
 

No harm in checking in w/ gate if you know there available seats. Tuesday a.m. LAS-IAH was offered (and declined) opportunity to buy up to 1st class seat at check-in. Went to gate and asked to make sure I and the missus (both Plat) were on the upgrade list. Assured we were. barely had time to sit down before she called us back to podium for new seat assignments.