Apologies in advance for asking a question which has been asked a million times before. But I still do not understand how the upgrades work.

I am a Plat traveling with my daughter, from EWR to MCO, fliying out on Thursday late evening and returning on Sunday evening. This is in March.

What should I do for upgrades? Is she eligible for companion upgrades? She is too small to sit on her own, so its either the both of us or none of us. Is it wise to split the PNR in case there are any problems?

How and when do I put both of us on the upgrade list?

Thanks for any help.

In your case, it is not permitted for the airline to allow you to sit in a different cabin than your daughter. If you split the PNRs, it is likely that you will be upgraded. To add your daughter, you have to do this at luggage check-in (I'm not going to go into the within 2 hours OLCI mechanism).

It's highly unlikely she will be upgraded, but then again, MCO tends not to be elite-heavy (though your flight dates are always 'consultant' travel days).

If you get upgraded, and your daughter isn't, you have to ask to be put back in Y, but then may not get the ELR seat you had reserved previously.

My advice? Book a window and aisle ELR seat, turn off upgrades, and hope nobody sits in the middle. If they do, offer them the window, and have your daughter move to the middle.

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What would that do? You're saying it's either both of you or neither. Splitting the PNR would help you get upgraded, not both. That would be counter-productive. As Platinum elite, you ARE eligible for companion upgrades.

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+1. This is what I do. (not the upgrades part, but more often on international routes where upgrades don't apply)

Thanks for the replies. I did just what you guys recommended.. an aisle and a window seat.
Although it sucks that the companion upgrades can only be done at the window, even though I understand the rationale behind it.

Maybe I will just use some of the miles to upgrade the 2 of us. Continental is offering that for 15k miles, but showing only as a waitlist option at the moment.

-Airberd

Since your daughter's clearly under 15, make sure the ELR seat isn't in an exit row.