Upgrade Question on CO
 

Hi Gurus,

I know I am interpreting this incorrectly but I cannot figure out what the flaw is in my interpretation. I am reading the Upgrade Priority paragraph on

https://www.continental.com/web/en-U.../upgrades.aspx

After reading that I do not see how barring no-shows "battlefield upgrades" can even exist...especially on busy weekends. I mean presumably everything should be over by T-24 most of the times given that I fly out of IAH.

To clarify, I took a trip during memorial day on one of the busy routes and found myself 9th on the list of upgrades with 2 seats. Needless to say I did no get it. My question ...barring no shows is there any reason for those 2 upgrades to exist?

Yes, they are hoping someone will walk-up and buy two full-fare, F tickets. Or they are keeping some flexibility for full fare F misconnects.

So is 2 the magic number CO keeps aside for above mentioned scenarios?

No. The actual magic number is kept by revenue management. Sometimes F is full at OLCI due to upgrades, sometimes they keep 10 seats open and upgrade everyone at the gate.

ah, if we all knew what hocus-pocus and necromancer the airlines used in what they call "revenue management" (the unit that decides when to release seats) then we wouldnt be so greedy for those seats.

from what I have learned from FT I dont think even the airlines know what the secret number is for holding back F seats until the last moment.

Thanks all for the education.

For us lowly silvers, OLCI would obviously work in our favor. At least we would not have to fight the spouses of plats and golds like on battlefield.

It's a formula I believe. That is why someone could clear EUA over battlefield (so that #3 can skip #1 on the battlefield list).

That's also a reason why some CO people debate whether you should check-in at the 24 mark (to go on the battlefield list) or wait for your EUA to clear.

I think for silvers flying out of IAH its better to wait for EUA to clear rather than be on battlefield upgrade?

I have no idea -- The faster you check-in, the closer to the top you are on the battlefield (in your elite group).

I generally check-in @ the 24 hour mark and have been upgraded via Battlefield probably 4 out of 12 times (as a silver). That's now changed as I'm a gold. Thats all route dependent too. IAH is a hub though (kinda hard to get an upgrade out of a hub as a silver).

So in the battlefield list (within the elite group) does check-in time trump the fare category and ticketing date and time?

This is listed in the FAQ:

Upgrade Hierarchy for Battle Field Upgrades
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ml#post7354206

What is the upgrade hierarchy for EUAs?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/6719620-post18.html

Thanks a ton!

Well, I guess, but you don't have a choice in the matter anyway.

Please elaborate.

It's based on highly sophisticated software which takes into account every possible factor about every flight. On one day, the "magic number" could be 2 and the same flight the next day could be 10. Because CO can always UG at the gate, there is a positive incentive to withold seats until the gate if there is any chance they can be sold (or used for misconnection paid F pax).