At what point does CO typically convert R into I/IN?
 

Curious about any past experiences - looking at an int'l flight two weeks from now, 12/50 booked on the BF seatmap, R9 (great for upgraders) and Z9 of course, but no Saver BF award space.

TIA for any relevant experiences.

I can recall a situation or two where despite a handful of empty seats all the way up to departure, it looked like the award inventory never opened up at all.

It would be best to get on the waitlist, sometimes they'll just clear directly from that instead of opening inventory to the public.

Of course you can only do so if you've redeemed OnePass miles for the reward (either on the same flight in coach or on a different flight in either coach or business).

Agreed - trying to desperately get on a WL, can't even get a saver economy ticket though despite what looks like decent availability.

Question - which of these waitlisting techniques are actually bookable w/CO?

1. Book a n/s economy ticket from origination to destination (nonstop), waitlist for BF (think I saw this referenced for CO - just have to pay the add'l miles at check-in if you clear, right?)
2. Book a 1 stop business ticket, where the int'l leg is on CO economy, and the short domestic leg is in business (but NOT CO/UA), then WL the int'l leg (this is UA style - allowable on CO?) Already "paid" with miles for a C ticket, so just have to wait for int'l leg to clear.
3. With the scenario for #2 ticketed (but still WL'd on int'l BF), can I waitlist directly for the BF n/s in scenario #1?

Thanks.

#2 looks a little like "Plan B". Look that thread up - lots of info there.

Another option - book any indirect flight on SaverPass BF, and call to w/l for the CO BF direct flight.

In order to waitlist, you just need to have any itinerary ticketed as a saver reward, in the same region. It can be on partners and it can be confirmed in a lower class of service and it can have a connection. I'm not even sure if it needs to be the same origin/destination.

I think that the award may need to be issued as a Business class award in order to stand by for Business, even if you're only confirmed in Coach. At least it used to be that way. I'm not sure if you can book a coach award and then stand by for Business and expect them to take the additional miles out.

Of course if you have a business award confirmed in coach and you never clear into Business, they'll refund the mileage differential after the fact.

Definitely look at the "Plan B" thread. Keep in mind that requires being booked in coach on the exact flight you want to get in Business. Normally the waitlist expires at T-24. If you're booked on the same flight in coach, then you can still get on the upgrade standby list at the airport, and you should have higher priority than customers trying to upgrade, since you are a "paid" business class passenger displaced into coach. Full details in the Plan B thread - particularly how to approach the agents about this, because generally they shoo anyone away who asks about "upgrades" at the gate.

Thanks for the Plan B reference(s) - will take a look at that. Already have an AC Plan B in place but don't think space is going to open up there. And of course you can't WL on that flight.

Trying to book any Saver BF that I can, trust me - not a surprise to find out that CO isn't exactly generous with Saver BF to Asia ;) Hoping that a 25% filled seat map 2 weeks out might be my ticket though.

Worst case, I'll take my original OZ C flights - just trying to make it out a day earlier and try out new *A experiences (I'd really, really like to try BF on something longer than FLL-EWR ;) )

The Saver BF can also be on partners....it's only the w/l that has to be CO/UA metal.

Yup - have done that too. Hopefully I'll have three Plan Bs in place soon enough, and with any luck will have the luxury of choosing between any that turn into Plan As :D

Will try and remember to post back (or maybe in the Plan B thread) with what happens