Silver Before Gold?
 

Here is one for ya.

I am currently gold and traveling on a “X” class fare. Did CO.com check-in early in the morning for an evening 8:30PM flight and was placed on the upgrade standby list.

My co-worker, who is silver, checks in about 3 hours before the same flight. She is in “R” class and gets upgraded. She paid the same amount for her ticket as I did, because we both purchased them at the same time from our internal corporate travel agency.

While waiting for the flight I approach the desk and ask about my upgrade status. Gate agent says I’m second in line after a Plat. I ask why my silver co-worker was upgraded before me and his response was “I don’t know why the computer does what it does”.

Sitting back down, my co-worker and I begin conversation with another passenger. He is also silver and was upgraded. His ticket class was “R”. Don’t know what the original ticket class was, but he paid at least 10x what my co-worker and I paid. I attribute his upgrade to a last minute Y class, but attributed my co-workers upgrade to a freak incident.

No I was waiting in line to board and run into another individual who works for my same company. He bought an economy class ticket, is currently silver, and was upgraded too.

So now I know that three silvers were upgraded before a gold on this flight. What is going on here?

As I sat in the plane seat the gate agent called for the final upgrade, it was the Plat that was before me on standby.

If there is upgrade inventory (R) at time of checkin, and you are Elite (any level), you get it.

I suspect there was an open R seat released just before the time of your co-worker's checkin. If that was released and EUA did not run to properly allocate the seats, it would be available to the next Elite who checked in. Your coworker lucked out.

Either that, or your name/OnePass number wasn't right so the computer wasn't processing you correctly.

Same thing happened to me
 

Let's say I'm Gold - and I checked in at the 24 hour window - when the flight was A2 D2 F0, meaning that there were two empty seats, but they were not released to be upgradeable yet.

Theoretically, EUA runs that night - the seats are still not released, so I don't get one.


Let's say that two Silver Elites check in the next day (prior to the 3 hour window), and the flight is now showing A2 D2 F2, and the system asks if they'd like to upgrade. They say yes, and snag the F seats.

Since I already checked in, I don't get looked at for an upgrade until the 3 hour EUA window - but by then, the two F seats are gone.

For me, it's a tradeoff. Not being Plat - I'd rather check in earlier, so I can get the exit row seats (if they are free) - but if there are still seats that have not been released to F, then I jeapordize my chances for an upgrade.

This seems to simplistic - I would have to imagine that the system would prevent someone from taking an F seat if there are already people on the waiting list for an upgrade.

I'm not so sure about this. On a recent EWR-LAX flight I was a few minutes delayed from the (then) 30-hour check-in due to a web site glitch. I saw one FC seat disappear from inventory, and I was second on the waitlist. There were three A seats left, and next day at the 3-hour mark I was notified that I received the upgrade. Are you saying that if someone checks in right before the EUA runs he could get lucky and snag a seat? Otherwise the upgrades go in waitlist order?

when that supposed R seat opened up, why wasnt it given to an elite that had already checked in and was on the SB list?

I think that's the flaw with the system...the standby list is cleared at the airport, not by the check-in system. If you get placed on the list, you could get EUA'd or cleared at the airport - but if someone happens to check-in when an F seat pops into inventory, the check-in system could grab it for them. Right and left hands not knowing what the other is doing....more fine work from CO's IT department. The systems should be synched so once the last EUA runs prior to the online check-in window opening, any F seat that pops into inventory from that point forward should be locked out of the check-in system and allocated only via EUA or the airport clearing the SB list.

If CO dumps the seats en masse (the final dump when they realize they're not going to sell them), they run EUA immediately. It's possible in this situation, someone cancelled (or got cleared an earlier flight) which returned an oddball R seats back to inventory. EUA doesn't run each time an R is returned to inventory, just overnight, and at the 3-hour mark when many of the remaining A's are dumped into R.


Yes. If there's enough time before dumping the seat into R and EUA runs. Usually it's relatively instantaneous (a couple of seconds at most) between the 3-hour inventory dump and final EUA run. But if for whatever reason, an R seat became available and EUA wasn't processed, the next Elite got it, regardless of status.


There's yet another anomoly -- it's actually a bug. While that's not what happened here, if someone's reservation is out of Sync (a combo NW/CO reservation, usually), it's possible that record will stall EUA for the whole flight, preventing it from running upgrades on anybody. In that case, there could be tons of seats in R bucket, but nobody gets upgraded until checkin. At that time, it's first come, first served, for all Elites (regardless of status). I've seen this one a few times before, and have even reported it to CO, but their organization is such a clusterf*** that there's no way to get the info into the right hands to fix it.

hypothetical....im gold. im leaving tuesday at 3pm. monday at 3pm i check in. i am added to the FC list. EUA runs at midnight. no body gets anything. then for some reason 3 seats are released. at 6am tuesday, a silver checks in and gets that seat even though im higher level, possibly on a higher fare and i checked in earlier? i would think the system would know that there's already a SB list and that no seats would be given until EUA runs at 3 hour and at the battlefield mark.

although f the above sitch is true, it sucks, it cant happen that often. i almost always get my upgrades.

so is it better to check in after midnight, on the day of travel, in hopes some seats opened up after the midnight EUA?

Yes, I think the upshot of this and other discussions, is that this situation is theoretically possible. However, look more closely at your wording: "for some reason 3 seats are released". I don't think this happens all that frequently. Perhaps if someone who had already been upgraded cancelled or changed his/her flight, the revenue management system might put that seat back into R, but I think the most likely scenario is that R inventory is held back until the final 3-hour dump.

Anecdotally, it sounds like the chances of snagging an upgrade like that are few and far between. Though I don't see any real benefit of checking in right at the 24-hour mark other than to snag an exit row/bulkhead seat (if you weren't able to pre-assign it). There are a bunch of other priorities in assigning upgrades before you get to check-in time -- e.g., elite level, fare status, date of ticket purchase -- so I don't think the early check-in is ever that valuable.

BUT, you can check periodically on ITN for any F inventory that opens (in those rare events). I think (but am not sure) that F maps pretty closely to R, where EUA comes from. Then you can check-in, try to snag the upgrade, and if it fails, I think you can still cancel the process. In fact, you may even be able to assign yourself a restricted seat before completing the check-in process, I just can't remember exactly.

Check-in Online
 

...and this is why you should always check-in online as early as you can: those that do have an advantage over everyone else in terms of getting an elite upgrade when the EUA doesn't work the way it should.

As a silver elite with OnePass, I think I want your company to buy my tickets. I have completely given up...as in 100-percent...any hope of ever getting an upgrade as a silver.

Anymore for me, silver elite status has only a handful of benefits and none have to do with upgrades.

1) Shorter check-in line
2) Bypass long security lines at PHX's joke-of-a-terminal 2
3) Early boarding so I can stow my little backpack in the overhead

Since I'm only 2 trips from gold, I'm hopeful that I start getting upgraded at least 10-percent of the time.

Thanks CO for diluting the elite pool...

And again it happened...
 

A co-worker and I checked in at the same time for a flight leaving Chicago tomorrow. He's silver and I'm gold: well he got upgraded and I did not. Seat avails went from A3 down to A1, F0. And I'm sure I will now be excluded from an upgrade. What gives? The system can no longer be trusted to operate as the policy indicates. :td: :mad:

Did you call Continental and complain?
 

I bet if you called Continental they wouldn't even care. They have changed so much that I am not enjoying being loyal to them anymore. Platinums do not always get upgraded either anymore. Upgrades are now coveted.

Next time buy the discounted FC fare. Right now FC is on sale for around $800 RT. Not bad. But who really wants to pay it.

i usually pay it, if the FC fare is no more than double the coach fare. i never make elite with miles, so for me, getting double segments is like taking two trips. that's how i justify the expense. plus confirmed FC seating is always nice.

for instance, an upcoming trip to fll is 600. the FC fare is 757. pay an extra $100 and change, get confirmed FC on a 753 and get double points.

smvhou
 

You are right on target about the "fine work of CO's IT department". Their system continues to be in a shambles, as honest CO employees will confirm off the record, as they have with us. This upgrade issue has been a problem well known within CO for at least 2 years, but nothing has been done about it. Seems CO prefers to continue offering up nonsensical replies & excuses each & every time they get a complaint from a One Pass Elite member. While all airlines have problems, CO seems to be the absolute "worst" about simply & factually acknowledging that they have a specific problem & they find it totally impossible to simply apologize when they do, in fact, screw up. This philosophy starts at the top & is ingrained throughout the top levels of the organization & throughout all layers of customer service. When in doubt, deny, is the CO customer service motto.