Traveller A purchaed an "N" class fare and has a sequence number of 6
Traveller B purchased a "B" class fare and has a sequence number of 4

Both travellers are Platinum. Who has a better shot at the upgrade?

Neither its an RJ!

HA, its not a riddle...

Battlefields are based on "Elite level, fare class (new for 2005) and time of check-in"


http://www.continental.com/onepass/e...B245F7C7D6279F

Ok, traveller A is in a higer class of fare but checked in after B. What trumps what?

I believe traveler A wins out, but I still think there is an unpublished variable know as the Gate Agent or Red Coat.

I would agree that A wins, but I wish there was a way to know for sure. Are you suggesting that the GA could make an arbitrary decision after seeing both A & B?

According to the new EUA rules, Traveller "A" will win the battle and get the upgrade.

But as someone else mentioned, it's more likely the flight is on an ERJ and this whole battlefield upgrade concept doesn't exist in this scenario.

-RM

Why assume its an RJ?

Which is part of the problem - the Gate Agent should have no participation in this process...it should all be automated.

At ~15 minutes before departure, the system should do a rank of everyone on the SB list according to status and fare paid then automatically process upgrades into the available seats and spit out the new boarding passes for the agent to call names at the podium or carry on board to do the battlefields.

According to what CO itself published, the automated system should hand out the BPs in the order of:

1) all SB Plats, ordered by fare class
2) all remaining Plat companions
3) all SB Golds, ordered by fare class
4) all remaining Gold companions
5) all remaining Silver Elites
6) repeat above for NWA Elites using the same order

For the agents at DCA, a loud siren should go off to remind them to claim the printer BPs and hand them out to the lucky contestants.

I know this has been discussed to death in here, but IMO there is NO WAY a Plat companion should get the upgrade over a Gold. Maybe for a direct family memeber, but even then its hard to justify.

I agree with you, actually. No companion should ever be upgraded while an Elite remains in the back...however as I understand it, CO's policy is to upgrade companions at the same level as their sponsor....and NWA has an even more generous companion upgrade program for its Plat members.

I can't re-write the rules, but I certainly can ask that they be enforced uniformly throughout the system without agent preference, prejudice, or discretion adding to the complexity of an already overly complex process.

From my experience, it is working like the new EUA rules state on the website.

Scenario #1 from 2 weeks ago:
Colleague and I on same flight, both Plat; both 'N' fares. Both checkin online; I am #1; he is #2. Battlefield upgrade at gate 10 min before flight - 1 seat left, I get it(no other higher fare classes above us)

Scenario #2 from last week:
Checkin is the same, I am #1; he's #2 - EXCEPT, EUA runs 3 hours before flight and he gets the last seat. Why - b/c even though we both have 'N' fares, he bought his 13 days before the flight, I bought mine 9 days before flight... pre-airport EUA uses booking date, not check in time.

So, the CO upgrade policy of:
"Booking date/time: All else being equal, the sooner Elite members book their flight, the better their upgrade chances.
Check in time: If your upgrade is processed from the standby upgrade list at the airport, check in time will be used in place of booking date/time." is definitely being followed.


Overall guess that means ya gotta be the first to buy the fare class and first to check in to have the best shot at the upgrade(all other things being equal)!

From your example - the higher fare class comes before checkin sequence no matter when the upgrade occurs, so that person should get first dibs.