It seems every time try I use point to upgrade multiple segments, at least one of the legs is not available and I have to be waitlisted. Has any one been moved from waitlist to R prior to the EUs? Has anyone ever made this leap?

I am plat and have had great success with the EU's so I wonder if it is worth the investment. It is my understanding that they pull the upgrades at 72 hours out which is two days past my plat EU....making it more punitive for plats if only one leg is upgraded at 72 hours.

You're mile wait list in thoery should trump any EUA (I've never had it happen, meaning if I get wait listed it doesn't clear, but I get the EUA like day of travel). Reasoning beiong that you are "paying" for an upgrade rather than them giving one away...

24 Prior make sure they remove you mile wait list because it will NOT clear. You'll have a better chance at an EUA at that point.

24 hours prior, all milage wait list are removed and then the only running chance are EUAs at the gate...

-Vincent

I believe Vincom is correct. Your upgrade should be processed before the EUAs. IIRC, you go onto P1 at the airport. P1 status is the FC list for displaced FC passengers, which you could be as you have 'paid' for the upgrade but have not received it. Elite upgrades go under the P2 category (which is of course organized by status, fare class and time of check-in. P3 are for the 'freebe' space available upgrade certs and other such promotions.

Long story short: figure out exactly what the correct order is and be sure to verify you are on the correct list (P1/P2).

If you haven't been upgraded with miles by OLCI, it won't happen. ASK to be removed (if they haven't done so already). So you can wait your chance for an EUA. (This is word from several WECARE2 managers_

Mile upgrades always are above 5/3/1 day EUAs...

-Vincent

Let me add a bit to this (from several Elite desk CSR's, and personal experience):

Note: this applies to domestic only.

1) Waitlist won't clear after the 24 hour mark (per CO CSR's).
2) At the 24 hour mark, you're back following the EUA rules (logically follows from #1).
3) EUA WON'T run correctly if you're waitlisted. The waitlisted segment shows unconfirmed, and seems to prevent EUA. There is another thread where it is claimed that this actually stops EUA for everyone on the flight.
4) If you don't cancel the waitlist, you cannot do OLCI, as you have an unconfirmed segment on the PNR (per CO CSR & personal experience).
5) I can't prove it, but I believe that there were plats' EUA'ed at the 5 day mark for a flight I waitlisted for (I'm silver). I noticed that at the 5 day mark, F dropped by 2 and Y increased by 2 at about the same time. If someone has the ability to check this out I'll PM the details. In the end, the flight was sold out in F and Y.

Summary:

I believe that waitlisting decreases one's chance for an UG, unless cancelled before any EUA possibility. CO should probably detail the rules for waitlisted upgrades vs. EUA as it's not clear to me. They should also fix the "unconfirmed" issue and automatically cancel the waitlist & redeposit when it's no longer possible to UG with miles.

Thanks for the limited info, but I am looking for evidence that this event, rare as it may be, does in fact occur. Back to my original question..has anyone ever been cleared?

i think i am an expert at this. i use miles to upgrade myself and my family all the time.

my family and i have cleared many, many times before the EUA's have run.

CO's official rule was that the waitlist was eliminated 24 hour prior to dept.

on our last trip my little bro's flights had not cleared. he has no status.

he was cleared at check-in leading me to believe that the list no longer is eliminated at the 24 hour mark.

old school CO employees are not always up to current policies. I had a PC agent tell me that she has worked for CO for 20 years and that milage waitlisters were not allowed to be cleared at the airport.

bottom line, if you do not clear prior to 24 hours (i usually do), no other elite should have cleared either.

when you get the to airport, let an agent know that you were waitlisted for a milage upgrade and ensure you are first on the list. you should be before any elite. as said above, i have heard this referred to as P1.

this should obviously be brought up at cigarman's (CM) next shin dig. this is pretty bogus.

thanks, CM.

Thanks...I am going to ride it out. Currently 8 F's reserved and 8 availible. I am betting it will come through.

it more than likely will. it should happen by itself.

it is supposed to clear automatically and it is supposed to change on your res and email a "change in itinerary" email not an EUA notification.

this does not always happen, as many times i have just called to check and found we had all cleared, the res didnt change until the agent actually assigned the seats. CO IT for you.

We had been waitlisted for a month or so on a transcon which kept showing FC wide open. Exactly two weeks before the flight, we were confirmed. A look showed that FC was still wide open (F9) on that particular flight.

How do the wait lists clear for full mileage award seats? I'm travelling on a 100K award to London in September, got BF to and from London out of Houston, but am waitlisted for first in and back to SF from Houston. There are 12 F seats down (733) and 24 seats back to SF from IAH (757 domestic).

they will seat you in BF on the int'l segments and in coach for the domestic ones. your online res will actually show six segments. the four you are seated on and the two you are waitlisted for. as they clear, it will got to four with all seating being in BF or FC.

the list will clear automatically up to 24 hours before departure.

should it not, you need to be sure the agent at the check-in counter puts you on the airport standby list as it is different from the list you were on previously. they need to indicate that you are P1 as you should receive an upgrade before elites.

on a recent trip to rio, all three of us were waitlisted on the domestic portions. myself and my mother cleared well before the trip. my brother did had still not cleared at checkin time on our return. the agent in rio said he was still on the list. he was indeed on the original list, but not on the airport list. when we got to houston, all FC seats had already been given to elites.

as a gesture of good will, CO redeosited 10k miles to my account for the mistake.

I can't imagine it being a concious decision to maintain a system that allows for a mileage upgrade waitlist to be wiped and then giving the seats away through EUA or battlefield upgrades.

I know this whole concept has been discussed plenty here but I'll add my $.02. I'm sure there's an accounting treatment for OnePass miles in the form of a liability on their balance sheet. When people use miles for upgrades or tickets (or accounts are closed, abandoned, etc..) that liability is obviously reduced. I doubt there's any such treatment when FC seats are released to Elites by EUA (unless they can claim a loss which I also doubt). From an accounting standpoint, they're better off assigning the seats to people willing to use miles.

My situation today is a perfect example: tonight's IAH-BDL shows three (of six ) seats open in F with good ol' 1B blocked out so I'll say four available seats.....called yesterday and got me and Mrs. D/2 waitlisted. Still on the waitlist this a.m. We'll see what happens but if I don't clear, most likely four lucky Elites will get them, I keep my miles (well, get them back), and CO carries that liability on their BS.

Just giving credit where credit is due.

Since we were waitlisted I couldn't do OLCI so when getting to IAH, the check-in agent confirmed we were still on the list as did the PClub (even that we were P1). We ended up clearing at the gate before boarding. ^ It couldn't have been more welcome as we were delayed two hours due to inbound equipment from LGA.