Clearing the BF Upgrade List
 

I am currently scheduled to fly 2 weeks from Friday from EWR-CDG returning one week later to IAH. I am a Platinum waitlisted for an upgrade and I haven't cleared. Checking the seat status on Continental.com (however unreliable that may be) shows only a couple seats available on each flight with the exception of the held first rows. Knowing CO's general stinginess on BF upgrades, should I hold out any hope?

@:-) Continental Does Not Upgrade Elite`s to BusinessFirst on International flights such as this..The OnePass program provides Elite Upgrade for Domestic Flights and those Not designated BusinessFirst International..You will have to Shell out some cold hard Cash and Miles to to get Upgraded to Paris.

The outbound flight is showing J1, ostensibly meaning that only one seat is available for sale. Your return is J5, a bit better but not exactly promising if you've not yet cleared.

I know that. I have already done that (well technically I have made it clear I am willing to do that), but I am waitlisted.

I figured it didn't look good. I should have flown American.

I recently cleared HKG-EWR five days before the flight, so don't give up hope. A week earlier it had been J5, but I have no idea whether any more seats opened after that. I didn't clear EWR-HKG, which was J2 at the 24-hour mark.

Don't give up - mileage upgrades often clear two or three days prior to departure.

Would they e-mail me to tell me that I haven't cleared the waitlist if they sell-out in BF?

CO's been good recently (at least to me) of sending out an email letting me know when my waitlists did not clear ~24hours prior to the flight. That said, I suspect CO will send you an email when you can no longer waitlist for BF (which is of course at the 24 hour mark). As to BF selling out: I don't think they'd email you as you can still waitlist for BF in this event (hope springs eternal ;)), after all, some last minute seat(s) may open up before the 24 hour mark.

In a new twist to this, I have apparently cleared the waitlist for my connecting flight from IAH-PHX, but so far nothing else. I think I cleared it as reward upgrade though. As a platinum who usually gets a EUA on this route is there a way to reject this upgrade if I don't clear on the BF CDG routes? I don't want to have to pay for something that I usually get for free.

You will only be charged the mileage if you clear the overwater flight, regardless of whether or not you clear the domestic/non-overwater legs.

Sort of good news, availability for the EWR-CDG flight is now showing J7 up from J1. Still haven't cleared though.

Just found this thread. It's pretty obvious to me that the OP knows this. :rude: :td:

So I haven't heard anything about my EWR-CDG leaving at 6:40 PM tomorrow, despite it showing J3 and D2 all day so I am assuming that I didn't clear the waitlist and there is no way short of paying the difference in price between my Y ticket and the lowest J ticket to snag one of those 3? seats left. Continental doesn't do any last minute upgrade program for a less intimidating fee (I know only US advertises, but I have gone from WT+ to CW on BA for a similar fee that they didn't advertise so I wonder if its some off the books thing). I will probably feign innocence and ask about options for paying for an upgrade at the airport, which sometimes works (innocence seems to work better when you are asking to pay for something as opposed to asking for a free upgrade which is just stupid).

To sum up, I really don't understand CO's BF upgrade policy. I just got cleared to BF on the return CDG-IAH flight I have a week from tomorrow which was showing J2 all week, but the EWR-CDG flight has been showing J3 for the past couple days and it seems no one got upgraded/bought a seat in that time. I am not complaining about getting the upgrade, it's just that I have no idea why that one would clear while the EWR-CDG with more seats available and less time in which to sell them didn't. It doesn't really make any sense.

There has to be a better way, but I mean I shouldn't whine because I wasn't willing to pay the full price for a BF ticket so I should take what I can get (I guess in Continental's eyes the "better way" is buying the BF ticket outright, which I get). I just don't like being in the dark about things, AA's upgrade program at least seems more transparent.When I waitlisted as a AA PLAT with them, I was able to figure out my position on the waitlist, there was usually a pattern for when and how many seats I would clear the waitlist, and for one of my flights, I cleared the waitlist at the airport after checking in.

chasgoose, sorry you did not clear the waitlist. :(

See this thread, particularly posts 6 and 20, for more information.

sorry about you got stuck in the back. As to why CO does what it does, I say they generally know which days of the week and times during the month when they can count on last minute sales. So could be a Fri to CDG they know they generally can sell the last min, while IAH it generally wont happen. So they will open the UP to IAH but still hold on to any seats to CDG.

I have a trip in a couple of weeks , when I booked it in Dec yes Dec all that was left as the cheapest Coach was an "H" fare , it never went below that since. Of cause I put in for BF on the waitlist, not only hasnt it cleared but both of my flights are completely sold-out, I thought that was gonna happen on my outbound and I thought with 2/3 of BF empty on my return that Id get the Up then. Well at least Id get 150% on the EQMs and now Im planning for a Bump hopefully each way to make up for having to pay for an "H" that I couldnt UP on. Revenge is Sweet sometimes, my luck we will go out with 1 empty and no VDBs

FYI seatcounter.com shows J3 D2 for the 6:40pm flight (only Y1 for the later flight). Yet when I went to co.com it came back as no seats when I tried for 5 for BF, 3 for BF worked. So now hope they sell those 3 and are oversold in the back so that you can get a Bump, from past experience CO wont OpUp a person to an empty BF seat theyd rather it go out empty, but Im sure some non-rev will find it if its not sold