Need help understanding comp upgrades
 

So my understanding is that the complimentary upgrades that are processed at the 5 day, 3 day, 1 day window are only for first class seats that would have been sold for easy pass upgrades only. Is that correct?

This is why there could be open FC seats the day before travel. They wait and don't upgrade these seats until ~3 hours before the flight, right?


Here is a scenario I don't understand. On Friday I missed by CLE-IAH connection due to a delay in ROC. When I arrived in CLE at ~6:15 my flight had already departed. I checked in at the President's club and asked to be put on the standby list for FC. They handed me a boarding pass for FC and said "you're lucky, there are only seats left in FC anyways".

Now, why wasn't this seat already given away at the 3 hour mark to a customer booked on that flight who should have been next in line for the EAU? Why was I, flying Gold and in a discount seat, who missed my connection and was never scheduled to be on this flight, able to get this seat?

Perhaps they had upgraded all the eligible pax already. I've been on flights where I snagged an upgrade at the airport, and FC still had empty seats - and when elite boarding was called only a few people walked the blue carpet.

It may seem strange, and it is rare, but it does happen.

No, I know for sure there were at least a dozen other Elite passegers, and probably more. It was a full CLE-IAH flight.

I just don't understand how the system works.

They don't always clear all of them at the 3 hour mark either. Often upgrade seats are held until the time where the standby list is cleared. That's where the battlefield/at the gate upgrades come from. That the PC agent was able to put you right in to F rather than making you go to Y first and then waitlist was a nice bonus.

It was purchased on a Q fare and reticketed as a XQ fare.

I know sometimes I'm upgraded by email notification in between the 24 hour and 3 hour departure. I've never been upgraded at the gate, though I have seen it happen. I've been upgraded from my seat a couple times.

I guess there isn't a set system.

it seems as if Coach was checked in full. only FC seats were available.

The agent should have explained to you that Coach was full and that they'd put you on the standby list. Then, as elite Coach pax got cleared into F, you'd be cleared into Coach provided there were not other standby's ahead of you. The agent went against the rules and forced you into F. lucky you.

The only other thing i can think of was that the agent reassigned you on the new flight and somehow assigned you to Y class (not cabin, but fare class) which in turn allowed them to seat you in F. This has happened to me once.

check your OP statement. Id bet that the cle-iah segment you actually flew will show either AU (Y fare class up'd to A) or A,D or R and it will award you bonus miles and two segment points.

No, onepass shows XQ class.

I've gotten moved into Y when I took a bump and they rerouted me. In that case, I actually did NOT get the upgrade (I was next on the list) even though I was in a Y fare as a Gold Elite. I thought that was strange.

My point was that it seems like she broke the rules to get me into FC. While I appreciated it, if that's happening other times and I'm getting leapfrogged I'm sure I wouldn't be happy.

if it showed XQ than he/she broke the rules. but in his/her defense, he/she got you on the flight. There was probably a standby list that exceeded capacity, and rather than just adding you to it, he/she forced you into a seat.

had you simply wanted to standby for an earlier flight, he/she would have probably just added you to the bottom. because you were displaced by a delay, i think he/she actually was within the rules by forcing you onto the flight.

I believe this is correct - it's possible that you were "protected" on this later flight and they protected you in first.

Well, I did call the elite desk earlier from ROC and asked that they put me on the list for the later flight because I was pretty sure I was going to be delayed. Maybe that was it....

For what it's worth, I was bumped off two flights over the past few days (one on NW and one on CO), and both times, I was re-accomodated on a CO in FC. These were only about 8-12 hours out, too.

On this subject, can someone explain to me about waitlisting/standby for complimentary upgrades? If it hasn't cleared by the day of flight, are you supposed to ask to be added to a list when you get to the airport? Can it be done online?

I really don't want to bug CO staff at the airport if it's automatic, but I keep reading posts from people here who do that. I've even seen it at the airport and it's embarassing. What's the deal?

Your BP will tell you if you've been added to the standby list.

If you check in at a kiosk or online, it's automatic. If you check in with a person, you need to make sure you're on there.

Thank you--I swear, I've looked for the info and it's never been clear. Perhaps because I don't regularly check-in online and the question isn't presented. I appreciate the response!