I 100% agree with this sentiment. Keep the option there to be put on the waitlist (and even add the option for a companion, too, if you want to be really nice). But no upgrades should be subject to the random chance of the inventory being available at check-in. Just put people on the list and process it under the normal rules at 3 hours out and 15 minute out (battlefields). The OLCI upgrade game is a major hole that takes away from the rule structure that CO has defined.

I have never gotten an upgrade at check-in. I've come to think that it's a meaningless option.

I am also wary that something is up with the AU process. I'm on a flight first thing this coming monday morning, FLL-EWR. The inventory was showing A9 a couple of days ago, and today is showing A0. I know CO can sell F in this market up until last minute, so they don't always run AU at the five day point, and sometimes not until a few hours ahead. They also sometimes don't run AU until the last minute as they hold seats to rebook cancelled and severely delayed flights from the night before. However, it seems like AU ran at the 3 day mark in this case, and all those empty seats disappeared. I'm at a lower (but not the lowest) fare class, but even so, I was surprised to left be left behind as a plat with that many empty seats. Following the examples of others, above, I called the elite line, and got a rather lazy sounding agent who claimed that all those seats went to mileage upgraders, and AU never ran as a result.

I'm suspicious.

@:-)You are pissed about that?..Dude,its not worth getting yourself worked up into a heart attack about..

Yea I was pissed off! I am on a plane 4 days a week like a lot of others on this board and also work a very stressful job that takes a lot away from my relationship. I have to work harder and harder to keep my girlfriend happy. People like you should shut the hell up and stop making stupid comments. :D

You're confusing terms. AU is an automatic upgrade from a Y fare. If there is a seat available in the A bucket and you purchase a Y fare as an elite you can take that seat in F. No waiting for any particular timing to come around.

EUA is the process that runs daily starting 120 hours prior to flight time. It looks to me that CO 1401 (7:45a EWR-FLL) on 11/19 is still showing A5 right now, so there are at least 5 seats up front still for sale. The 8:30a flight is A3. It being Thanksgiving week and that being a relatively affordable paid F route, I'm not surprised that CO is holding back some F seats from the EUA buckets. There are two flights that are A0 on Monday, the 10:40a and 5:45p flights. If either of those went from A9 to A0 overnight without any EUA then it is because someone bought the seats. CO wouldn't issue that many upgrades for miles on any flight and especially not this close to the departure date.

Thank you for clarifying the term, I knew it wasn't right when I was typing it. As I said in my post, the flight I'm on is FLL-EWR, CO207, and it shows A0.

Cheers!

It's quite possible -- remember that mileage upgrades are prioritized ahead of all free elite upgrades, and elites can waitlist for these upgrades (until the waitlist expires 24 hours prior to departure). I know I've gotten my non-elite travel companion upgraded (with my miles) this way when I've been stuck in the back.

As for the OP, a plat getting passed over for a gold, well that's just messed up.

It took me three times of re-reading your post now to realize that you're flying FLL-EWR and not EWR-FLL. Whoops! CO 207 is indeed Zero'd out across the board except Y5.

Which explains why first is full. Once there is only Y left, any elite will Y-up. Any non elite would be an idiot not to spring for the extra $40 for an A seat.
EWR-FLL Y=$299 A=$339, which CO.com prominently displays on the top of the page.

I'm Flying FLL-IAH on 12/29. It's had only Y seats for over a month. Bought myself, wife and daughter #1 Y's since we are elite and bought daughter #2 an A for <$50 more.

I'm at 99 EQP's because I end up with so many purchased Y's and A's at the last minute or at peak travel times.

On a side note, If I were in the department at CO that decided that around the holidays we'll zero out everything but Y, I'd hide from me at the next DO.

Are we relatively certain about this? (I didn’t find the thread). Daughter #1 made Gold yesterday and we have a couple of family trips left this year. I’ve been thinking about calling the elite line and having them take her OnePass number out of the reservation then re-adding it to ensure she is listed as gold now.