Requesting complimentary upgrades
 

If I am not upgraded by the system within my 5 day window for an upgrade and seats are available, can I call to request (and most likely receive) and upgrade?

Thanks

No. You must let the elite automated upgrade system upgrade you.

F is the fare bucket for upgrade seats on CO. You will not be upgraded until CO Revenue Management makes seats in the F bucket available and you are next in the elite priority order. Phone agents are not empowered to make seats in the F bucket available.

No need to call. If you're on the list (which you can see on the reservation status page), you'll get upgraded if there is space in the upgrade bucket (which you generally cannot see).

The reason I asked is because I did call CO for me outbound and was given the upgrade and was rebooked into R. Is that just a fluke?

Were you flying on an expensive fare? Are you CO elite?

CO PE (the only flights I've taken on CO, I was UG at gate).

I was not flying Y or any other premium coach fare.

CO PE? I'm sorry but I'm not sure I know what that is.

Platinum Elite, but that's just a hunch.

You shouldn't have been rebooked into R. You got lucky, I guess.

Your hunch is correct. I will take my luck happily :-) and wait for the upgrade.

I'm assuming you were status matched.

are airlines able to know what status someone has outside of that alliance?

Yes, which is entirely relevant.

I have personally never status matched (especially now that I have no status!).

My understanding, though, is that the elite flyer contacts the airline he or she wants to status match on and that, if the carrier agrees, the flyer is required to provide documentation.

It is my understanding that status match is not available within an alliance, but only outside the alliance, as carriers within an alliance have agreed not to poach each other's best customers.

You send in a statement/screen shot/card scan to prove that you are of equivalent status on the original airline.

not that this is something that i would do, but couldn't anyone make a fake screenshot/statement/card and send it in? just wondering...