This has probably been discussed before - sorry to bring it up again. I am "flight segment waitlisted" three consecutive flights for upgrades with my air miles on the website. My confirmation also indicates three flights with my coach seat selections. My question is that in first class for two flights there are seats available but I am not being permitted to select them. I guess I just wanted to know if I am correct in assuming that these seats are being held until the very last for a paying customer. Or should I be doing some calling. Thank you.

Are the seats available for purchase or does the flight have F availability?

There needs to be "F" bucket availability to get a mileage or EUA upgrade. First Class revenue fare codes are A, D, Z, R for example. F code needs to show, and even not all other revenue fares codes are available all the time even if there are unsold FC seats. If CO opens more F codes then the mileage upgrade should clear.

You can check if "F" is available by going to the co.com booking page "Make Flight Reservations", type in from/to and dates then check the box at the bottom whch states "OnePass Reward Upgrade". "F" will show as the fare code on the displayed flights. If F is not available, then it will even state that in red.

If you want to use miles for an upgrade - you should book at least 6 days or more ahead before EUA starts, check which flights have F bucket available and select those flights to guarantee to get upgrade with miles.

Note: You must be logged into you Elite account for "F" to show when you check for flights with the "OnePass Reward Upgrade" box checked. If you are NOT Elite, it will not show unless the booking code is "V" class or better. Non-Elites can not use mileage to upgrade on cheaper tickets - like L, X, T, W, S, etc.

Thank you - I will do some investigating. I did forget to mention that the miles for upgrading were taken out of my account and I was told they would be redeposited if no seats came available.

With multiple segments - your miles are gone if only one segment gets upgraded. Say you travel BOS-EWR-LAX. If BOS-EWR opens, but EWR-LAX does not - your miles are gone. You may want to watch that in the future and check for F first.

Only on international BF upgrade waitlists do you get your miles back if the BF segment does not clear. In this case you get the bonus of a free domestic upgrade - for your feeding segment.

Do you happen to be an elite?

No, I am not an elite. My flights are 2 international and then from Hawaii to L.A. I would happily just take one segment as an upgrade and forfeit the rest of the miles if the other two don't become available. I have two more flights in the U.S. after the above 3 but a different airline.

The question is whether the flights are BusinessFirst markets. Not whether they are domestic or international.

BF markets are those from mainland to Hawaii, Asia, Europe, Brazil and Argentina; plus HNL-GUM non-stop.

If there are BF segments (including to/from Hawaii), then if the BF segment doesn't clear, you get your miles back. If there are no BF segments, then if any of the other segments clear, you don't get miles back.

I am in a similar situation
DPS-GUM-HNL-EWR

DPS-GUM cleared (not BF), mileage waitlisted for early August for 2 other flights.

I am told BF clears for either GUM-HNL OR HNL-EWR, and I lose my 25000 miles +$200 copay... I think I d rather keep the miles and money if only one clears, but I guess thats not a choice.

Also, I remember seeing a thread about keeping your domestic (or in this case DPS-GUM intl F) upgrade and getting your miles back if the intl BF segments dont clear. Anyone has any experience with that?
The passanger in this case is not elite, so I wonder if she'd still keep the F segment if BF doesnt clear, but I would imagine no.

My mom has had that more than once on various IAH-EWR-HKG trips. But she has been Gold for years.