Ever since the PDA site has been implemented, I have shown up on the upgrade list. My mileage upgrades have shown up on the list as well.

Y-Ups come from "A". As long as there is "A" class on your flight and you buy a Y-ticket and you're elite, you get upgraded. Bam, done. Your BP will reflect "AU" class to show that it's an upgrade but AU=A for CO.

And these people will show up on the pda site as an upgrade on the flight.

-RM

Well, I would love to know how a person who was certain that he Y-upped did NOT appear as having been upgraded. Perhaps he uses a TA (or his client purchases his tickets) and he indeed ended up with a true FC ticket.

If anyone has access to the system, it was seat 1E on CO1421 10-12-2008.

Y-Ups come from the A bucket, as noted above. My read of CO Insider's description of the circumstances is that Mr. 4B was booked on a Y fare but either A was zeroed out or the passenger never called/clicked to move from Y to AU. When the EUA ran it automatically identified Mr. 4B as an elite on a Y fare and immediately upgraded him into AU. While some -Up fares (notably UA and DL) just book directly into F seats, CO's Y-Ups do not as the "up" part is only for elites, so it doesn't happen automatically.

I don't have a problem with Gold and Silver Y's getting the upgrade ahead of a Plat on an H fare. A Y fare for this trip was about $600 more than an H fare and I made the calculated decision that if there were any upgrades to be had a Plat on an H would get it. I used to buy a Y fare on this route but decided that I would rather have the $600 (I have my own business) and take my chances. On Monday I got upgraded for both segments on the return to CLE on 10/18 so in this case I made the right decision. Even if I had missed the CLE-IAH upgrade it would have been worth the $600 to sit in the exit row for 3 hours. As long as they publish the rules and the system works I'm OK with it.

Though, there is a bit of a situation when as a Plat, I buy a Y and I can't get a seat up front but there is a Silver or Gold already up there because they bought their ticket before I did.

I do believe that a Gold on a Y deserves higher priority then a Plat on a discounted fare (and same for Silver on a Y receiving higher priority then a Gold on a discounted fare), but it is absurd to have a Plat Y sitting in the back and a Silver Y in the front just based on time of ticket purchase.

I'm not sure I understand why. If I buy a Y ticket and there is a seat in the A bucket available, then the seat goes to me. If a Plat comes along a few hours later and buys a Y ticket with no A seat available, that's too bad. I understand Plats are important, but aren't all Y ticket buyers important?

As a Plat on a Y fare, you'll be the first to get the seat when the A bucket opens up.

In that case, all fare buckets should go buy elite status with Platinums getting first dibs on the fare class that they want.

Again, money talks. CO makes more money on the first Y fare purchased so that person gets the upgrade. Besides, how can you do instant upgrades by status? It wouldn't work. And given the choice between instant and by status, I think that instant makes more sense for the Y-Up.

In loyalty programs, you should focus your loyalty on the ones that are the most loyal to you. But, how does one quantify loyalty in this case? Simply by the purchase of one ticket or your cumulative purchases within a given period. Onepass is setup to reward you benefits based on your cumulative purchase. Y-Ups are not so there is a disconnect. With the current Y-Up policy is basically saying "We care more about money than loyalty". So, the plat who repeatedly buys Ys and Hs, but four days out, can be sitting in the back while a Silver who bought theirs two weeks out isn't. That hardly seems fair when you look at who is contributing more to COs bottom line.

Chances are that a platinum is more loyal to CO than a Silver. Sure there are situations where that is not the case in which the Silver flies exclusively on Y or F and the Plat does most of their trips in Q and T, but i'm inclined to think that is a minority and not the majority.

The silver or gold has shown their loyalty by buying their ticket first, ahead of the plat. They deserve the seat upfront for that.

Yes and no. Anyone who is eligible for a Y-Up has shown a reasonable amount of loyalty to CO already. At that point the "instant" nature of the Y-Up requires that there be no other factors.

What real changes would you make to the system? Plats Y-Up any time and silvers only within 30 days? 7 days? 3 days?

I've been a cheapest ticket buyer my whole life and have managed to be elite at some level for 6 or 7 years now, the last couple at Platinum. Folks hitting that top tier are not always (or necessarily even often) doing it by buying high fares.

I don't doubt that all Elites have demonstrated loyalty to CO. But, by definition of Onepass, a plat has shown more loyalty than a Silver.

Something along those lines. I would say Plats at any time, Golds at 6-days (right before all the discounted plats) and Silvers at 4 days (again, right before the discounted golds).

CO could even go so far as manage the inventory by using different fare buckets depending on your elite level. DL and UA manage their QUP/HUP through the manipulation of fare buckets and they will generally not sell you the last seat up front on a "instant upgrade" ticket, CO will.

I no doubt agree that there are definitely out there in the scenario. But from what i've heard, which may mean nothing, that's more of a minority of the general population and not the majority. I used to be one of those myself and I'm sure one day I will be in that boat again, but with my current job 80% of my travel is in full-Y.

I hope this isn't a thread hijack, but I also am experiencing problems with the system today. My silver wife, silver daughter, and myself gold, are flying CO1485 tomorrow all on seperate PNR's. I was watching for an EUA upgrade for my gold a couple of days out, but when it did not arrive, I didn't think it was a big deal as F cabin was farely full. At T-23:55 when I prechecked each of us this morning, each passenger was denied printing boarding passes, because "documents needed to be verified" at the airport. My Daughter and myself use US passports and my wife, Costa Rican.

I called the elite desk who passed me to the internet desk, who told me that she had had a similar problem earlier and that it was being worked on, and to try again latter. None of us were yet showing checked in, and none of us were on the upgrade list on the PDA site. About 8 hours latter I went to the local continental office to check us in for the flight. The agent said all was well and checked us all in on the seats we had on our reservation. Each boarding pass showing our elite status and onepass number.

Two hours latter I checked the PDA site, and none of us are showing as on the upgrade waitlist. Again the Elite desk had no way of checking the PDA list or to see if we are on the waitlist, so off again to the internet desk, were I was told to ask tomorrow at the airport to be added to the upgrade wait list.

All this makes me courious if our onepass numbers are invisible to the computers even though upgrades were toggled on for all three, and if we'll be further down the list because the system does not seem to be working. On this particular flight our chances were not the best because of space available, (even worse on our conection to ORD CO146) but I sure would like to see our names on the list.

I will be making Plat on the return of this trip, but I did buy the most dirt cheap fare I could find, so maybe I don't even get list status.

What do A fares say? The nerve of CO giving a first time flier a seat up front before a Plat just because they paid a little more. If that's not a disconnect, why are Y-ups a disconnect?

Of course CO cares more about money; CO cares about loyalty insofar as it's a proxy for money.

This is exactly why fozz is off-base. A no-status flyer on a paid "A" fare is certainly entitled to the last first class seat over a Platinum trying to purchase an "A" fare if the no-status flyer purchases it first.

The elite Y-UP program is effectively a fare discount, and it's valid for ALL elites. It equates to roughly $50-100 off the paid first class fare, which has the side benefit of sometimes allowing business travelers to get around coach-only travel policies. There's really no reason to segment this program according to elite status.