Yesteday on 10/13 I was on flight 1545 from CLE to IAH continuing on flight 553 from IAH to PDX. I got the IAH-PDX upgrade on the 8th but didn't get the upgrade from CLE to IAH. I used OLCI on Sunday about 22 hours out and it put me on the waitlist. I checked the PDA site and I was #3 on the list.

I am Plat and was on an H fare purchased on Aug 26 so in theory the only people ahead of me should have been other Plats on H fares purchased before me (or Ys that didn't clear at time of purchase). The PDA site also showed 16 booked in F. This didn't surprise me since last week when I looked CO.com wouldn't sell me a seat in F on the flight. The PDA site also showed 6 people upgraded into F. I figured they were Y fares or mileage upgrades.

On Monday morning I checked the PDA site and it showed 11 booked in F with 6 upgraded. I was still #3 on the list. By the time I got to the airport it was showing 12 booked in F and I'm still #3.

I got the upgrade at the gate and settled into 4B. I said to the guy sitting next to me that "this was a tough upgrade" bit I was glad I got it. He said that he got the upgrade email last week and was gold on a discount fare. Am I missing something here or did I get skipped over when the EUA ran? How could a gold on a discount fare get upgraded over a Plat on an H fare? Does anyone know why this would happen? It's not worth PMing Scott over, I'm just curious. By the way there were 42 people on the Upgrade Standby list when the door was shut.

That is weird... sounds like you should have been upgraded 5 days out... especially being a Plat on a H fare...

Not necessarily, but the OP certainly should have been upgraded ahead of a gold on a non-Y fare. I'm assuming that they didn't have a second passenger on the PNR, right?

True, some seats may have been held back still... but a gold on a non-Y fare should have been under a platinum for sure...

Maybe gold is the new platinum? Sure hope not... as I'd ask for my gold status back in that case, lol.

No, there was no one else on the PNR. I was the only one travelling.

I don't believe that elite "Y" upgrades show as upgrades on the PDA site. I sat next to a "Y" guy CLE-DEN this past Sunday and he was not shown as an upgrade.

Mileage upgrades do show as upgrades.

By the way, I hope that Scott has a look at this one...it doesn't smell right at all.

I'm pretty sure that Y-Ups do show on the PDA list but am certain that REVUPs to/from HNL do not.

Y-Ups do show up on PDA site as upgrades, I fly them weekly and my name is always there.

It's possible that one purchases what they believe is a Y fare, but really ends up in R. I've seen this happen a number of times when booking thru Amex travel for work. So, perhaps he thought he bought a coach fare but was really in the pointy-end.

Hi PDXbound, glad you got the upgrade. To clarify, the customer seated next to you was a Gold member traveling on an instant-upgrade (full Y-fare) ticket. These instant-upgrade fares have no capacity controls and are always prioritized ahead of all other fares (in Elite tier order). In this customer's case, the upgrade wasn't confirmed at the time of ticketing, but was able to be confirmed when our Elite Upgrade Automation (EUA) began for this flight 5 days out.

Everything worked as designed!

Thanks for looking into this Scott. The pax beside me said he was on a discount fare which is why I posted. He said he always bought the cheapest tickets and we talked about how tough CLE-IAH upgrades can be so I assumed he would have know if he was on a Y fare and would have said so when we were chatting. I know that Golds or Silvers on Y fares have priority over my H fare. Thanks again.

I know these are the rules, but it REALLY bugs me that Continental believes a Silver or Gold on a Y deserves the upgrade before a Platinum on an H. On the route I flew while making platinum, the Y vs. H price delta was 10% or less. However, these flights were purchased by my company travel agent and I did not have flexibility to buy the more expensive fare.

+1 This has been a long standing peeve of mine.

Money talks. That extra 10% gets them the upgrade, and their company travel agent is likely making the decision there, too. The rules have been this way for years now, and I have no problem with rewarding someone who is already an elite and who is spending the most money possible on a Y ticket with priority for the upgrade.

+1 - For several years I used to lament the fact that the AS upgrade pecking order was first-booked, first-upgraded regardless of fare class paid. Always thought "why does someone, regardless of status (I was gold at the time) deserve to get the F seat when I paid more for the Y." CO understands that those who pay more for the Y seat should go to the front of the line and I am happy that this has and does hold true for EUAs.

Could be, but I checked the list and he wasn't noted as an upgrade. When I jokingly accused him of buying a FC seat, he told me that he always Y-upped on that particular flight. Since he is on that flight every week, I took him at his word. He specifically said that his company would not reimburse him for the purchase of a FC ticket, even if it was less expensive than a "Y" fare.

Relative to the "bucket" that Y-ups come from (if any), note that mileage upgrades (which come from the "F" bucket) may NOT be available on flights that can be Y-upped (I just checked DEN-EWR on 11-7-2008). This suggests that some Y-ups do not come from the "F" bucket. Since Scott indicated that the Gold mentioned in the OP was upgraded via EUA at the 5-day window, he was likely assigned a seat from the "F" bucket, and may well appear on the PDA site's "upgraded" cohort.

It may be that some Y-ups do appear as upgrades, whereas others do not.