Status Upgrade or Bid, Priority?
 

Which upgrade takes priority, the Status upgrades or the bids?
Once the miles post from my trip last week I will be at Silver Status. When there are seats available, does silver status have priority over people that bid?

I fly PTY-LAX monthly, how common is it to receive the Status Upgrade on that route? The last time i flew back from LAX on the 10:00 flight there were 4 empty seats in Business class, is that typical?

Greg

For priority of upgrades, I vaguely recall that once in a survey or explanation of the future ConnectMiles program, they clearly emphasized that "status upgrades" would always have precedence over bid upgrades.


LAX is reported in other posts here to be one of the more difficult status upgrades to score. It's the only one I have missed in the past 2 years, but that was when it was still under MileagePlus and I was a 1K.

If you don't clear as a silver, you definitely won't be clearing with an upgrade bid :)

Copa prefer to reward elites over making the extra $$$

Generally Silvers get upgraded at ~7.30am EST the day before you are flying - bids get processsed a few hours after this

As 2nd poster said, it's one of the harder routes. Some flights leave full, others have a couple of seats open. Luck of the draw

Flying to LAX monthly, should get you to Plat next year :)

At my current rate I will be Plat by May, and Pres Plat by Aug/Sep.

Another question.

How do the upgrades work with companions? Next month my daughter may travel with me, what will be the best way to get us both in Business Class? Do I need to be on my own reservation in order to get the Status upgrade? Then as a companion will she be standby behind all other status upgrades as well as any bidders?

Book separate reservations (or split PNRs if you have already booked) - I prefer to book on same and then split PNR AFTER selecting seats (5A for companion and 5B for myself). You will keep these seats after splitting.

At X hours (~24/48/etc) you will clear. When you get to the airport ask for daughter to be placed on upgrade list, if its not offered to you. Make sure she is physically on the list - I have had cases where I am told that companion is on the list, but they are not.

Companion will be behind lower lever elites (should have already cleared), bid upgraders (also should have cleared) and then behind other companions who have a higher status than you. Companion will generally clear if space at 60 minutes before the flight. On a very empty flight, my companion cleared at about 100 minutes before, but its generally 60 mins

If you choose to not split the PNR, you will be upgraded a bit after you arrive at the airport and your companion will clear at the gate - you will have to ask for them to be put on the list as before

I have no CM status. Bid (for 2) cleared at 48 hrs in advance on YYZ-PTY.

Wow. How full was it when you cleared? Maybe they had cleared everyone else and had room left for last minute elites. 5 tickets available for tomorrow and 1 for Wednesday

Copa system is vey delayed/messed up today. We are flying tomorrow and while i received the upgrade email this morning, the reservation area still has me listed in my economy seat and says I'm in economy. I had to call them to select seats. My gf (silver) had the same thing happen this afternoon.

I was watching the upgrade list, her email and the seating map carefully today. GFs 5A seat was open to be taken at least 4 hours before she received the upgrade email

Fly 10/19.
Cleared at 48 hrs, couldn't check in/select seats until 36 hours.
When I checked in there were 10 open seats up front. Picked 4D/F.

Interesting. More than 24 hours until departure and only 1 space left.

I hope they are not changing policy and this was a weird glitch.

Also, row 4 generally doing recline as well as rows 1/2/3. It's definitely a lot less on the older 800s. Row 2 & 3 are my go to ones if available. Enjoy the flight!

We moved to row 3. Great seats. VOD was decent.

I found it odd they took orders before take off but didn't start service for 2 hours. They also ran out of many items. No fish left when order taken, no white wine refill with entree, no caramel sauce for ice cream. Yes, these are 1st world problems.

In the end. It was well worth the $200/pp upgrade cost on a 5.5 hr flight.

My return PTY-YYZ on Tuesday evening has cleared (@ 48 hrs). No email yet but I can see the fare code has changed from L to R.

Happy times!

Nice, only 8 booked into business class so far for the flight. So maybe the system is clearing bid upgraders earlier when the loads are lighter

Flight went out with light loads in front and back.
Only 8/16 seats occupied up front.

I am silver and my upgrades clear at the gate before boarding. Is this normal? Or do they just tell me they are not sure if I will be upgraded at check in but already have been?

You should be clearing at about 7am EST the day before your flight (in general, but their system is messed up and a bit slow for the last couple of weeks at least).

Make sure to have your connectmiles number on your reservation.

Are you silver from flying or from a credit card (I wonder if this makes a difference)? What route(s) has this been happening to you on? Do you have someone else on the reservation with you also? If so, then you will only clear, in general, between checking in at the airport and the gate.

You can split the PNR over the phone. You should clear the day before and you can get your companion on the upgrade list at the checkin desk. They will clear at the gate before non-revs.

You should receive an email when you are upgraded and should be able to select your seat up front under the My Reservations part of the site. At online check-in too, it will allow you to select a seat up front - if you have already checked in online then you can edit your seat on the same page