Clearing the "G" Waitlist
 

Is this done automatically by the computer or does a human make the decision?

What criteria is used to determine whether to clear a waitlisted "G" pax versus holding the seat for a potential rev "F" pax? In other words, I know it's capacity controlled but how does DL determine how much capacity to control? Do they save, for example, 2 seats 7 days out, 4 seats 14 days out, etc., for rev pax?

How far in advance does the waitlist start to clear?

Does it clear earlier if you have status (PM/GM) or if you've paid a higher fare class (e.g., M clears 21 days, Q clears 14 days, K clears 7 days, etc.)?

Any insight as to how this works (if there is consistency) is appreciated.

[This message has been edited by hi-guy (edited 06-09-2000).]

I'll never profess to understand yield management, so I'll defer the capacity controls part to someone more verse.

But in terms of who clears the wait list first....a PM can request and get an upgrade at time of booking, as long as it's available and they are traveling on an upgradeable fare. GMs can request an upgrade within 72 hours of flight and SM within 24 hours. (Same rules apply to availability and fare). All of the above can go on a waitlist (assuming it's not closed) for F if it is not available when their time window opens up.

In other words, a SM could not waitlist for a G upgrade prior to 24 hours of departure.

[This message has been edited by harold (edited 06-09-2000).]

I think the 24 hr and 72 hr restrictions are for upgrades using upgrade points and these are booked in "V" class while upgrades using systemwides are booked in "G" and should be confirmable at the time of booking for every medallion level.

I was wait listed once in G and the waitlist cleared around a week after I had booked (though around 3 weeks before the actual flight).

Bringing forward. Hoping to hear from some DL employees. Russ, DLGirl?

Last week, I tried to upgrade on DL using segment upgrades and my Silver Medallion status. At the gate on the 1st flight, they issued a boarding pass. They said there was 1 F seat on the connecting flight and would waitlist me, not issue me an upgrade. About 45 min. before departure of the connection, I went to the gate and got the boarding pass. I think I saw a list of people waiting for upgrades.

Incidentally, that flight was diverted to Denver because of a fight on board.

There is no simple formula for how many seats they hold out at a given time. It depends on the booking history of that particular flight on that day of the week in that season. A flight that has a history of many last-minute F bookings could have a large number of seats set aside, while another flight (say, from a vacation spot) that tends to get more advance bookings and more coach bookings will have fewer even if they're on the same type of aircraft and the same number of days out.

What they essentially do is add the current bookings to a high statistical percentile of expected future bookings - so they're pretty sure, though never absolutely positive, that they'll be able to handle the demand. As the departure date approaches the number of current bookings goes up and the statistically expected future bookings go down. So does its variance, so they can cut things a bit closer as the flight approaches.

Fortunately, they have computers to do this for them.

Upgrade policy/procedures are never clear to me and I have been PM since it started. Hope to make that gagain, but may need a mileage run in Nov.