What determines the rank of those on a first class upgrade wait list? I have been told various stories by employees, the two most common being...
1. time of check in
2. some unknown ranking policy known only by the computer

Does anyone know the real story?

Welcome to FT, yogimax.

Search is still down, so I'll sum up previous discussions:

Nobody outside NW really knows for sure. The big one that everyone agrees on is that elite status is the number one factor--a Plat will always top a Gold or Silver; a Gold will always top a Silver. Within the elite status levels, fare class, the date the ticket was purchased, and the time of checkin are all thought/rumored to be factors, but whether or not all of these come into play and what order of importance they have is not known.

true, unless you have a GAFH (gate agent from hell), then silvers can trump plats.

it seems many ppl would like to know the exact order, does anyone on here have a contact at northwest that can answer the question. when is flyertalk going to have a live chat with a NW exec?

Exactly what happened to me last week...we had a rude GAFH and a silver topped a number of plats (including myself) and golds (including my wife) - and I was told that I was number one on the list - go figure

Full Fare passengers and Paid First Class always have precidence over any elites booked on discounted fares for gate upgrade. Sometimes passenger of such type fares change to earlier or later flights and hurt your chances for a gate upgrade.... Although, I must admit, I agree with the fact that gate agents should have the right to use his/her discretion for the final determination of the gate upgrade seats.

Jiburi

>>>>>I agree with the fact that gate agents should have the right to use his/her discretion for the final determination of the gate upgrade seats.

But don't they then get the opportunity to get sentimental, or enjoy playing god, or get succumbed by charm? Then we are back to everybody sidling up to the GA with smarmy smiles, and those who didn't clean the parsley out of their teeth are the ones who don't get the upgrade--even though they have higher status. It takes determination, inconvenience, and often significant cost to follow the rules to earn status--why should it go out the window if a person is somehow less appealing to a gate agent?

I don't believe Jiburi meant to say that elite status should go out the window - just that there may be special cases where the situation may call for a slightly different decision. So I am with Jiburi here, but I also acknowledge that it takes a good gate agent (and not a GAFH) to make this decision responsibly.

- Martin

At this moment in time I cannot think of any good reason why a GA should be allowed to make that decison. Please convince me otherwise!!

I agree. Can't see how discretion can make it fairer. I was on a CO IAH-HNL flight a while ago, and because of equipment switch (Mike 764 - regular), my carefully selected bulkhead window seat vanished. I was assigned a middle seat.

I asked redcoat for help, pointing out my plat status. He didn't care. And then I saw him pick people randomly from the crowd to op-up.

IMHO no discretion should be allowed. The fact that agents never think I belong in F (I ususally get a double take at the gate) does not affect this opinion in any way.

Why have guidelines for doing the upgrades if they are not followed? I agree that paid F and Y-Up pax have priority over elites, but isn't that all part of the same system that GA should follow?

I'm sorry, but I know this guy was Silver and I was number one at 45 minutes prior to departure. Is it really that likely that someone showed up in DTW, and bought a ticket to SLC within 45 minutes of the flight leaving?

The only reason he got his seat was that his wife/girlfriend had the seat next to the empty one (it was only empty because someone missed his/her connection). The GA even told this guy (sitting right behind me) that if the flight leaves with the seat empty (which it shouldn't do if there are unupgraded elites on board) that he can take the seat once airborn. Seems to me that this GAFH (and she was a GAFH, very rude) simply got sweet-talked by this guy into letting him sit next to his wife in F and simply disregarded all procedures for upgrading elites, thus letting a Silver trump multiple Plats and Golds. Situations like that simply should not happen.

I'm not sure about this. I've been told that full fare passengers (booked in coach classes like Y or B) do NOT have precidence over elites. But, yes, paid first class passengers DO. (And, IMHO - they should.)


(edited for spelling)

I agree that high-fare basis does not necessarily trump status.

On Dec 26 2004, I was traveling FLL-RNO on an "F" fare. My FLL-MSP flight was delayed by weather, so I missed the last MSP-RNO flight of the day. An agent in the WC booked me on NW from MSP-LAS, then HP from LAS-RNO. F was full on the MSP-LAS flight, so my new paper ticket was a "Y" fare, but the ticket I was had "Original fare basis = F" printed on it.

When several F pax didn't show for the flight, the GA started upgrading those on the waitlist--I asked if I got bumped to the front of the list due to my fare class, but was told that I had two plats ahead of me on the list (I don't know what fares they paid, but the GA seemed to indicate it was simply their status beating mine, not a combination of status and fares). I ended up sitting in coach.

All of the replies indicate there is tremendous confusion regarding this issue. My guess is that NW monitors these posts (if they are smart). Please NW, give a definitive answer. Is there a hard and firm rule or some rule or guideline that can be superceded by gate agents?

This reminds me of the lyrics to a pop-song from the 90's... "Things that make you go, hmmmmm..."

A few blind guesses... perhaps the Silver Elite PAX was on a full-fare and they slipped their original departure from earlier in that day and wound up on your flight? Another possibility, maybe the Silver Elite PAX was actually a high ranking non-rev traveling on NW business, or perhaps a Federal Air Marshal (FAM) traveling on or off-duty? Just some possibilities. If it were up to me, that seat would have had your name all over it!

-A

Thanks, those are options I hadn't considered.

I actually wrote to Beth and to Customer Care. Customer Care responded within 2 hours and gave both me and my wife (who was unaffected other than she had to put up with me the entire time ) each 7,500 miles. Much more than anything I would have expected. They are also forwarding my complaint to DTW management and starting an investigation. I'm very happy with the resolution, but just want to make sure that policies were enforced properly (if the policies are not clear, that's another problem). From what the FAs said on the flight, it happens a lot more than what we think.