Publishing the Waitlist
 

Why does UA publish the waitlist names and positions after check-in but not before-hand. Why are the phone agents also so clandestine about telling you how long the waitlist is (and where you reside on the list)? Why not just publish the waitlist on a running basis and let customers see where they stand? Ultimately I end up calling, hoping I get an agent who can/will tell me where I stand when I would much prefer just watching online...

because it might confuse us.

Publishing the Waitlist
 

There's no list unless someone checks in...that's how the system is built

probably for a variety of reason but one is there are two different lists.

The "published" one is the gate waitlist which includes CPU, YBM and GPU/RPU/miles folks -- that is not published until OLCI starts and you will not be shown until you check-in.

Then there is the "waitlist" used before the gate -- it is different for a couple of reasons, such as folks outside their elite window are not eligible yet. It is my understanding this list is not a prioritized waitlist, not sorted but a list of those eligible to be considered for upgrades. The system dynamic builds a list each time a sweep is done and then throws away the prioritized list. So there is no way for the phone agent to tell you your position - just that you are on the list.

+100 hahaha.

I don't think the phone agents can even authoritatively tell you that you're on the list. They can tell you you meet the criteria for upgrades (e.g., you're an Elite, you're on a revenue ticket, your Elite status shows, it looks good). But they can't tell you with certainty that EUA will see you at the next sweep.

thanks for the further insight -- most of what I understand of this "process" comes from your posts, so hope I got the rest right.

You forgot the fact that employees depending on their union contract can knock someone out with positive space and even some Non Revs can bump people + Air Marshalls. More than enough reasons to not publish a list until gate

do GPUs/SWUs/Y-ups that are confirmed at the time of booking show in the "confirmed upgrades" list on .bomb/mobile/at the gate? it makes it hard to tell how many CPUs were actually issued for a given flight.

I for one would like to see the waitlist for transparency sake. The quickest way to quell a conspiracy theory is to be honest and open.

For example, today I saw something happen with the waitlist for UA 976 IAD-DXB on Sept 15 that makes me uncomfortable.

As of Sept 12 - 777 new configuration(40 BF, 8 GF) - A3 F3 C3 D1 Z1

As of Sept 13 9am - 777 old configuration(49 BF, 12 GF) - flight status reported 4 GF and 39 BF seats sold

As of Sept 13 4pm - 777 old configuration - flight status reported 5 GF sold, 4 GF blocked and BF as full.

How did UA manage to fill/sell/upgrade 10 BF seats in a few hours? The BF waitlist for this flight is rarely longer than 5-6 people, sometimes 10. I'm a bit baffled as to how an 11 seats became 0 and I nor my companion got upgraded? We also got moved from an aisle and window to middle seats on the equipment change.

My reservation still lists the waitlist with the new seats. What could have happened? I'd feel much better if I could see the waitlist.

Next step SMI/J might remove this info. watch out. :eek:

Ten replies so far, and no one has suggested the obvious: They don't want you knowing where you are on the list before you check in. If you "need" to be in a premium class, and knew you were at/near the top of the waitlist, would you pay for the seat instead? If you have no idea, you are more inclined to pay for it. It helps to sell F seats.

This is also proprietary info - if its open to you as a pax, its open to anyone, and I don't think UA would want their competitors looking at this data far in advance. This data, IMHO, will never be publicly available.

all good points and true, in addition, the list is probably quite dynamic at >48hrs from departure, with tickets still being sold and business folk canceling plans at the last minute, etc. i don't think the list would be very meaningful at 3, 4 or 5 days out from departure.

plus in my experience as a gold, i never get upgraded anymore anyways, so looking at the list just makes me angry. case in point - tomorrow IAH-FLL, i'm 3rd on the list for 3 remaining seats and plenty of possible TODs yet to check in i'm sure.

I don't think that they always have sinister intentions. They just have lousy technology.

maybe but remember it was never available for PMUA either and only at the gate PMUA late in the game.

IME, the agent can tell you that you're on the list in some situations. I've been waitlisted for mileage upgrades from Y class and when I called two days ago, she confirmed how many people were on the list, but there was no indication of priority. She told me she could only see the waitlist alphabetically by last name. Sounded like she had to manually count the names though to tell me how many on the waitlist for each flight.

That's a bit different. Mileage upgrades (and GPU/RPU upgrades) have an actual waitlist.

It's CPU/EUA upgrades where the waitlist is generated dynamically.

Publishing a waitlist, then when you move down a spot specifically telling you why would be a boon.

You are now 9th. You were 8th but HAL/R, a 1K, joined the list at 4th as they have an E fare and you have a K fare.

Really not that tough to track/report. And it would end calls to customer service to explain why.

Too much information, IMO. You've been moved down the list because someone with a higher status level and/or fare class is now on the list. That's always the reason, so why the need to call out who the individual is? Just post this on the list itself. The upgrade list should never refer to anyone's status, IMO.

This case actually looks like they are contemplating switching back to a new config. The 4 GF blocked take out the seats that would disappear and the disappearance of the BF seats would correspond to the smaller cabin also.

Too much information is also dangerous, agreed.

In that regard, I've never understood why they publish the full standby on the website anyway.

You don't need to know everyone's initials. You just need to know you're #6 of 14 for 3 open seats.

But then they'd need a way for you to query a name so that you could see your traveling companion and all us IT folks know how challenging implementing a query can be. ;)

Actually, I think you're thinking upside-down about this.

If people "need" to be in F/C, and they see that there's already 10 people on a waitlist, I would think they'd be MORE inclined to buy one of the available revenue seats, because they'd see that there was little or no chance that they're going to be u/g.

Of course, caveat emptor... the likely result of this would be that the list would end up crammed with GS/1K pax who feel they have a good chance of being upgraded, meanwhile the lower-status flyers would buy the seats out from under them.

As much as the engineer in me wants this data, I think that higher-tier flyers actually have a better chance of being upgraded if this information is NOT public. Right now, it's a guessing game where everybody lives in hope, equally... So be careful what you ask for.

DL has the view upgrade list in the PNR.

There are even people who buy tickets and pay for their seats ! Not that they should bump an elite who is entitled.