Yup, was using this as an example from my experience to reinforce that it is #3 not 1 or 2.

iahphx, you keep ignoring the very clear text that WineCountryUA put in bold for you.

And, you keep saying things as if we're disagreeing with them, when we're not. No one has said that the online list is not the gate list, or that you shouldn't ignore it.

it is incorrect to assume the gate list is by status only -- as United clearly states there are multiple factors in determining the priority lists.

Although the online list isn't fully compiled until departure time because one doesn't show up until one checks in (hence why you probably was told to ignore it until you show up at the airport).

I most certainly am NOT ignoring what WineCountryUA is saying. He is referencing language in the "5-day-list." I am not talking about that list. I am talking about the Airport Upgrade Standby List (aka the "public list").

This list is definitely different from the 5-day list but, despite what the website states, it is clearly NOT primarily determined based on elite status tier.

No he's not!!!!!!111!!elevendy-one!!!!111! omfg this is so frustrating.

Please, for the sake of all that is holy, go back and read it. And if that doesn't do the trick, read it twenty more times.

WE, AND THE WEBSITE, ARE TALKING ABOUT THE AIRPORT/GATE/PUBLIC LIST!

Just to make it easy, here is the key quote from WineCountryUA's post: "At 24 hours from departure, waitlists will expire and automatic processing of upgrades, per the priority listed above, will continue."

And just in case that is still not clear to you, what it says is that there is such a thing as the gate list, and that list shall have the same priority as the EUA list (what you call the "5-day list").

Again, you can argue until you're blue in the face, but the website most certainly does not state that and, as I and others have reported, it is very possible to be upgraded on the 5-day-list ahead of people of the 24-hour list, based either on random computer glitches (possible) or a different ordering of upgrade priorities.

That's exactly what the website says. You can have a theory, suspicion, or belief that UA processes differently from what the website says will happen, but that doesn't alter what the website says.

Whaaaaaaaa???? I don't even begin to understand what you're trying to say???? I feel like I'm talking in some kind of alien language or something. Or you are.

Also, no one is arguing. We're just telling you how it works.

What you're talking about is perfectly consistent with the explanation we've given you. There is no 24-hour list. There is a gate list. The EUA list keeps running until you're at the gate. That's why people think they've been "skipped."

There are two lists. They have the same priority. That priority has lots of people trump 1K's. All of this is right there on the website.

What is so hard about this????????????????????????????????????????????

It can vary slightly, by a few spots, since the CPU list uses time of ticketing as the tie breaker while the airport list uses time of check in. So if there are 4 1Ks on W fare where A bought first and D bought last. But D checks in first followed by C, A, B... Then the airport list will show D C A B. however, the system uses the CPU list until one hour before departure.

So if the upgrade runs at 4 hours out clearing two customers for two remaining F seats then A and B will jump over C and D even though C and D is showing up as #1 and 2 on the list. But, if the upgrade does not run until the gate agent runs the upgrade 30 minutes before the flight then D and C will get the upgrade.

But aside from the tie breaker, priority is the same.

Right. This is often the explanation for "skipping."

The conversation with the OP is like telling someone the sky is blue and having them say "why are you saying the sky is green?!?!?!"

And here I thought those line-jumpers were all TODs or FOGA (Friends of Gate Agent).