Difference between 'pending' and 'waitlisted' UG
 

I know what 'waitlisted' means when one requests an upgrade but I have just requested a domestic upgrade (using 500 miles upgrade paper) and dotBomb tells me that the upgrade is 'pending' (whereas a request for the outgoing flight on the same journey just notes 'waitlisted'. Does 'pending' simply mean 'about to be waitlisted' or what...?

Pending shows when you request the upgrade. Waitlisted shows when you are within your window for upgrade.

Pending=outside your clearance window for an e500 upgrade. As a 1p, your window opens 72 hours before the flight. A that time you'll either be confirmed or waitlisted.

Thanks for that clarification!
 

Thanks for the clarification!

And I have yet to figure out the waitlist thing. This is strange to me but maybe not to you who know better. My wife and I are both Premier Exec with United. We both booked round trip tickets at the same time on the same flight. We both requested upgrade at the exact same time on two different computers.

The flight departs tomorrow and I have been upgraded. She was waitlisted at the exact same time and still is.

Yes, I'll be a good husband and cancel my upgrade to sit with her if she isn't upgraded. But it is still a mystery to me why I was upgraded before she was.

There is no such thing as "the exact same time" when making multiple transactions. You made the request before she did.. it may have been 1 second apart (or less than a second)..but that's more than enough time for a computer to be able to distinguish. You were in before her and 1 seat was available so you got it.

In computer terms, "same time" can be harder to achieve than you'd think; likely one request went in slightly ahead of the other.

Of course that is the reason. Thanks for the replies.

Well, actually ...

The really good husband would give his upgraded seat to the wife and sit in Y himself. At least that way, one of you gets to sit in C/F. And if only one will be there, experience says it had better be the wife. :D

I had just checked an upcoming itinerary MR to TPA: outgoing upgrade request with e500's(PENDING). CR-1 home(WAITLISTED).:rolleyes:
Confused, I knew enough to do a search. Now I know.
Thank you flyertalkers!:p