How intensely do you chase up your waitlisted flights?

[jonleong]

Just curious how intensely folks chase up on their waitlisted flights

[CarbonMan]

All depends on how close the flight is and how important it is that I have to be on it.

[Dickson]

I typically check "expertflyer" to see how full the flight is. Most of the time, the flight is not completely full but the booking class (on which my ticket is purchased) is full. In that case, I know that the chances of getting WL cleared is very high. So I'll instruct the call centre staff to "send a message to the controller to chase". For PPS Solitaire members, this can be quite effective and the WL can be cleared rather quickly.
Sometimes the Business class cabin is indeed full but I can see the next higher class (eg : First Class) is wide open. In this case, I'lll still put myself on WL and ask them to send a chaser. Because closer to the actual travel date, the controller may allow business class to be overbooked, since pax can be upgraded. And in some cases, this was indeed what happened.

[demue]

If I waitlist on SQ and need to go to a location in a certain period then usually I have or work on an easily cancellable / flexible alternative (err not a LM redemption ). Then I just see what happens. As a KF Basic there isn't really much "pull" I can exert so I save my time and rather not wait 20-30mins for an agent every time I want to trigger a chaser.

However, I do check the route or alternative options (e.g. LAX vs. SFO or MUC vs. FRA etc.) regularly to see if something pops up.

[mingster]

In a nutshell.. very intensely. I usually send a chaser to the almighty seat controller via ringing up the call centre. Most of the time it clears except for a trip to Melbourne last October although I had a backup F in place as the J never cleared. Earlier this year I was waitlisted and rang up 3 times as my wife/son were already confirmed. It never cleared but 1 week before I noticed there was award seat availability so just booked it and cancelled the waitlist while informing them that their system was a little buggy. Most recently I had 4 seats already booked and waitlisted my mother in-law. Waitlist hadn't cleared after 2 weeks so with 1 month to go I rang up and told them the whole family was booked while she was still on the WL and to please give the seat controller a nudge. 2 hours later I got the magic sms to say it had cleared. I've got no status with KF so I guess I've just been lucky so far.

[LHR]

I've been calling once every couple of weeks for flights to London where me and my wife have commercial tickets but my kids are on redemption wait list. No luck yet.

[726]

i never waitlist since 2008.... i always book around 10 months in advance, and always check the availability beforehand, in case of upgrade, by phone.

Before that, que sera, sera, but normally I got the upgrade.