Originally Posted by
tagflyer
A month ago, I flew HNL-EWR-OSL and tried to upgrade with a single GPU. HNL-EWR was upgraded immediatly to First. The last leg, EWR-OSL, was never upgraded (it was waitlisted) as BusinessFirst became full.
The terms on united.com states that if the BusinessFirst leg is not upgraded, the GPU should be returned. I wrote to MileagePlus, but the they tell me that since the longest segment was upgraded, the GPU can not be redeposited. The "longest leg" term is also a part of the wiki in this thread, but I can't find any reference to that rule on united.com.
Is the reply I got from MileagePlus correct, or should I try to call someone instead of sending e-mails?
An update on how this played out:
I wrote another e-mail and got a reply that said they could switch my GPU with a RPU since only the domestic part of the trip had been upgraded.
I was still not satisfied with this solution, so I made a call to see if I could find out more about how they were thinking. First, the agent argued that I had been upgraded on the longest segment. I referred him to the GPU terms on united.com regarding non-upgraded BusinessFirst flights, and then I had to wait while he was consulting with his colleagues. Then he told me that they thought of both legs as international flights, and I had been upgraded on the longest segment. He also said that I should have been charged 2 GPUs instead of one. The transfer time in EWR was about 6 hours, but it was the the only direct flight EWR-OSL. I had to explain that it was a domestic flight, and even if it had BusinessFirst seats, the service was only domestic. He also insisted that I could not upgrade EWR-HNL with a RPU, only a GPU. After telling him about the upgrade overview grid on the web site, there was more waiting on the phone until he gave in and redeposited my GPU.
Conclusion:
If you have not been upgraded on your BusinessFirst leg when using a GPU, you should have the GPU redeposited, regardless of the length of the other segments.
I'm not sure what happens if there are several BusinessFirst segments involved, e.g. OSL-EWR-IAH-GIG, and you only get upgraded on one of them. Maybe the longest segment rule comes into play, but united.com is not clear on this case.