As I was waiting for my red eye on United from LAX to BWI, I was called to the gate. The agent upgraded me from Economy Plus to First. I do not have a United account, but I am a silver on US. Is this normal? Regardless, what a surprise.

As I was waiting for my red eye on United from LAX to BWI, I was called to the gate. The agent upgraded me from Economy Plus to First. I do not have a United account, but I am a silver on US. Is this normal? Regardless, what a surprise.

I've never heard of this either, but I hope it is a trend. I'm on a UA trip early next month I wouldn't mind being bumped up on.

I would also like to see US start implementing a real E+ type service of their own, for us poor sots who don't get an upgrade due to full capacity flights. I'm glad US can fill their aircraft, but the selfish part of me likes an empty seat next to me... :p

This happened to me once this past winter on a UA flight from ORD - MSP. I was bumped to first, but I believe it was to free up my E+ seat to accomodate some standby customers. I'll take an upgrade anyway I can get it!!!

This happened to me once this past winter on a UA flight from ORD - MSP. I was bumped to first, but I believe it was to free up my E+ seat to accomodate some standby customers. I'll take an upgrade anyway I can get it!!!


Same thing happened to me ORD-LGA about 2 years ago. I was US CP but had been flying through ORD on UA just about every week that summer. It was a very pleasant surprise to be called to the podium and simply told "Thanks for flying United" while given an F boarding pass. ^

It appears to me that UA and 3 other carriers are very much on to US's problems. Last week, on a paid F fair BOS-SFO on UA they upgraded a non- UA FF friend of mine (discounted Y) to F so that she could sit with me. I was impressed a great deal. It is nice to be treated well by surprise, which seldom happens at US now.

Month ago I was flying from SJU to ORD and was on a full Y fare got upgraded to Business as well being Gold with US Air.

It appears to me that UA and 3 other carriers are very much on to US's problems. Last week, on a paid F fair BOS-SFO on UA they upgraded a non- UA FF friend of mine (discounted Y) to F so that she could sit with me. I was impressed a great deal. It is nice to be treated well by surprise, which seldom happens at US now.

Maybe they're trying to get us to switch to the dark side...Hmmmm

It sounds like Y was oversold, and you were the lucky recipient of an operational upgrade. What most likely happened is that the gate agent went through the list and started upgrading UA elites who didn't already upgrade with miles/certs, and then the Star Alliance golds. Once all of the UA/*G elites were upgraded, they moved onto the * Silver elites. It doesn't happen often, but enjoy it when it does, and consider yourself lucky!

As I was waiting for my red eye on United from LAX to BWI, I was called to the gate. The agent upgraded me from Economy Plus to First. I do not have a United account, but I am a silver on US. Is this normal? Regardless, what a surprise.

No, this is NOT normal on UA. In particular on a transcon (albeit a redeye), you should have run out and purchased a lottery ticket upon your arrival in BWI. :D Even as a 1K on UA, I regularly have a hard time securing upgrades on transcons even when using confirmed instruments (i.e. CR-1's and SWU's). Consider yourself very lucky to have been selected for a random (and very rare) act of kindness by a UA gate agent.

Maybe they're trying to get us to switch to the dark side...Hmmmm


Hey, just wondering what the fabled "dark side" is?? It seems that the US side is getting quite dark, and I have flown Kenya Airways (NBO-MBA), Viet Nam Airways (SGN-REP), Nigeria Airways (LOS-PHC) and Lab Bolivia (LPB-SRE).

Hey, just wondering what the fabled "dark side" is?? It seems that the US side is getting quite dark, and I have flown Kenya Airways (NBO-MBA), Viet Nam Airways (SGN-REP), Nigeria Airways (LOS-PHC) and Lab Bolivia (LPB-SRE).

You are a brave soul. The closest I've come to that is either an Air India 747-400 or an Alaska Air National Guard C-130.

You are a brave soul. The closest I've come to that is either an Air India 747-400 or an Alaska Air National Guard C-130.

Lagos to Port Harcourt is quite a ride. I have done it r/t 3 times on the same exact a/c. Every single aspect about Nigeria makes me nervous. Nothing else in life dioes so.

This happened to me last month on a Saturday morning LAX-BWI NS. I got pulled out of E+ and they even let me bring my companion (no status, not even on the same reservation).

I was quite pleased. E+ exit rows on the trip back. Nice service. Cheap flight.

Was quite pleased with UA, even knowing my F upgrade was a freak event.

I agree with the posters above. If this happens, buy a lottery ticket, because it's your lucky day. As a UA 1K, I've watched 757's go out full in the back, with 12 seats open up front. Either that or, in ORD, I've watched groups of deadheading pilots appear in First. UA does a great job with the number of elites it has. Glad to hear they're taking care of US folks as well.

Were you on a full fare ticket? The amount paid for a ticket also calcualtes into OP ups.

Were you on a full fare ticket? The amount paid for a ticket also calcualtes into OP ups.

I've had exactly the same thing happen to me twice on UA transcons and once on a UA regional flight. Yeah, I really did get upgraded on a CRJ from SFO to SMF. I'm not sure why I got any of those upgrades.

It sounds like Y was oversold, and you were the lucky recipient of an operational upgrade. What most likely happened is that the gate agent went through the list and started upgrading UA elites who didn't already upgrade with miles/certs, and then the Star Alliance golds. Once all of the UA/*G elites were upgraded, they moved onto the * Silver elites. It doesn't happen often, but enjoy it when it does, and consider yourself lucky!
Agreed 100%

It might also be that you were travelling alone and/or they needed your seat (ie. a family was split up).

Were you on a full fare ticket? The amount paid for a ticket also calcualtes into OP ups.

Yes, this does matter. On my most recent OP-up I was on a cheap coach ticket and had upgraded to business with a confirmed North American upgrade (JFK-LAX). They paged me in the RCC and gave me a boarding class for first. They said coach was oversold and they were moving people into business. First had empty seats and after they moved all of the full fare business to first, they had one more to move and they picked me from among the upgraded people because I had the highest MP status. But they did do the full fare people first (as they should).

This is pretty rare overall. On some routes, between LHR and JFK it is more common as coach oversells a lot. But Ive had maybe 4 or 5 Op-ups in about 800,000 miles on UA. If a lot of US passengers are getting upgrades all of sudden I would guess that UA is in fact trying to steal frequent flyers.