US Airways Dividend Miles - Gate Dance Companion Upgrades

Greetings,

I've recently been flying with a business associate who needs to book on a different PNR than I do for expense reimbursement reasons.

There have been two issues recently that make me wonder if the policy at US has changed. In both instances, I was informed that I could no longer upgrade such a companion with me at the gate unless we were on the same PNR.

The first instance I disregarded as a GA not knowing what she was doing and just let it go as not worth the fight, but it just happened again. It seems to have coincided with the big push toward charging for "premium" seating; in fact the first GA wanted to charge for *any* change in his seat assignment.

Were the GAs confused or am I out of the loop on a policy change?

Thanks!

No expert, but I think this stems more from a lack of knowledge on the IT systems than an actual policy. They don't know how to tie the PNR's together, it's easier to go with that ignorance, and so they do. The Chairman's folks should be able to do it for you...might go that route before you depart.

Thanks. :)

I do know that they can no longer "tie" the PNRs together... just one more piece of fallout from the decision to adopt the HP system over the old US system after the merger. If I know he's flying with me far enough in advance, I've had some luck processing an upgrade with the desk for him. As usual, they're just great on the phone.

My question is really about policies at the gate... this only is happening when no advance upgrades were available and we were forced to try the gate dance routine. I'm only hearing it from GAs.

This practice by the GAs doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If I'm traveling with a companion who IS in my PNR and we have not be upgraded at the Platinum window, I usually don't bother with the gate dance. The reason being is that US's upgrade queue cannot handle multiple PAX in one PNR. (Ever notice that you cannot standby for an upgrade when checking in multiple pax online? You have to call and have your record divided pre-checkin, but unless your companion also has status, you might not be able to list him/her).

If I try to get in queue, the agent has to divide the PNR to add us both to the upgrade queue individually.

Note that the website says:
http://www2.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/preferred/upgrades.html

Preferred upgrade priority – day of departure

* If we're unable to confirm an upgrade seat for you prior to departure, you may request an upgrade when you check in.
* Once check-in for a flight has begun, priority will be based upon Preferred level and then upon earliest check-in.
* Please advise the gate agent at the airport if you're traveling with a companion.

Sounds like your gate agents are making up stories / policies. I agree with dingo that a lot of these made up policies stem from the fact that US's IT systems are such crap that the agents makes stuff up when it's too hard, time-consuming, or impossible to satisfy your request--no matter how legit the request is. They also invent stuff when there's pecuniary gain in it for themselves. Do gate agents still get a commission for each upgrade sold?

Thanks very much.

You know, I don't know about Go upgrades anymore. I seem to remember an announcement at another gate one time about 6 months ago in LAS about upgrade purchase but I wouldn't swear to it.

On a flight ATL - PHL recently, the first class cabin pulled back with a few empty seats. The agent hadn't announced anything about availablility for Go upgrades.

Again, thanks for the answer. I just wanted to be sure I hadn't missed something if it happens again.