LarryJ

If a FC is not available at the time that the DH is booked, this is often well before a pilot is assigned to the DH, the pilot is placed at the top of the upgrade list only if it is more than three hours prior to the flight's departure. If it is within three hours, the pilot is placed on the upgrade list below revenue customers.

The DHing pilot would have either been #1 on the list, or below all revenue upgraders. If below, then the poster should have been upgraded.

The agent can check the upgrade list on their handheld device which they should have brought with them onto the airplane for just such situations.

bocastephen

Nothing is debunked yet, the OP deserves an official investigation and response from the airline directly and should pursue their complaint.

uanj

Can we confirm that the first person offered the upgrade was not a DH pilot? If they were, the agent was following policy to a T. Probably not, but I thought I would ask.

IMissThe747

The name ahead of me on the upgrade list was BAI, J. That name had been on there for at least a day. When the agent offered the upgrade to BAI, J. I heard her call him "Josh." Unless that was a coincidence, it seems that BAI, J. was not a placeholder name, just a guy ahead of me on the list who declined an upgrade.

I wrote to 1Kvoice. I'll followup with whatever their response when it comes.

IMissThe747

I think he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans - definitely not in uniform. I can't confirm he wasn't a DH pilot, but I think DH pilots usually wear their uniforms.

clubord

Not necessarily. On a DH I can’t get out of my uniform quick enough!

When commuting I wear my uniform nearly every time.

threeoh

Oh great, I can go back to my previous understanding that shenanigans are vanishingly rare and basically never reported on FT.

LarryJ

The placeholder would be "CRE". I think the first initial is "D", but am not sure.

Depends. If we're going to fly right after the DH then we'll probably be in uniform. Many will change out of the uniform if they are DHing after flying without another flight in that duty period. It's more difficult to change when wearing the full uniform (jacket and hat) and you need room to put them. Many would prefer to DH out of uniform to keep a lower profile.

I usually commute in uniform, but not always. Half of my commutes this month are out of uniform because I'm commuting to work the night before the trip starts.

bocastephen

Nothing has been debunked yet, the OP is owed an explanation from 1K Voice

threeoh

Yeah but my prior is so far skewed toward it not being shenanigans that when a UA employee looks at the audit trail and posts on FT what happened and that narrative is not consistent with shenanigans, I stop worrying about it.

If new information comes to light I will be open to adjusting my opinion again, of course.

HNLbasedFlyer

Ive seen no evidence a UA employee checked this out. Someone would actually risk their job for that? I don’t think so.

united 1k flyer

Hahahh, no United employee would risk their job for flyertalk

uanj

I certainly would hope not! I enjoy hearing from airline employees, but do not want them risking their jobs or even getting some heat.

clubord

Flyertalk aside, I personally don’t get why anyone would assume employees habitually risk their jobs (both parties involved) by deliberately sidestepping the upgrade list to begin with.

To perform such an action would require one to be logged into the gate management system, using a company workstation where every keystroke, seat movement, upgrade/downgrade is monitored, timestamped, and recorded by United.

The seat management process is so easily tracked, it would be career suicide for both for the CS agent and the pass rider to pull such an act as is inferred by some posters here.

I get it’s not a perfect system and people can make mistakes. If you feel violated by all means continue reporting it to the airline and keep the agents accountable, it helps us all in the end. But I do think 57 pages worth of this is a bit much to do about nothing considering none of us have ALL the facts for each situation.

IMissThe747

I received a response from 1kvoice that contained an apology that sounded sincere, a statement of United's values, and a reference to an internal investigation.

I will assume the best of people - that it was a dead heading pilot who was entitled to the upgrade, and that it was not a rushed gate agent/flight attendant who simply moved somebody, shortly before closing the cabin door, without updating the system in order to avoid any delay. My experiences with UA have been and continue to be almost entirely positive.

So, while I'll never know what actually happened, at least I received a well written response.