Treeskier

NO, I queried the gate agent who quite voluntarily gave up their fare basis, I did not seek out the individual.
I have received clarification from the UA 1K Voices E Mail on their policy, coincidentally this afternoon after posting to this site for the very first time in my life. I have asked for confirmation on the effective date of the policy (4 hours ago) they articulated. If I receive confirmation I will be more than happy to share it with all.

You missed the point sir, it was the previous 10 flights I took in January which had nothing to do with the city of SF

COSPILOT

So that we know who you are responding to, use the quote button, not the post reply button.

Treeskier

THANK YOU DITTO. That was the exact same process I followed and in fact the exact same response.

To all of you who believe this is not happening - It's happening. You simply refuse or are unwilling to accept / believe it.

Thank you BH, I owe you a bottle of Opus One, which they don't serve at the United Club, but I stock pile

Sorry, I'm clearly a rookie Flyertalk User.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I think this thread has run its course. There's zero credible evidence that UA has instituted a secret upgrade policy.

SEA1K4EVR

Well I might be willing to say I agree if there was Opus One on the table..

JC5280

I have friends and ex-coworkers that work at UA in DEN as gate agents. When asked about upgrade priority, they are told to just say that it is not in their control (because its not) and that the computer orders everyone automatically. If pressed, they will also claim that revenue is a deciding factor.

Gate agents can see fare bucket, not fare basis. Unless they go in to each reservation and display the ticket. That would be WAY more time than they have to analyze while working a gate. Plus, they wouldnt know who were rebooked to that flight without looking at the ticket history...and even deeper query. As other people said, what you were told was likely to get you an answer. Any answer. Especially if you were visibly asking others what they paid and questioning policy at the gate. I can almost guarantee you that you were told this to avoid a debate or further conversation.

While I believe you travel a lot, like many of us, its been discussed here a few times that a data point of "7 flights this month" isnt exactly a good cross sampling of whats happening everywhere. Especially when it comes to upgrades that rely on many, many variables unknown to you (or that supervisor you spoke with).

Enjoy the flights on AA, it appears your primary concern is getting CPUs, you will probably see their trend towards monetizing the front cabins soon enough. How long do you think the US carriers are going to continue to offer upgrades while airlines everywhere across the globe are adding revenue?

This link has some interesting info, especially in the news article links at the bottom.
http://www.plusgrade.com

halls120

This. I had a IAD-SFO r/t in December that I applied my remaining two RPUs on. Outbound cleared almost immediately, but the return never did. I watched it for 3 weeks as people bought P fares and it went from F9 to F1. At T-24, I went to OLCI and paid for an upgrade into the last seat before anyone else tried.

UA has trained us well.

hk1492

But at the same time, wouldn't this make the game so much more fun? I can just picture all of the savvy frequent flyers waiting until the absolute last minute before revealing themselves to the rest of the list

JBord

Lol...I know you meant this as a joke, but it's still strange to me that there are people out there who see something that's a job requirement for me as a game!

Anyway, I believe check in time is still the last tie-breaker on the upgrade list if status and fare code are equal. So I would highly encourage everyone to play this game, but I won't be.

Bonehead

No...there are now at least two independent claims of this policy change that cite UA employees as the source. Let's see how this plays out.

nyr2299

Please post the email if you have one. I have flown 8 times this month on the cheapest fare, between hubs in some cases, and have gotten upgraded all but one time (the one time was from a small market city to a hub).

Kmxu

I took a CR7 flight from Boston to IAD in the afternoon of Feb. 1 (after people burned all 2015 RPUs). Only two pax got upgrades, but I was No. 7 on upgrade standby list when the door was closed. I am a 1K with N fare ticket. You cannot blame YCA instant upgrade because Jetblue is the contract carrier. I do not think that there were so many GS and 1Ks on board because I did not see anyone asking for complimentary alcoholic drinks. I have no idea who were those eight people.

spearsba

Actually the change went into effect 1 Feb 16.

For flights departing on or after February 1, 2016, the following is the order of priority for upgrades, within five days of departure, on flights that are eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades:

1st: Premier 1K members on eligible Y-, B- and M-class fares: Premier 1K Instant upgrades that weren't confirmed in advance are prioritized by fare class

2ND: Instruments:
All travelers on waitlisted Global Premier Upgrades, Regional Premier Upgrades and MileagePlus Upgrade Awards: Prioritized by Premier status of the traveler, then fare class and then time of request1

3rd: CPUs:
All remaining Premier members: Prioritized by Premier status of the traveler, then fare class and then award travel.

johnden

Has this been confirmed? I thought this was an interpretation of ambiguous text on the United website. I just saw a case where a silver on a government YCA rocketed to the top of the CPU list.

hookthem

This isn't a 100% confirmation (obviously very crude). However, I frequently fly in B/M class on a particular route and end up around #5 on the upgrade list (unless F opens up and I can switch to F/A and get a refund from my B/M fare + 200-300% PQM). Today I am #1 on the list.... and it is long!

I suspect that many passengers purchase Y on this route or have been switched to this flight the "lazy" way directly into Y. I'll most likely be in the back today, but it is refreshing to see myself at the top of the list

I'm so glad that some kettle spent $50-100 on an upgrade and I'll sit in the back on a B fare.