Zeffer

I just landed in the US from Sydney in business class using a systemwide upgrade. My onward flight to JFK, also confirmed in business, has been canceled. So now I’m confirmed in coach to Newark via Denver and waitlisted in first. But I’m ranked 17th on the upgrade list, behind every 500-mile sticker request.

Is that correct? On AA, mileage awards and eVips clear before domestic stickers, especially when connecting to or from a confirmed international flight. (I’ve sometimes even burned an eVip at the airport when my free domestic upgrade request wasn’t going to clear.) But the UA agents here are confused. Is there any airline jargon I can tell them which will enable the system to “see” that my upgrade is in the international mileage award bucket instead of the domestic sticker bucket? Or am I mistaken? Thanks!

FriendlySkies

UA does not use "stickers". As far as the SWU, they do not have priority over people who are waitlisted.

It's Status>Fare Paid>Time on DM List.

bmvaughn

What's a sticker?

FriendlySkies

IIRC, that is AAs equivalent of our old e500s. Used for domestic upgrades.


Looks like the OP does not have status on UA, so their position on the DM list is correct.

vandalby

There are no more 500 mile 'stickers'. (Sounds like you may fly the dAArk side a lot). Now that you're on a non-PS flight, you're being cast into the land of UDU, or the Unlimited Domestic Upgrade. There still is a lot of confusion on how upgrades work when within the UDU window, but there is no clear priority of the UDU system vs. using a confirmed instrument.

Your 17th ranking on the list is not due to 'stickers' but rather due to 17 other passengers having a combination of higher Mileage Plus status and possibly fare class.

I'm not sure if you've landed in LAX or SFO, but both of those routes into DEN are going to be elite heavy. You may get lucky DEN-EWR, but not sure if you're on UA or CO metal. You also don't list your elite status; I'd be prepared to go cross country in the back of the bus on this occasion.

CASAFlyer

What is your UA/CO status? As already mentioned, the wait-list is ordered by status first. The type of upgrade does not matter.

fzwinter

Do you have any chance to take another UA flight to JFK? On the SFO-JFK and LAX-JFK routes, passengers are not allowed to be upgraded through UDU, so you might have a better chance.

wxguy

Is there another JFK flight you can get on that has C space? You can then ask that your SWU be "extended."

CASAFlyer

On what ground? The OP is ticketed in Y and used a SWU to upgrade to C for his original flight. Hence, waitlist and not FFCC is correct in this case.

wxguy

My bad. Misread the OP. If it was paid C, FFCC is correct. I had that happen recently, and it worked.

wilp888

Every PS flight has been cancelled today and who knows about the DEN-EWR flights. If I was the OP, I would spend the night in SFO/LAX and waitlist on a PS flight tomorrow.

FriendlySkies

There are four DEN-EWR flights per day. Three on CO, one on UA. Looks like all of the CO flights were canceled, with the only UA flight still scheduled to depart in 15 minutes. Doubt that they will leave DEN, considering that EWR is closed.

mahasamatman

Yes, there is. Upgrade instrument makes no difference whatsoever.

craz

EWR has been closed all day while JFK I understand was running this morning now also Closed

I would think the OP has a better chance going into JFK then EWR as wel and would think SFO-JFK would be their best bet. If the OP is already flying towards DEN then they might look into DEN-LGA for whenever Flights resume

JeffS

Yes, you are mistaken. You are not even in the "international mileage award bucket". You are flying on an economy fare that you upgraded with an SWU. For all you know the 16 people ahead of you are using an SWU, or CR1 or they are UDU. No way to know without asking each of them.

Unfortunately the weather has conspired against you. You are correctly wait listed for an upgrade on your new flights.

You're welcome. Hope it all worked out.