kb1992

maybe next time if UG doesn't clear, we should not do OLCI?

Pat Plus

Usually this happens if you clear in the reservation system but not on the DM list. You need to be offloaded first. My experience is that some agents will flat out refuse to print a C or F BP if they don't see you as having cleared the DM list. You need to insist and ask them to check your reservation too. As an agent told me last time ("oh sorry yes you have cleared I wasn't looking at the right place" )

This is also why it is always worth checking your itineraries on the web before boarding a flight if you are waitlisted for an upgrade. I learned it the hard way--I flew a TATL in coach just to see upon my return that the u/g had actually cleared... but the GA clearly hadn't bothered checking my reservation.

jd2000

Did you get your upgrade instrument back for this?

stevenshev

of course.

DENchick

Yes. At least that is good.

jd2000

Given some of the other stuff that we've seen, I'm not sure why this is quite so obvious. I've certainly had instruments pulled when I boarded with an economy boarding pass and sat in an economy seat.

KathyWdrf

Yep. This happens all the time. It's also been discussed in this forum many, many times.

Luckily for me, I have always been quietly insistent when this happens and the GA has always then looked in the "other" place (res rather than DM list, or whatever it is) and found that indeed I am upgraded.

das

This is great to know. So what you are saying is that if your upgrade clears BETWEEN the time you print your BP in OLCI and the flight hitting airport control, your upgrade will have cleared in your reservation, but because you aren't on the DM list, the GA won't see you unless you INSIST they look at your reservation and see you are already upgraded.

IME, I *have* been on the DM list when I've done OLCI (because I've seen my name on the board as a "possible upgrade"), but I guess that's not the problem we're talking about. It's about the upgrade clearing in the interim.

This is good information to "file away", I think the message for me is to avoid OLCI if I have a pending upgrade.

Sneezy

No, you don't need to avoid OLCI when you have a pending UG. Just be doggone sure to explain exactly what happened to whoever you see - TA, GA, whoever.

And never do OLCI with a pending UG , then not print out your BP, and expect to be able to print it out later. If your UG clears, you won't be able to print out your BP without lots of phone calls, and maybe not even then.

ajc1970

they've failed to give me upgrade instruments back before, once when i cancelled a flight (after it was delayed many hours and i switched airlines) and twice when they downgraded the metal from mainline to Ted.

if they were SWUs i would've bothered going through the hassle of getting them re-deposited, but i have more CR1s and e500s than i can use, so thought, "not worth it."

anyway, point being, it's never an "of course" with this company.

Flyer420

How many CR1s is more than one can use???????? Inquiring minds need to know

Flyer 420
in Boulder

cepheid

Hmm... my guess would be anything from (number of domestic flights)+1 and up. Of course, that implies a specific meaning of "use," e.g. "use for oneself." Of course, "use" could also mean "use on behalf of someone else," so in that case, there are never too many CR-1s.

(Many people who fly only internationally really don't have much use for their CR-1s, especially if they live near a hub from which there are many non-stop int'l options. And, of course, int'l 1Ks earn CR-1s and might never get to use them for themselves, depending on their travel patterns.)

stevenshev

It's as if the OP had a confirmed upgrade, and never checked in for it, so no instrument was pulled, or had a waitlisted upgrade, which was pulled when the OP was added to the DM, and returned when the OP failed to clear the DM. Either way, the upgrade would be automatically returned, as there were no IrrOps or oddities to screw it up, at least as far as the system could tell.

exerda

I've had this happen once. Had an u/g clear for a p.s. JFK-LAX between checking in for my US-operated DCA-LGA flight and arrival at LGA.

I got to JFK and went to see an agent, who refused to issue my C bp. She said, "No, you're still on the DM. Check with the gate to see if you end up clearing." I tried just about every argument I could think of, but she wouldn't budge.

So I called res, and res could see that it had cleared, but couldn't assign me a seat as the seatmap was under airport control (technially correct, though IME res agents can log into another system and get access anyway).

I waited at the gate until the GA showed up. He couldn't figure things out at first, but apparently it was the exact case the OP, where it had confirmed (these were miles), but I was still on the DM list. And fortunately, unlike the agent at check-in, he was able to figure things out and get me not only my C bp, but my preferred 9D seat.

LessO2

Given the worldwide hype of united.com, I think OP should contact United. At the very least, it might get them to work on the problem.

If United didn't think upgrades were a valuable thing to give to 1Ks, they wouldn't be giving them out in the first place.

The push for others to do OLCI is only going to increase, why not bring it to their attention again?