miriamk

When I have a confirmed upgrade with miles (confirmed and seat assigned weeks in advance online), I can't use OLCI or Mr. Chicken; I have to wait to see an agent at the airport. OLCI and Mr. Chicken don't seem to understand upgrading with miles, only upgrading with e-500's.

When I get to the agent, I have to explain I'm upgrading with miles, and it takes some time to get this processed.

This is on my usual domestic route: BOS or MHT to/from SFO or SJC. I am plain old Premier, if that makes a difference.

Anyone have an explanation for this?

NH_Clark

<---MHT flyer too Quite a few of us here so welcome to Flyertalk ^

yep... upgrading with miles through OLCI seems to be a legacy systems issue that can't be done. You'll have to see the counter agent.

mauiUAflyer

Welcome to FlyerTalk, miriamk!

I haven't seen this problem myself. The only thing close was when my wife sponsored an upgrade for me with miles.

UNITED959

Don't think this is the problem, but it's a shot -- have your flights been extremely full? Sometimes in those cases, when the seatmap is packed, they shut down OLCI and the kiosks to let the "professionals" deal with the flight.

miriamk

Nah, the flights aren't necessarily full. OLCI works, but doesn't know about upgrading with miles. Sounds like something I just have to live with! Thanks all for the responses.

gre

As recently as last week I had no problems with this.

cogitate

I have never had this problem. I have done many confirmed upgrades with miles, and OLCI has always worked. On 3 or 4 occasions I have been moved from one seat in F to another because of air marshal, but OLCI worked with the new seat assignment.

Mountain Trader

We've encountered this twice. The last time, the CSRs I spoke to couldn't figure it out, and had me call website support. I did and got a gal in India who, despite repeated attempts to explain, thought I was trying to obtain an upgrade. Since I didn't want her lack of skills to cause me to lose the upgrade I already had, I begged her to leave the account alone, and we just used airport check-in.

And they say there's no adventure in travel anymore.

mahasamatman

The fact that the flight is upgraded has nothing to do with OLCI not working. I've upgraded with miles many times and never had a problem. It's just that sometimes OLCI doesn't work, and nobody really knows why.

PTahCha

Has there been a schedule change to your itinerary? If there was a schedule change, and you didn't call in to confirm the change, it'll cause a disconnect that prevents you from OLCI.

As others have pointed out, there are a number of reasons why OLCI doesn't work...

cblaisd

A new wrinkle on that song (to mix my metaphor ):

1. Flying domestically A-B-C-D. Had previously applied for a mileage upgrade using 15K miles. A-B and C-D clear immediately, B-C is waitlisted. Do OLCI successfully, but get "We are unable to print your boarding passes; please see agent/kiosk." Go to My Itineraries. I see that B-C has cleared, but My Itins is showing two entries, one confirmed in F and one confirmed in Y. Go back and cancel check-in. Still can't check in with an upgraded B-C leg. So I call, explain the problem, ask them to clean up the PNR, removing the entry for the Y segment. She does so.

2. Go back to OLCI; this time it shows all three segments upgraded correctly. Check in and try to print boarding passes -- "Unable to print boarding passes; please try again later or see agent/kiosk." Logout and go back to OLCI where it shows checked in for all three upgraded legs. Try to re-print boarding passes; get same error.

dulcamara

This is a chronic UA PITA for me. I'm off to HKG on Firday with UG confirmed one way with miles and the other with an SWU. I'm not expecting to get OLCI to work. It's never worked with a mileage UG before, at least for me.

FlyinHawaiian

Ok, folks, I did a search; promise!

I was booked LAX-DEN-IAD tomorrow, NF to DEN and NC to IAD, supported by miles (mine). LAX-DEN is cancelled, so I had myself rebooked onto UA 946 in NC. My itinerary shows that I am confirmed in NC and I have a seat assigned.

When I try to OLCI for UA 946, it asks me how I want to support the upgrade and offers e500s, CR-1, or SWU as options. Is there any danger for me to wait until checking in with an agent at LAX tomorrow or should I call UA and see if this can't be fixed?

Thanks.

lucky9876coins

Assuming they're your miles there shouldn't be any trouble. If you don't want to spend time on the phone with web support just check-in at the airport.

FlyinHawaiian

Just as an update; I didn't bother to call UA and just checked in with an agent at LAX. She printed my BP quickly, but I did notice this morning that e500s had been pulled for this flight, so I will need to call MP and have them re-credit my 15K miles.