The "Questions About Complimentary Premier Upgrades (CPU) on United" Thread [Merged]
As far as I can tell, there is no documented process for how CPUs are supposed to clear and everything UA Insider has stated on this is 100% incorrect. There's not a bucket that represents the open seats that CPUs should clear into. I have spoken to two "Directors of Customer Service" and both claim that R>0 or PN>0 only means that someone can purchase a Y or B (or M if 1K) fare to immediately be upgraded (or use CR1/miles/buy-up). Nothing else is guaranteed or visible. And, believe me, I do understand that technically the policy is only that 1K upgrades "could potentially clear as early as 96 hours", I am not claiming I'm entitled to any/all upgrades, and I also understand that someone could be ahead of me in terms of fare class or 10 other ways now. Nonetheless, those people should have their CPUs cleared (into R availability, presumably) and UA shouldn't be selling upgrades to randoms, instead. That's very different from "we will keep selling upgrade seats and not clearing your CPU/UDU even when R>0 and PN>0-- don't even call us back until within 24 hours of your flight because your CPU is unlikely to clear until then, but you can use 15k miles if you want to confirm it!".
It's not just an issue of upgrades not happening exactly on the 96-, 72-, and 48-hour boundaries. My own experience corroborated by numerous reports on other threads is that CPUs are not getting caught in overnight sweeps. For example, I have a flight that is <48 hours away, has been R=3 the last 3 nights, and still no upgrade. When I call, agents argue that it shouldn't be clearing and that they can't clear it (although I did finally get one leg to clear after asking for a supervisor twice, only to be reprimanded on a different thread by a PMCO-er for "jumping the line").
I started a new thread because all indications are that this is not a system integration issue: the actual policy and expected behavior of CPUs has changed and no one from UA is willing to, a) acknowledge the new policy, or b) acknowledge the issue. At a minimum, someone should set expectations for when and how CPUs, in a perfect world with the new policies/systems, ought to be expected to clear. At the moment, we seem to be flying blind and just bugging the crap out of poor UA agents who "can't control this behind-the-scenes process that might upgrade you overnight in a magical batch [and never does] ... or not".
It would be nice to get some clarity from UA Insider about whether R bucket availability means that CPU/EUA/UDU upgrades are available or not. I'm observing routes that have a good amount of R availability leading up to and within the upgrade window, however no upgrades appear to be processed. Instead, I receive an upsell offer at check-in instead..
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlyingProf
Unclear if it is a glitch, or the new normal -- but there appears to be NO fare bucket for UDU's ... the old category (R and RN) is now listed as a bucket just for SWUs/CR1s/and upgrades paid for with miles. There is a bucket for upgrade from Y/B to F (ON or IN, I think) ... but ...
So -- this could explain why no one is getting upgrades ahead of time ... then OLCI opens, there are lots of 1st seats left, and that triggers to buy-up option.
Now ... is this a glitch, or the new normal?
Last edited by Strom; Mar 6, 12 at 12:56 am..
Reason: R vs PN
It has been stated somewhere on FT that upgrades will now be processed the way CO has done them. UA would sweep anyone eligible for an upgrade if upgrades are available and you are within the upgrade window. CO does not do it that way. In recent months, their automated upgrade system would usually not run, and most upgrades ended up clearing at the gate.
If we're relegated to clearing at the gate, then this post is right:
Quote:
Nothing (or very little) is getting processed when the CPU window opens, as far as we can all tell, unless by "processed" he means "flagged for selling your F seat to some random person until the 24-hour boundary, at which point we will then re-order all pending upgrades by booking class, moving your 1K upgrade chances that were drastically improved by clearing 96 hours in advance to probabilities asymptotically approaching zero".
CPUs clear the way EUAs used to. CPUs do not clear the way UDUs used to.
It is not possible to buy, say, an L fare with R1 when within your CPU upgrade window and immediately confirm into F. This is by design and is a downgrade for last-minute business travelers relative to the UA system.
The behavior the OP describes, where R is greater than 0 but advance upgrades do not clear, is a well-known failure mode of the CO EUA system. Calling to have your upgrade manually cleared is a well-known tactic. Some have speculated that CO manually zeroes out R inventory right before and after the sweeps to preserve room for upsales (and I guess preserve the illusion that the flight might offer R inventory?).
The claim that R>0 means that en elite could buy Y/B (or some elites could buy M) and get auto-confirmed in F is, I think, incorrect. The relevant fare bucket is actually thought to be PN. No surprise if agents are not familiar with the deep details of the CO res system.
It's well-known that CO does not offer dynamic waitlisting for elite upgrades; this was discussed Comprehensive List of Expected Changes/Lost Functionality when United Moves to SHARES as a system limitation but really it's a policy issue (obviously they CAN waitlist you for an upgrade, e.g. with instruments, they just choose not to). It increases their ability to offer buy-ups.
See UA offers explanations for pricing of "Buy Up" offers to First Class for my attempt to summarize the various ways someone can pay money to cut in line ahead of the CPU process. Buy-ups are offered (1) to everyone, when there are fewer front-cabin seats left unpurchased than elites on the plane, and there is no easy way to verify this situation; (2) to elites, based on PN inventory; (3) to elites, based on Y inventory; (4) to everyone, based on the the availability of any first-class fare.
Last edited by mherdeg; Mar 6, 12 at 12:51 am..
Reason: got something backwards
CPUs clear the way EUAs used to. CPUs do not clear the way UDUs used to.
Very informative post. I think the issue of them selling upgrades is logical, albeit very annoying. It's clear that most people didn't expect the impact to be as far-reaching as it obviously is.
However, none of the explanations you referenced really address the issue of the 96/72/48-hour advanced clearing table which is always front-and-center of any differentiation of elite benefit tiers.
So, re the advertised benefit of 1Ks clearing 96 hours in advance of a flight, Platinum clearing 72 hours in advance, etc., is this just smoke and mirrors? There are 1Ks with R9 PN9 still not clearing within 36 hrs to the flight (!). I fail to see how they justify continuing to market this perk unless they really are just being complete [jerks] and saying "Well, technically speaking, up to 96 hours in advance means nothing! It's the same as 1 hour in advance! We'll just let randoms buy it up to the last second and we'll never/rarely clear CPUs that far in advance since our wording is legally accurate. Muahahaha!!"
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Mar 6, 12 at 4:21 am..
Reason: watch your language, please
This site lets you self-report whether an upgrade cleared on a route or not plus how far in advance it cleared. Many people use the extra "details" field to say where they ended up on the waitlist if they did not clear in advance.
Here, for example, is the self-reported success rate for 1K members on SEA-IAD: http://www.udustats.com/Home/SearchR...eliteStatus=1K . I'll look forward to seeing reports made after 3/3, and will especially be interested in seeing how the "when cleared" reports change over time.
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Mar 6, 12 at 4:21 am..
Reason: removed quote
PMUA would never do this. Buy-ups were offered only when NF>0.
I don't think this is entirely accurate. PMUA frequently sold upgrades for cash while elites were on the upgrade waitlist. I think the frustrating thing was that PMUA offered cash upgrades only to people not on the upgrade list, so the whole thing was largely invisible (or at least hard to track) for elite passengers.
I didn't like that elites on PMUA weren't at least given the same option -- pay to get off the waitlist. The new UA (really, PMCO) system is severely flawed in many ways, but I don't think some of what is going on is entirely new.
I think the current CPU is running as PMCO EUA. Does any one have evident that it is running as PMUA UDU inside the advance elite upgrade window? I already missed the 96-hour and 72-hour runs and seeing R inventory went from R9 to R4!
In addition, the Salt Lake city PMCO 1K phone agent told me that it is useless to split my PNR into smaller 2-person PNR's since It is run as CO EUA. Dhe actually pull out the manual and read me the upgrade rules. Sure enough it sounded exactly like EUA!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Strom
However, none of the explanations you referenced really address the issue of the 96/72/48-hour advanced clearing table which is always front-and-center of any differentiation of elite benefit tiers.
Since the merger flying ~10 CO flights, including a post-merger flight this Sunday I have NEVER been cleared anytime except at the airport. Coming from UA I would, of course, check availability right up to my window, then wait for the EasyUpdate that my ugrade had cleared. Boom. Never happened on CO.
Call CO Elite # and they explained that they couldn't explain how the "upgrade computer" (as one rep put it) works.
"Oh no, just because there's availability doesn't mean you're going to clear"
"But I'm within the window"
"It's up to the computer every night but check at the gate within 2 hours of your flight"
"Gee thanks"
Had a post-merger flight (CO metal and route) this Sunday traveling with a GM. Followed advice and called to split the PNRs. Checking the status every day up to day of departure showed plenty of F seats and gave both of us the option to upgrade for cash/miles (her $ option was more than mine). Called and asked why my single passenger PNR wasn't clearing. Same answer from CO reps. At the airport we check in and I'm given an F boarding pass and she gets her original exit row seat. Umm...no thanks I don't want the upgrade unless you can upgrade my companion as well. Blank stare then "sorry there's only 1 seat left". Eventually agent finds two seats in the back together...NOT my original exit row seats. Totally annoying.
I dunno, for my flight on Friday afternoon, four people were cleared in at exactly 96 hours, now two spots left - we shall see if people (and me) get cleared at 72 hours... I doubt it.
