Pay for United multi-leg upgrade, denied upgrade on 1 leg--no refund?
Greetings all,
I was about to pay 20K miles + $550 to upgrade to United business class on a 2-leg trip from San Francisco to Germany. However, their phone rep told me I'm only paying to get on the upgrade waitlist, and that if I'm upgraded on only one of the two flights (i.e., SFO to Dulles _or_ Dulles to Frankfurt), I would get no refund despite having paid for the entire distance.
This seems incredibly poor customer relations--I'd expect at least a partial refund if I paid to upgrade the whole route, then was bumped back to steerage for the 9-hour redeye across the ocean. But apparently I would get no refund, so long as they'd upgraded me for one of the legs of my itinerary. Is this really how it works? Thanks for any advice anyone might have...
Programs: UA 1K MM, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver, Hilton Silver
Posts: 19,482
as the others have mentioned, the agent was wrong (although it is a change, but was changed about a year ago). Te refund is not always automatic but has been for many
However, for travel which includes segments in United BusinessFirst or United Global First, miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst or United Global First segments could not be upgraded. When applicable, these refunds will occur automatically 7 to 10 days after the trip.
Thanks, everyone! The second UA agent contradicted the first, and said that if UA can only upgrade the U.S. leg, they refund all the cash and some of the miles.
I didn't ask about what happens if they only upgrade me for the overseas leg, and not the U.S. leg, but I'll pay up and take my chances. The overseas redeye is mainly where I need the upgrade.
Hi all,
Quick question on this since I read the upgrade text from UA's website but am still a bit confused.
Quote:
In most cases, the MileagePlus Upgrade Award will be considered used if any segment of an itinerary is upgraded. However, for travel which includes segments in United BusinessFirst or United Global First, miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst or United Global First segments could not be upgraded. When applicable, these refunds will occur automatically 7 to 10 days after the trip.
Let's say I have a Z fare from HNL to SIN, connecting in NRT. I then do the co-pay+miles (currently $600/30k) to upgrade to GlobalFirst. If I clear on the HNL->NRT leg but not the NRT->SIN leg, will they re-deposit the entire miles+co-pay? This seems to favor the customer slightly more than I'm used to, thus the confusion.
Programs: UA 1K MM, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver, Hilton Silver
Posts: 19,482
Quote:
Originally Posted by o9b5x8m
....
Let's say I have a Z fare from HNL to SIN, connecting in NRT. I then do the co-pay+miles (currently $600/30k) to upgrade to GlobalFirst. If I clear on the HNL->NRT leg but not the NRT->SIN leg, will they re-deposit the entire miles+co-pay? ...
not in this case, since HNL-NRT is a GF/BF flight.
To clarify, both HNL->NRT and NRT->SIN are 3-cabin (E/BF/GF). I think I'm being dense and not getting this one because it seems like it reads as if a base BF (Z) upgraded to GF via co-pay+miles would get a full redeposit unless both HNL->NRT *and* NRT->SIN upgrades to GF cleared - which seems too generous.
Programs: UA 1K MM, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silver, Hilton Silver
Posts: 19,482
Quote:
Originally Posted by o9b5x8m
To clarify, both HNL->NRT and NRT->SIN are 3-cabin (E/BF/GF). I think I'm being dense and not getting this one because it seems like it reads as if a base BF (Z) upgraded to GF via co-pay+miles would get a full redeposit unless both HNL->NRT *and* NRT->SIN upgrades to GF cleared - which seems too generous.
pretty sure one GF/BF segment will be enought to meet requirement. You might be able to try to get a partial refund if the second does not clear if there was a mileage difference. But in this case the "cost" of HNL-NRT is the same as HNL-NRT-SIN, so no joy.
Programs: UA 1K (EX-CON), SPG Gold, AA Lifetime Platinum, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,393
Quote:
Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
although it is a change, but was changed about a year ago
Not for sCO passengers. That's been the rule for many years at CO. Only UA hosed the customer in such a case where only the domestic upgrade cleared. As to the agent that gave you bad information, it probably was an sUA agent that is a slow learner.
I must say that this language is highly ambiguous with regards to multiple BF/GF segments. It depends on which definition of "all" one is using. (Apologies for sounding so Clintonesque.)
"However, for travel which includes segments in United BusinessFirst or United Global First, miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst or United Global First segments could not be upgraded."
Yeah, I'm having a difficult time parsing the wording. My previous understanding was that if I had a multi-segment itin and requested an upgrade, be it via a GPU/RPU or miles+copay, and *any* of the segments were upgraded, then whatever I paid/used as the upgrade instrument was considered complete - no partial redeposit.
My normal route is Z from HNL to SIN (via NRT; both 3-cabin flights) and the loss of the entire instrument/co-pay in situations where only 1 of the segments' upgrade came through was, imo, simply the cost of doing business so to speak. Now I re-read the rules and I'm wondering if I've been wrong this whole time. However, it doesn't seem like there would be any partial/full redeposit since I would essentially be upgraded to GF for free (assuming only 1 segment's upgrade came through).
