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Clarification: Only for reservations made by united ticketing outlets (united.com, United phone reservations, United city and airport ticket offices) will the request be automatically placed in the member’s reservation.
Complimentry upgrades must be requested manually for tickets booked through travel agents.
As always, it is best to verify your upgrade request on united.com for all reservations.
This is correct. You can either have your TA request it when booking, or you can call United and request it yourself after it is booked. But someone has to...