Originally Posted by
kokonutz
It's pretty well documented under the new-to-UA legacy CO system, a GM will get upgrade for cash offers that a 1k on PA1 upgrade wait list will not even get offered.
Today I was checking my kids in on award tickets and got an offer (that I accepted!) to upgrade my kids to the last 2 seats in F with me tomorrow for $109 on a 3.5 hour flight. The offer explained that there were 11 people on the upgrade list but that I could jump that queue for cash.
While I'm happy for my kids, I wonder how many times I have been/will be one of those 11 people who lost an upgrade to a general member, much less a GM on an award ticket.
If new UA is going to offer upgrades for cash, it should make the same (or better!) offers to those on the wait list as it does to GMs who are not on the upgrade list, rather than following the CO model of making such offers only to those not already on the wait list.
This has happened to me many times in 2011, mostly on international flights. What really frustrates me is that they offer an upsell to someone who is a general member that paid less than half the ticket price I paid. When I asked about it once the gate agent told me that incremental $ trumps everything except GS.