Originally Posted by
Cbass2010
Hey all,
Last week I flew PUJ (Punta Cana) to BOS through EWR on CO metal. I'm still flying as a United 2P (2011 status year) and have Unlimited Domestic upgrades. At the gate in PUJ I went to the agent to confirm that my girlfriend and I were on the upgrade list, and he said, No. I pointed out that I was Premier which usually gets me and my companion a place on the upgrade list and he agreed that "sounds right" but that since I didn't ask at the check-in counter that there was nothing he could do about it. Turns out the plane took off which a handful of empty seats in First and we ended up with an Exit row, but still in coach.
Questions are... was I (and traveling companion on the same PNR) actually entitled to an upgrade, or am I just understanding the Rules wrong? And if so, should I have had to request one at check-in? (Maybe it was just a technical limitation that didn't allow the gate agent to process it?) And if an upgrade was merited, will a letter to UAL be worth it to pursue some sort of upgrade certificates for a future flight?
On my MileagePlus profile under Upgrades Earned it says, "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades: Unlimited" and the details say, "Elite Members can get complimentary upgrades on United and Continental. Buy an eligible ticket, and we'll request the upgrade for you! Available in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Central America and Mexico (excludes transcontinental p.s. flights and select Hawaii flights on Continental)."
Any help or info would be appreciated! Thanks.
Until March 3, upgrades on CO metal are processed under pre-merger CO rules. The big difference has to do with companions. CO does
not upgrade companions (on the same PNR or not) in advance, and if an elite has a non-elite on his/her PNR, the elite member can
not be upgraded in advance. For this reason, CO elites traveling with companions will often have their PNR split so that they can be upgraded in advance.
At the airport, Gold/Platinum and 1P/1K members can request a companion upgrade -- at which point the companion more or less inherits the elite's status for waitlist purposes. Silver and 2P members cannot request a companion upgrade. So there was absolutely no legal way to get your companion on the list.
If you had chosen to split your PNR at checkin, you could have been on the list -- but then you would have been upgraded alone. I'm guessing you might not have chosen to do that, in which case you don't really have a case for compensation from UA.
I would have expected that a competent GA should have been able to split your PNR after checkin (and would have told you how things stood), but I'm not positive -- it's possible that a GA can't do that.