A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,200
Has there been an official policy change we're not hearing about? I thought these buy-up problems were isolated incidents the airline was working (actively) on eliminating.
We are suppose to be relying on two key features of this program:
1) fare difference buy-ups can be offered to anyone (Elite or not) and should always be calculated based on the difference between the ticketed fare and the lowest F-seat eligible fare that person is entitled (ie Plat->M, Joe Shmo->A). We assume that UA will not "dynamically discount" this fare to an insanely low level at the very moment the buyup is offered (and there has been some suspicious evidence there were doing this at CO).
2) segment fee buy-ups are priced dynamically by the system and are *only* offered when the number of unsold F seats *exceeds* the number of upgrade-eligible customers still waiting for an upgrade to clear - NO exceptions
The problem is, we're still seeing 2) fail over and over again, with no hurry on the part of the management to prioritize its fixing. So, my question - has the policy changed and segment-fee buyups can be offered on any flight regardless of the number of Elites waiting for their cleared upgrade vs the unsold seat count?