Originally Posted by
channa
The quote was:
Agent says, "I've seen miles + $$$ re-deposited and planes leave without filling the BF seats..."
Nowhere did the agent say it never clears properly. In fact the agent did say the poster could try at the airport if it did not clear in advance. That suggests that it may clear in advance, or it may clear at the gate.
But the agent did inform the customer of the possibility of it not clearing properly, and BF seats flying empty, which is a real possibility as well.
That's why I disagreed with your categorization of the agent as misinformed. Seems this agent laid out various scenarios on the table, and knew her stuff. Further, she wasn't afraid to admit the system has its flaws, which we all know it does. I wish all agents would be this well informed and honest.
How shocking that you're selective about your quoting and leaving out the piece that led to it being misleading by the agent:
I called in to United, and was told that, if my $$$+miles upgrade does not clear before the 24h window before takeoff, then I could try "at the airport" after checking in...
This is where the agent sent the OP in the wrong direction and created unnecessary worry. This might have gone unnoticed by you since the approach the agent took is actually quite like the approach you frequently take here
The agent could have said "if your upgrade doesn't clear before the 24hr window you'll be moved to the airport standby list when you check in". That's the process, and that's what happens in the vast majority of cases. But by positioning it as a vague "you could try" the agent is giving the OP the belief that there isn't a process here and that they have very little chance of it working.
It's not actually surprising - the agent was probably a PMUA one and isn't entirely familiar with the process or how it works. Better and more training is required, as I've said frequently. So I genuinely do believe that the agent is misinformed - not because what they said to the OP is categorically false, but because it is highly misleading as it fails to refer to the actual process that is in place for clearing these types of upgrades.