Originally Posted by
star_world
Now this is interesting. How well did UDUs work on pmUA when it was an OAL ticket or codeshare? Maybe you can explain?
Totally agree with people who say that there should be more transparency for CPUs but I think you'll find that the situation is *dramatically* better now than it was previously for UA pax flying on OAL tickets and codeshares. Hard to reconcile that with comments like "things the system wasn't designed to handle well".
PMUA did not have UDU. You needed to use something to support the U/G, either certificates (SWU, Regionals or E500's) or miles. In addition, UA offered immediate u/g from certain full Y/B fares. All required available U/G inventory.
A much better approach, IMHO.
I have since concluded that UA is now offering the U/G's for sale when there is too much demand. (Surprise, surprise: when you give something away for free, there's excess demand. Who knew?) But the problems are, as others have noted, it is far from transparent and elites often seem to be unfairly excluded from the process, or at least the bargain basement TOD's.