What was the fare
basis you upgraded into? If it was still an economy fare with some premier or other upgrade upgrade than you do only get the economy miles. The bonus miles are based on the
fare code not the booking code. The booking code is what shows on your reservation page and is usually 1 or 2 letters. The fare code is usually 3 or more letters (and sometimes some numbers). It's really confusing but fare codes and booking codes are at best loosely related and sometimes not related at all. When it comes to bonus miles, the fare code is what matters.
There are several ways that the buy-ups work (I focus on domestic travel here).
- Sometimes they book into an actual first class fare basis (typically F, J, FUA or JUA[1]) and these usually show a booking code of F and obviously get the bouns.
- Sometimes they book into an instant upgrade economy fare basis. In this case the fare basis will be something like V2UP14N3 or Q2UP7Y3 and the booking code will be P or A. In this case you should also get the booking bouns since UA considers those fare basises "revenue" first class despite them being actually economy fares[2].
- Other times, if you are elite, they book into an economy fare basis (not a _UP fare) of Y, B (or M if you're 1K+) and they apply the instant upgrade for elites. In this case your fare basis remains Y, B, M based and only your booking code changes. These usually book into PN but sometimes also P. The mileage credits are based on FARE BASIS not booking code.
Unfortunately your screen shots don't show anything but what I described above (particularly that your miles are based on your new FARE not booking code). UA's on-line process is really bad in that unless you click on the right terms and conditions link on the payment page there is no way to know what fare basis you're booking into. (Remember fare basis is usually a several letter code like MA0GY, KA21GN, YUA with the first letter
usually matching with the booking code). The highlighted section in your post could actually be read to be alerting you of this fact (that you may not get a bonus) but it's not worded very well.
It sounds like your routing was IAD to SLC via SFO back in Jan 2013. I couldn't find historical fare information on EF but looking at future fares the lowest published fare is S (in UA's hierarchy L is below S) which is about $250 for the OW and full F fares are about $2500. It sounds like you ended up someplace in the middle and it's hard to figure out where. I also think that UA may be bending the "1K only" M elite upgrades for other elites so who knows.
If you want to settle it...call UA and ask them to tell you what your "
fare basis" was for those coupons of the ticket. If they only give you one letter they aren't looking at the right thing (unless they say its Y, J or F). If your fare basis is M, B or Y something (or Y by itself) than UA is right and you only get the economy points (so only a bonus if you were ticketed as B or Y). If it is Y___ or B____ than you are owed a bonus for full-fare economy and if it's F, J or anything with a __UP___ in it than you are owed the first class bonus. I wouldn't mention the buy-up just say, if it is indeed a basis you should have gotten bonus miles on, that you didn't see the bonus credited and ask them to sort it out. I think others are right that mentioning the buy-up can short-circuit some agents directly to the NO answer without even listening to the rest of the issue.
In my experience, the system UA uses to determine if you're eligible for a bonus is usually pretty good. I fly often on fares that are eligible for bonus including some upgrades via this process and haven't had a miss (in either direction) since summer 2012.
Notes:
[1] Don't give me crap about J being business...UA uses it to sell discount seats in domestic first...check it out.
[2] Basically they are a premium over the associated economy fare. For example BOS-SFO a QA7GN fare is $396OW and the paired instant upgrade Q2UP7Y3 is $1797OW. For reference the economy fare filed range from $164-1994OW and the actual first class fares are $2341-3342 so the QUP fare is quite a discount.