Originally Posted by
kenn0223
What was the fare basis you upgraded into?
No clue. I can call the Premier Desk tomorrow and ask the agent to look up the fare basis on both tickets.
Originally Posted by
kenn0223
The booking code is what shows on your reservation page and is usually 1 or 2 letters.
The segments in question are showing up as P class. That's all I was shown when making the reservation - and UA's Web site actually indicated that I would receive 150% PQM.
Originally Posted by
kenn0223
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.
In the future, if I go for a cash buy up, how do I figure out the fare code before accepting or declining?
Originally Posted by
kenn0223
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.
I am starting to wonder if that second part is what happened.
Originally Posted by
kenn0223
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.
My actual routing is IAD-SFO-IAD from April 19-21, followed by IAD-IAH-SLC-IAD on April 22-today. The segments upgraded using cash buy-up offers were IAD-SFO and SLC-IAD.
Originally Posted by
kenn0223
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.
I will call back in the morning, ask for the fare basis on both segments that were upgraded, and then bring it back here. At the very minimum, I want to at least figure out
exactly how these cash buy-ups work - they are very confusing, from what you're telling me, and UA's Web site doesn't help much at all - for my future reference.
Originally Posted by
ORDFlyer33
I did a buy up on one leg of a R/T in March. Orignal booking class was T, buy up was P. When posted, the Activity line item showed T and no bonus. I submitted a missing mile credit on the web site and explained the situation (buy up to P but flight posted as T) and provided 3 screen shots - one of the receipt from the website circling the Flight/Class (ie UA419 P), one of the activity posting from the web site circling the leg in question and one of the Premier Earnings on United Chart from United.com showing Z,P earn 150%. I received a very prompt reply (same day), explaining they will fix it and it will show up in 48-72 hours and it did. Oh and they corrected the other 3 people on my reservation.
That's what I originally did.
The reply I received: "Miles are earned according to the booking code that you purchased originally, even if you upgrade your seat to a different booking class or cabin. Your booking code is usually noted on your ticket by a letter following the flight number."