I am just reporting an inconsistency and although I figure that, because these events are purchased upgrades during check in, treatment of PQDs and PQMs are inconsistent and seem random and I do not think that I have a real chance of getting PQms and PQDs beyond what I have already received, I thought I'd share it anyway. Please feel free to weigh in.
I booked a round trip EWR - LIM a few weeks ago but ended up from EWR to SCL instead on the outbound leg and LIM - EWR inbound on my return. This was due to Harvey and since I had to go to SCL in any event, this was actually a much appreciated move by UA to make a change without a change fee during the hurricane's travel waiver period. Both flights were routed through IAH. The original fare calls for all legs was L. I have no idea what the fare basis was. I did not try to check on Saudi's webpage until after the last flight which was too late I guess. The search result came up with an error.
When I checked in for my EWR-SCL flight I received an upgrade offer for the IAH-SCL portion of the trip for $829 which I accepted. The new fare class noted on the receipt was ZN. A few days later, PQMs and PQDs posted including the upgrade fee.
For my flight back to EWR I was again offered an upgrade, this time for $859 for the LIM - IAH leg. Upon acceptance, my fare class shown was the same as before: ZN. Needless to say, this time, the PQMs and PQDs that posted a few days later did not include the upgrade payment.
In both instances, the language on the receipt reads:" ...was charged xxx USD for the / EDD .... for: Premium Cabin Upgrade."
After my first flight posted favorably, I started reading this thread for the first time and saw in the Wiki portion that additional PQMs and PQDs have been reported in ZN class fares. When the second flight did not post as hoped, I called the premier desk. The representative forwarded me to US's web support where I received the monotonous response that only true upfares ticketed as such and any fare differences into the same count towards PQMs and PQDs.
When the web support representative looked at my numbers for the first leg, I was told that the numbers did not make sense as they don't correctly reflect the PQDs spent but since it was an error in my favor (none of the upgrade fee should have been added to the PQDs or counted as PQMs, not even partially as it was done in my case) but that UA does audit these numbers every 2 weeks and it is possible that if an audit catches the alleged mismatch, my account may be adjusted downwards.
Any thoughts anybody?