Originally Posted by
rebyang
Family of four waitlisted for tomorrow's flight to Asia, when I checked in this morning, the reservation was separated into four. Any previous experiences like this? Will it impact our waitlist on the way back? ... We are platinum & gold member, kids are not member. Called united to ask the reason but no answer. The UA system is really weird. Any comments
Any type of waitlisted reservation will be split upon check-in, as the UA system can only clear one person at a time at the gate.
This will impact your waitlist on the return flight in two ways. 1 - it's possible that part of your party will clear and part will not (incidentally, that's possible tomorrow at the gate, also). 2 - Your children may have lower upgrade priority, as they may now be clearing based on their own status level instead of yours or your spouse's (none vs. platinum).
In the future, the only way to avoid this is to call UA to remove the upgrade / waitlist request before check-in or to purchase one-way tickets (which are often vastly more expensive on international flights when paying cash, and will cost twice the change / cancellation fees if you need to make changes).