Originally Posted by
findark
Assuming the "normal" case where the premium fare component was delegated to Economy because of the single-cabin aircraft, yes you should be entitled to a premium seat if there is a change of gauge assuming your original booking class (Z in the example) is available. It takes a call and sometimes HUCA to get an agent to do it though.
Yes, that was my thought. They swapped in the 2-class plane the night before, and by the time I had a chance to call UA (to refare my wife's award ticket to the front cabin), I had already been CPU'd and didn't feel like it was going to be worth it to spend another hour and potential HUACAs just to get the extra 500 PQM. I should be fine on PQM this year; the stretch is going to be PQDs given I'm at roughly 35k PQM but $2k PQD so far for the year...