Originally Posted by
villox
Others have speculated that you may be able to leave the companion on the original flight and they wouldn’t notice. However, today I opened up space for a companion and for the first time the agent quoted me something rather explicit that the two reservations were cross referenced and should I take a different flight “the companion would need to be reticketed into JN or placed on the upgrade standby list”. I had never had this stated to me before which makes me believe they could be watching for this.
I think it makes a bit of sense for UA to do this, as it closes up a loop-hole for a GS member to force a companion upgrade, then cancel the ticket / change the ticket with the sole purpose being to get the companion guaranteed J at a saver rate vs. full award rate / upgrade waitlist. There are times when plans legitimately change, but in most cases of companion travel, the companion changes too.