Originally Posted by
jsloan
If you up-fare, you won't have this problem. If you use a sticker-type upgrade to buy up one segment -- generally at a discount, although sometimes just a slight one -- it is non-refundable and non-transferrable. The fact that they seated you in P or Z is an artifact of the process; it doesn't mean that you have a P or Z fare.
UA is well aware that people were doing things like upgrading IAD-LAX and then SDCing into IAD-EWR-LAX, and they're trying to put a stop to it.
For OPs sake and those wondering in this thread, all domestic first tickets aren't "P" or "Z" fares. They're all fared on an underlying coach fare class. United doesn't even publish P or Z fares in most markets (I can't say all because I'm not going to look up every possible domestic routing pair to see the published fare info). They have up to Y and then "J" (and I see "F" still in the fare info). So, of course you're correct that the upgrade is not transferable or refundable and only applies to the segments the upgrades were purchased for.
I still believe it's easy to prevent IAD-LAX routing through EWR via SDC if they just follow the routing rules. The routing rules can be adjusted to allow what they want. SDC has been known to start following those and clamping down now. (PS - I looked up IAD-LAX for tomrw and the lowest fare class "Q" allows routing via all hubs including EWR).
-RM