Originally Posted by
jsloan
I hear what you're saying, and I've tried to get it solved at the gate in order to give the opportunity to the next person in line, but I'm not about to take an unwanted upgrade because UA's systems can't handle all-or-nothing upgrades at the gate.
Perhaps the one positive thing I've seen out of COVID travel is UA gate agents are now proactively asking the people on the UG list if they want the upgrade rather than blindly following the list (I've overheard this in the "You're next in line for the upgrade; right now no one else is in your row do you want to keep that or take the upgrade?" and the "Mr. X, I see you're traveling as a party of 2; right now I only have one seat available, would you like to stay together or take the upgrade?" -- the latter being the direct cause of my last battlefield upgrade (I was #2, #1 was a GS+Wife with a Kitchen Aid stand mixer as their carry on)...and even as a party of 1 the GA asked if I'd like the upgrade or the Y bulkhead I was already booked in)
For the OP, though, keep receipts for the direct costs (seating, baggage) and submit them to UA after the trip is over. In similar day of travel IROPS cases in the past UA has cut a check and sent a voucher for me; the fact that this was an advance schedule change that wasn't addressed before hand might temper their generosity...but they also had the chance to address this before hand and failed to do so