Originally Posted by
flyingfairly
I definitely learned my lesson. But honestly I didn't realize it was such an unusual request. Because it had been done easily for me, I just figured I could do the same for my mom.
Understood.
By posting here on Flyertalk, you tapped into the knowledge base of UA flyers with millions of miles under their belt. So take with significant weight the statements on how unusual your circumstance was.
On international flights, the only upgrade scenarios one would expect to encounter are:
1: Upgrading using points or miles.
2: Upgrading by paying the fare difference, or being offered a cash upgrade when you check in for a flight.
3: Operational upgrades: these are rare on international flights but do happen - when a flight is oversold in economy, but there are still open seats in business, UA will sometimes move someone with status from economy to business in order to free up seats. This happened once to me about 15 years ago when I was upgraded at the gate into business on a flight from LHR to IAD.
Otherwise UA places a very high value on premium class seats on international flights and does not give them away very easily!