Originally Posted by
jsloan
I understand what you're saying, but, just like everyone who expects UA to continue a waitlisting program that is clearly dead as soon as somebody remembers to update the website, you're missing a fundamental point. There is no chart. Therefore, even if you were booked on a through fare, there's no way to know that it wouldn't have been priced differently if I space had been available all the way through.
But there is. Just look at the fare calculation.
If it is is something like
AAA UA X/BBB XX CCC, then it is a through fare. If it is broken up and is additive (AAA to BBB, then BBB to CCC), then it is just that.
Also, one letter fare code is generally the normal ("saver" - which still does show up so on the UA site also, BTW) fare, while two-letter one is higher. So if you book X-fare (one letter X) on a UA flight and have I-fare (one letter I) on UA or another *A airline, then the X-fare segment is eligible for waitlisting, as the X-fare segment is in the normal ("saver") fare class, same as the O-fare segment.
The problem is that most UA res agents and supervisors have no clue of what they are doing. They can't even read and comprehend the fare calculation!
That being said, I most definitely do
not expect this wait-listing program to be continued. I've said so before. It's a relic of better days in the [getting more and more distant] past, which exactly as you say, will be removed the moment someone at UA who knows what they are doing notices that it is still so published and updates the site.