Originally Posted by flyinbob
Compensation for what?
This seems like one of those situations where UA loses in either case. If I were the UGS, someone who spent a lot more money than you apparently on UA, and found out some "kid" got bumped up ahead of me because of politics, I too would feel cheated. But you got what you paid for. Why are you now "entitled" to compensation? So you were lied to. What, this was the first time it ever happened? I don't want to sound grinch-ish, but grow up. If you don't like what UA did to you, it is a free country. Take your business elsewhere. UA will probably offer you compensation, like the domestic upgrade, but for my money, you aren't "entitled" to anything but an honest apology.
I agree that what happened wasn't the worst thing in the world. But hey, if I were promised something, not given it, and then lied to about it, I'd want some compensation equal to what I gave up and/or to compensate for the disappointment springing from the screw-up. A UA rep (in WHQ) promised you'd get the upgrade if it became available and other UA reps confirmed it. It did become available and you didn't get it. Plus you burned an SWU relying on that promise and it sounds like the UA reps knew they'd screwed up. So I'd say you should press for an SWU as compensation.
Fastair makes some good points about the way the UG system works, but I still beg to disagree. The fact that a UA rep promised more than the airline could deliver still puts the onus on UA, not you, to deal with that rep's initial mistake and then the other reps' compounding the mistake. If in response to a previous problem a rep had, say, told me a $100 ticket change fee would be waived and I relied on that promise in making the change, I'd seek the $100 compensation even if the computer overrode that waiver.