Originally Posted by
ezefllying
I'm pretty good at reading snark, but I'm not sure what to make of this.
We had 13/21 seats booked in Premium 24 hours before departure, and 16/21 a few hours out. As for me, four upgrades from Premium to Business cleared at T-24 hours, and it looks like a couple others cleared a few hours later. I was 5th on the list with 7 open a day before flight time. So I was not the #1 pax on the list. I was the #1 starting two hours out, after a third of the Premium cabin had cleared up.
Apologies — I misinterpreted what you wrote. I’m not used to that many (or, frankly, any) upgrades clearing on most transcons and I assumed you’d been #1 the whole time. I didn’t take the holiday into account.
So, I understand where you’re coming from. I still think the alternative scenarios are more likely than UA’s upgrade priority breaking just for your flight and no others. It’s not
impossible, but it’s highly
implausible.
WineCountryUA had an alternative suggestion earlier in the thread — it’s possible that UA has reopened the loophole where you could take a cheap buyup into Premium Plus and then be treated as a paid Premium Plus passenger. Most of the examples we’ve seen recently were people first upgrading to PP and then trying (and failing) to add PlusPoints, but perhaps if someone already has PlusPoints applied, it will allow you to buy into Premium Plus and then will adjust your priority? Most of the time, when you have PlusPoints applied, cash upgrade offers are hidden, but they do sometimes appear. So that’s another possibility.
IMO, the very least likely scenario is the one you’re positing — an adjustment of priority based upon clearing an upgrade request into RN.