Once again, I had the unfortunate opportunity of being in the "EUA didn't go through automatically but, even though the upgrades are available, I can't upgrade you manually" situation for my flight today, Monday from IAH-SFO. After midnight early Sunday morning, my flight, CO 230 at 535pm on Monday, showed A6 D4 F4. The agent agreed with me that the upgrade was available. She then put me on hold for a couple minutes and tried in vain to do a manual upgrade. She was very apologetic and I said that's ok no problem and hung up.

So, I tried to call again to see if I'll get someone better. This time, she still said the same thing, upgrade is available but she can't do a manual upgrade. I politely expressed my frustration with this especially since this has happened to me multiple times.

She then politely reminded me that I should be happy that CO still allows free UG's on my type of ticket. (My r/t cost me only $150 incl taxes...not a COOL special...just a good fare)

She said that all the other airlines were cutting back and changes to OnePass and Continental were imminent. She stated a case where they will start charging $100 for standby for same day flights. She also stated that, eventually, discounted fares may be excluded from the Elite Upgrades.

I then told her, that, if that happened, I would just choose a different carrier. She agreed with me that she'd do the same if she were in my position.

(Well, just FYI, I didn't get upgraded on this flight.)

Oh well, can someone here verify this information if it is accurate or she was just making this stuff up?

I'm just feeling more and more alienated by the carrier that I've been loyal to these past years. Such a sad thing....

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SFnFlaGuy