Originally Posted by
MrAOK
i'm more confused on why it matters for upgrades. if you fly from like nrt to iad through lax and it's one flight number, i can understand it not being as many miles as two flight numbers, but it's two planes.
I thought you could still upgrade the domestic leg.
My recent flight UA858 PVG-SFO-LAX was booked as 1 flight number. My SWU cleared at the gate in PVG (although it was not very organized - there were several people complaining about not having been upgraded properly) I did not get a new boarding pass w/ new seat # but a hastily scribbled new seat number 26C. Another GA came through and double checked before takeoff.
In SFO, I asked the GA about my upgrade for the LAX segment and she told me I had no chance. She then preceded to upgrade 2 people on the waiting list to F. When I boarded, my boarding pass made beeping sounds and she put it aside and muttered "what's wrong with this" but said nothing else and set my ticket stub to the side. After which, I started thinking...since 858 was 1 flight number and my SWU had cleared for the earlier segment, shouldn't I have been automatically upgraded for this segment also? I wasn't sure so had not said anything.
How does this work so I know next time?