I just got off the phone with a wonderful CSR who knew exactly how to refare an itinerary while holding on to confirmed upgrades. This is after speaking with three other CSRs who didn't know how to do this.
There is no *clear* thread title that refers to this that I could find, so I thought I would accumulate what I learned from two other threads that tangentially mentioned this. At the end of this post, I address a second issue: refaring *waitlisted* upgrades. Mods, please feel free to merge, but, if possible, foreground the "answers" to this question as follows (edits, clarifications, and suggestions welcome).
If you wish to refare a confirmed, upgraded itinerary, but there is no confirmable upgrade space left on the flight, you will have to be careful:
1) Always call to be safe. Do not refare online.
2) Ask the CSR if you can refare while protecting your confirmed upgrades.
3) If they say no or sound confused, politely say thank you, hang up, and try again.
4) If they say yes, they will create a shadow booking to hold on to the upgraded seat and transfer your record over.
5) If your upgrade is sponsored, ask the agent if it shows "HK for NF" for first or "HK for NC" for business. This means the upgrade is confirmed (though see Post #14 in this thread).
6) Before you hang up, log in (or log out and re-log in) to
www.united.com/myitins and ensure that everything is in place.
7) Ask to speak to a supervisor, and note that you appreciate one of the few CSRs who knows how to do this correctly.
From
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6352486
Title: Refare Guidelines
Originally Posted by
GoingAway
Tell the agent you have an international ticket with confirmed upgrades and believe the fare has dropped. You want to get a voucher but only if they can protect your upgrade - is that possible? If you get silence or a No as a response ... it's thank you and try the call again a bit later.
Originally Posted by
GoingAway
Again, this depends on the agent - they need to create a shadow record and move the upgrade over and hold the seat, etc. It is not a "normal" transaction and requires more than basic knowledge. Get the wrong agent and you're on the waitlist, get a good one and you're golden.
From
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=763630
Title: refare + upgrade question
Originally Posted by
as219
First, when refaring, communicate the problem to the CSR, that you're traveling on a sponsored u/g and that you want to make sure that the authorization -- and not just the upgrade -- transfers to the refared itin. After the refare is done, with the agent on the phone, check online to see if it looks all right. Even then, ask the agent whether the upgrade shows "HK" ("Holding Confirmed"), which means it's authorized. Second, be sure to use OLCI at the 24-hour mark. If there are problems with the upgrade, this is where they show up... IME, refaring an itin almost always means problems with OLCI, usually a message saying they "can't find your electronic ticket" or something like that. A phone call is needed to fix this. If there are any residual u/g authorization problems, this is also where they show up (i.e., if it won't let you check in and gives some message about unauthorized upgrades). Again, a call to UA is needed to fix it, perhaps escalating to a SD. At the end of the day, authorization should be portable between itins after refaring or irrops, so be persistent.
Bottom line: Go ahead and refare your itins with sponsored upgrades (by phone, never online), but be aware that you'll have to jump through a few more hoops to avoid unpleasantness at the airport.
Originally Posted by
as219
A good CSR can handle this situation. Others can't. When dealing with the 1K desk, I always make sure in advance that the upgrades will stick. When agents say, "oh yeah, I know how to do this," then I let them. If they sound iffy, I say, um, I gotta go...thanks for your help...and call back.
Finally, I'll end with a question that I have asked that has not yet been answered.
Originally Posted by
fadeforward
If the upgrade is waitlisted, can a skilled CSR refare while keeping the itinerary in the same place in the PA queue?
I have yet to hear from someone who has successfully had a CSR refare and later confirm that the previous spot in the waitlist was held (besides last in line!).