Next time, I would just ignore them, instead of allowing them to be rude to you.

Follow-up to my own post - got to the airport, went to the gate. Gate agent said I could not be upgraded and that upgrades for Continental elites would not be available until late Oct. Further, she said I was lucky to be in E+ as that was not yet available for CO Golds either.

I pressed her, she made a couple of calls and then said I was on the waitlist. Another agent showed-up and put me in First.

This was in Chicago..I realize it's early, but my initial experiences with UA customer service personnel have been less than stellar, aside from RCC personnel. I'm hoping the winds of change will bring improvements.

Upgraded!
 

Was on UA #819 (EWR-ORD) this AM with my CO OP number and *G status (with CO). Already had secured E+ seat.

At check-in I asked to be added to FC Standby list. At gate, my name was called for last FC seat. Sorta like this so far...:)

Update to my earlier post: UA.com still wants $49 per leg to move to E+ for my EWR-DEN itinerary at the end of the month. Gambled and called the domestic reservations line (a/k/a India) this afternoon, identified myself as a CO elite (didn't mention level) and requested 9A on both my outbound and return. Had the seats in 5 minutes, and the reservation was updated online immediately. (I'm sure it helped that E+ was relatively empty, but hey, I'll take it.)

Just curious, when you got into your reservation now does the website still show wanting the $$ for moving to E+? I have an upcoming trip to DCA and called to get E+ (which I got), but when I go to the website it looks like they are wanting to still charge me for it.

Also, I don't recall seeing a reply to a question about calling to get exit row seats. Anybody had luck with that?

Thanks.

For me, yes, it still shows that I need to "pay" to select E+ seating. I did end up calling UA, got the ICC, and had no problem selecting exit rows over the phone. I checked my res's on UA.bomb and the seat assignments are updated, but still gives me the option to select E+ for $$. Hopefully that is fixed soon.

On a side note, "Benny" in the ICC was nice, but the whole thing took 20 minutes for something that could have taken 3 minutes w/ a US agent (based on prior experience requesting that same thing), or 6 clicks with a mouse if the website was updated...

There is still an ad running in the sidebar for the $49 option, but the reservation still shows 9A as the confirmed seat for both legs. Knowing how iffy the UA website can be (I'm sure the MP board doesn't call it .bomb without cause), I don't want to chance anything by clicking through the seat selection screen.

Just called UA reservations for an itinerary for the end of the month. Booked on CO with CO codeshare, but UA flights. Neither the CO.com or UA.com would show the seat map. CO said to call UA. UA said to contact the codeshare airline. Called UA res and was told that the system was still being worked on, but he put me into E+ seats anyway. I guess I'll see later this month whether I am put on the first class list...

Pleasant experience
 

I have tried .bomb and their call centers over the last 60 days 3 times, swore I would never try it again.

So....tonight I book a trip CLE-SEA, I decide to try the codeshare outbound on UA return on a CO red eye through IAH with upgradeable B fares.

I book the flights but do not upgrade the flights to FC due to what would show on my e-ticket receipt. I call the PLAT line after receiving the receipt via email, they UG me with NP. I ask the agent if he can help me with getting seats on UA and briefly explain my frustration with their call lines to India....He says that he can try to transfer me to their elite line....60 seconds later...Wallah...I am talking to a UA rep in the US with a southern accent and a great sense of humor!!!!! Placed in E+ 2 weeks out. What a pleasant relief after having such poor UA CS and www problems over the last few weeks.

Maybe CO and UA Should send their elites the opposing Elite Line Phone Numbers to ease the transition?

Upgrade... pending?
 

I just made a new reservation on united.com using my onepass number... for travel in January.
As many of you know the website still wants to charge for E+, so I picked E seats.

Then I went back at checke my reservation 20min later. For the two segments with E+ and F seating... it now reads:

Seats:
Flight: Confirmed
Upgrade: Pending
23D

and similar for the second segment (13D instead of 23D).

What does this "Upgrade Pending" notice mean? Have anyone seen it before? One could hope that it means that the system automatically will put me on the upgrade list.

Yes, upgrade pending means that the system will put you in the ug list. Whenever they put you, it will change to "waitlisted"

Another data point for the discussion: booked a UA flight LGA-ORD-LGA yesterday, during the res process E+ was shown as $39 / segment, no E- seats available on one of the segments (often the case on this route, I've seen).

Website told me a seat would be assigned at the airport (also normal). However I checked back 2min later at the reservation and saw that I'd been assigned an E+ seat.

Called the UA res line and was able to get a different E+ seat on this leg (wanted window vs. aisle) and E+ on the return, took 2min and didn't have to mention my CO status - the agent mentioned that he could see it.

Now I'll have to see what happens with upgrades :)

Earlier in this thread, I moaned about having to make four calls before I got an english speaking CSR who assigned me to E+ seats. This week I flew the flights but did not get to sit in E+ either way. They upgraded to first on both flights. I just asked the GA to "manually" enter me on the upgrade list. As soon as he did, I showed up as number 1 on the list. Feeling pretty good, I got on the airplane and someone was sitting in my seat. When I told him it was my seat, he said he preferred it over the one he was assigned. Fortunately, all I had to say was "sorry, but I want that seat" and he moved without fuss. If he hadn't just stolen it, I would have probably been willing to trade if he asked since I was in a good mood. Just taking the seat won't work with me.

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but this is still an issue. Called in twice today looking for a CSR who could understand that a CO Plat is eligible for E+. Both times the agents insisted that I had to pay for E+, and the second argued with me when I asked for a supervisor (I hung up after waiting on hold awhile for the first agent's supervisor). In the end the second agent did figure out that she was mistaken, but I then had to prompt for the upgrade to be submitted as well.

Did you call UA directly (and possibly get the...less experienced agents), or did you call CO and get transferred to the UA elite line? The latter seems a wiser course for both parties these days.