Companion upgrade, should I check in?
 

I'm sure this question has been asked to death, but I am really confused about how this works.

My wife and I are flying out tomorrow, I'm a UA 1P and she is a general member. We only want to fly together, but I'd like to try to get us both upgraded (chances look so-so as of right now) but have no idea what to do. When I go to check in they it asks if I (just me) want to be upgraded. Do I enter yes or no? Do I even check in? I know I have to add her at the airport, but what do I do about myself?

Thanks in advance.

If you disclose the route you are flying, it will be much easier to determine your upgrade chances. From your post, it seems as if both you and your wife are on the same reservation. Thus, you will have to request an upgrade for yourself at check-in. However, your wife needs to be added to the Upgrade Standby List which can only be processed at the airport. There have been reports that say that when you check in two hours before departure, online check-in allows you to add your traveling companion to the list. However, just check in early and then add your wife later...worse comes to worse, no one will have a problem switching seats with you :)

You should call CO and "divide the record", meaning get two confirmation #s, one for you and one for your wife. This way, you can be processed for the EUA, and should you make it into F, you will be able to add her to the companion upgrade list upon checkin at the airport. Keep in mind that all Presidential Platinums, Global Services, Platinums, 1K's, and Golds will be upgraded (and their companions) before you.

Let us know the flight # so we can help you find out if you will even have a shot of an upgrade.

as goldelite8 suggested, if your wife does not end up getting upgraded, i'm sure you can find a volunteer to take your seat. Or, if you want to play by the rules, refuse your upgrade at the gate prior to boarding and they will pass the upgrade on to the next person on the list.

Tomorrow we're on ATL-IAH-SAL, on Monday SAL-IAH-CUN, then a week later CUN-IAH-ATL, both of us on the same PNR. I realize not everyone has checked in yet but there are still a few seats available.

So basically - upgrade myself, hope she upgrades at the gate but if she doesn't then give my seat to the person next to her? I'm not terribly familiar with COs cabins (fly only a few times a year on CO), but would someone rather sit in the last row of F instead of the first row of Y? Would there be any other reason that they wouldn't want to move to F?

This is a crazy way to handle companion upgrades...

Wouldn't you rather sit in the last row of F versus the first row of Y?

Not to sound like a CO apologist, and admittedly I do not know how UA handles companion upgrades, but I can't really think of a better, more just way of handling companion upgrades. This allows the elites to get the ELITE upgrades according to schedule, and then as a courtesy they can list their companions at the airport on the day of departure.

If CO put elite companion upgrades through at the same time as the elite member, then it would significantly devalue elite status for business travelers who are usually flying solo. I can just see every business traveler plat going on vacation with his/her kettle spouse sitting up front in my seat as a plat on a lower fare class.

Tagging on - if you're on a 2 person PNR on CO, both have status but at different status levels (1K/1P), is there any need to split it? Can I get upgraded at 5 days out still, or would we both go at 3 days (or at all)? Thanks.

I have had mixed success with 2 person PNR's where one is Plat the other is a Gold. Once we were upgraded at 3 days out, and another time we were upgraded @ the gate. Not sure if this is a result of being on the same PNR or just not releasing seats until boarding. But you will not be upgraded if there are a mix of elites and non-elites on your PNR without dividing the record.

Safest bet is to just split the PNR's. No harm, no foul.

There are some on UA that prefer the bulkhead row vs F on some domestic planes, I didn't know if there was a similar situation on CO.

I can understand that, but there seems to be no good way to make sure that you are not separated without haggling seats after the fact, or refusing your upgrade at the gate and potentially losing your original seat.

FWIW UA upgrades elites plus 1 companion at the same time based on the highest status. If there are 2 seats left, but 3 people on the upgrade list (myself, another, my wife), then I would get them both, but if the other person was ahead of me on the list then they would get the upgrade and since there's one seat left open F would go out with 1 empty seat. That's my best understanding of it anyway. I wonder which method will stay around.

The upgrade runs based on the lowest tier elite in the same PNR.

Mostly correct - this the case up until the 4 hour departure management window. After that, it goes solely by status (if you looked on an Easy Update screen at the gate, you might be #2 with status and your +1 might be #20 as a GM).

Basically, if you didn't clear ahead of time if NC/NF was open, you likely won't clear at the gate.

Not quite;
Once you separate the PNR into two separate reservations then you are flying as two separate people, not a group.
If there is a cancellation or if there are changes in aircraft, CO does not recognize that you are flying together and therefore will make automatic arrangements separately. You may end up on different flights or separated seats. It has happened to me before, several times; mostly with aircraft changes.

Good clarification, thanks.

The minute you say "Yes" to upgrade, it will automatically split your record, and that cannot be reversed. CO will NOT be able to add you to the upgrade list without splitting your record.

Splitting will put you on the upgrade list and also make you EUA eligible for this flight as well as all future segments, and you could get upgraded via EUA for those, leaving your wife in back.

You can add your wife via companion upgrade at each checkin.

So your choice is, don't split and don't upgrade (100% certainty you will not get the upgrade). Or split and try to upgrade (very likely you'll be split on some segments). If it doesn't look good, you can always have the GA downgrade you, but then you're at the mercy of whatever seats are available in the back if the one near your wife is not available.

Up to you if it's worth the hassle.

GoodLuck! and have a nice trip!

I know this has been discussed before and there are strong opinions but he could also no ask for a downgrade and just "trade" the seat up front with the lady sitting next to his wife. I have had somebody refuse only once to do that and ended up changing with the person on the other side of the aisle.