That's what FT is for, not calling the elite desk, hoping that the message will get to the people who can actually make changes or fix something that's broken.

It may be that the PPlat line is bending the rules a bit, as I've never had a problem if space was available. In fact, this last time I was waitlisted with a Regional Upgrade (same as CR-1), and the agent removed the upgrade instrument (returning it to my account) before giving me the EUA.

Interesting that my name doesn't appear in the list of people upgraded after checking in, which it normally does after an EUA.

My upg. cleared on the flight I was tracking a few posts earlier, so I'm guessing it looks like EUA is running rather regularly now.

Inventory now (10:55 PM Houston time):
F/JN/A/ZN/P/PN5, R/RN/IN/I1, Y/YN/B/M/E/U/H/HN/Q/V/W/S/T/L/K/G/N/XN/X9

So R went from 9 to 1, F from 9+ to 5.

Seat map: Total/occupied/unoccupied
F seats: 16/11/5 (including me)
ELR seats: 18/7/11
Elite reserved seats: 36/11/25
General seating: 90/90/0 (it's a popular flight with kettles!)

Regarding placing phone calls to the Elite desk, I still think it's a good idea to make sure there's nothing "wrong" with your record. If CO doesn't want us calling, they should put a notation on our records that says:

"Upgrade requested"

"Upgrade sweep for Plats (or Golds/Silvers) ran, no seats left for you"

"Upgrade sweep ran, you are upgraded"

It must be a PPlat thing, then; the elite desk definitely does not dispense this benefit to Plats.

So I am a long time PMUA flyer with my first all-CO itinerary using my matched CO status. I've got a flight that departs in about four-and-a-third days. Availability in R/RN is presently 5. When should this EUA thing be running and how can I tell if I'm one of the cases that has stopped? I sure prefer the UA way--this would all be moot and my upgrade would have been processed as I'm inside my window and availability is > 0.

EUA should have run at or around 120 hours out.


If it stopped or failed to run on your flight, you really have no visibility into that, nor do the agents.

Did you document the R availability just prior to 120 hours out? If it was 5 then and it's still 5 now, it probably means that it didn't run. If it was higher then and went down to 5 at or around the 120, then it means that EUA probably ran but there's a problem with your record.

It's also possible that R was released after the sweep and won't be allocated until the next sweep (if it's still available).

We really have no visibility into the black box.


Indeed. Unfortunately CO's systems aren't that tightly integrated so that things like waitlisting and processing upgrades in real time are challenging for them.

Need Help with EUA
 

I am a 1K that linked to CO and I am on my first complete CO Itin and I am using my CO FF# for this flight. I am now less than 72 hours from flight and still not been EUA'd. The flight info is this:

F7, JN7, A6, ZN6, P6, PN6, R3, RN3, IN3, I3, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L9, K9, G9, N9, XN9, X9

R and RN space has been between 2 and 9 the last 5 straight days. Why has my upgrade not processed? I have called the CO Elite line a couple of times and was told a bunch of Bull and asked if I would like to buy the upgrade with cash or miles.

Is R = NC or not??

Should I call CO Elite desk again since the R space is there and I have not been upgraded in the first 48 hours of my window? How often are there sweeps??

I have read through this thread and agree about the lack of transparancy in the system and apparant like of concern by 2 of the 3 agents I talked with over the last 3 days (note: first call was just to ask how EUA worked, etc)

Thanks

R=NC only if CO wants it to - there's really no simple equivalent to UA's easy to understand & transparent NC/NF space (with dynamic waitlisting). Multiple UG buckets allows for game playing & adds to consumer confusion.

Sometimes they'll let R turn into EUA seats, sometimes not. Sometimes EUA fills up days out, sometimes doesn't run until T-24. Welcome to the future (unfortunately).

The Elite desk can not help you at this point. It's an automated system. Just because you see R availability now does not mean there is R availability when the system sweeps.

It's a different system than the UA system you are used to. People are just going to have to adjust.

I think I figured out what's happened, at least for me. When the PPlat desk manually upgraded me, they put me into PN, not R. I was on a V fare, not M/B. I don't know if R was available at exactly T-6, but given how rare upgrades are on EWR-SNA, I doubt it.

Or it means it swept but your record is messed up. You have no way of knowing, that's the problem.


Different is fine, but there ought to be some level of visibility into its workings since the number of anomalies is so high.

I think we really need to rally around this and pressure the company to give us the visibility needed to figure out what's happening. Simply accepting mediocrity is not an ideal solution.

If by "mediocrity" you mean "inferiority," I agree.

Are you reading something we're not?! You can't simply take less than a dozen people (in the last two weeks) reporting problems on FT as "a high number of anomalies".

UA elites are going to have to get used to the system that is in place until something changes. Feel free to call and complain to elite desk and OPSC agents who aren't empowered to do anything about it.

Perhaps we should be really asking for the equivalent of a 1K voice, a way of waiting for an elite desk agent on the reservation system (instead of automatically rolling over to a regular agent during peak times) and a way to bypass the line for the OPSC without having to call the elite desk. Those would solve 95% of the problems people have or at least get people (elites) a much quicker way of getting questions answered and issues resolved.

Easier, quicker access to agents/CS for the best customers would be highly welcome, but also very much against the mindset of this airline going forward. I guess we'll see.

And getting to OPSC isn't the issue, it's the institutional problem of a lack of empowerment, "supervisors" who are incompetent, unacceptable response times, etc.

How is it against the mindset of the airline going forward? PMCO had an elite desk. All I'm suggesting now is an email account similar to 1K Voice and better access to the OPSC.

Maybe I should have added a an elite desk subset of OPSC agents.

I agree empowerment is an issue, but yours and Channa's constant "CO sucks because..." does not help anyone who is trying to see the glass as half full.