Even if you love EUA, consider sending CO a note to make it better.

In my experience as a Platinum Elite (with only a 60% YTD upgrade success rate) EUA has not worked as advertised. Time and again I have been able to confirm availability both before and after an EUA run, but somehow my reservation was not upgraded. Even with my "spoonful of sugar" approach, I have not always been successful in obtaining upgrades even when seats are still available at the time I call and were available the night before. The agents typically indicate that they have been ordered to wait until EUA runs again and are unable to process the upgrade manually.

Here lies the problem: agents do not actually know if a specific reservation was examined by EUA to see if it was eligible for an upgrade. However, passengers are expected to take on blind faith that the system worked and that upgrades were simply not eligible. After discussing this at length this evening with a CO supervisor, (currently trying to get a NW upgrade on a CO ticket) I suggested my fix (below) and she said that it sounded great, but that I would have to get other CO FFs to write in to get CO's attention.

The fix - and where you come in: CO can allow their agents to provide accurate information and identify EUA problems in a relatively simple procedure. EUA already updates the PNR when an upgrade was processed, on the other side of the coin it should also update the PNR when it processes the EUA cycle and the upgrade is not available. That way, when the passengers call to check, the agent can intelligently say "Yes, EUA ran on this reservation at 2:03 am, but it was unable to process an upgrade at the time." The agent is then empowered to provide accurate information AND if a reservation was actually missed, the agent can solve the problem (upgrade manually) and forward the record to CO's information tech department to identify the reason that EUA failed on that particular reservation.

Regardless of your feelings about EUA, this "fix" can only make it better. I hope that you can take a few minutes (feel free to cut and paste the text) to help CO develop a system to provide their agents and passengers better information.

Thanks -
CWPFLY

When EUA fails for you, what percentage of the time are you able to immediately confirm an upgrade on the phone?

Are you ever traveling with non-elites or lower elites on the same itins?

To answer your question dbaker: When EUA fails for me, I am successful about 50% of the time in obtaining an upgrade via a manual process (even when seats are available). When speaking with the agent I even remember all of the manners that my Mom taught me!

I typically travel with another person in the PNR (also Platinum). If ITN shows just a few seats available, I may divide the record to improve the chance of one of us getting an upgrade.

As much as I travel, a single upgrade being missed is not going to make or break me, but I dislike the imperfect procedure that CO has created. I would be happy if the agent could simply tell me that the upgrade was actually attempted but unsuccessful.

CO is the only airline that I fly that has this hands-off approach. On UA, US and DL (as top-level with each) if I am on the list for upgrades and it happens to be available when I call, the agent will complete the upgrade instead of saying that the system has to do it. I don't understand why CO ties their agents hands in this manner.

Thanks
CWPFLY

So essentially you're looking for F seats and when don't get upgraded on the last day of your window, and the F seats are still showing, then you call for a manual upgrade?

JL2

My wife always calls as soon as we are eligible for upgrades regardless of EUA and if they say that we must wait for EUA, she keeps trying each day until day of flight when it becomes a moot point and we just get to the airport early but it works for us. She usually (Silver) has a 66 to 75% success rate for overall upgrades and my Gold rate is even higher overall. If we get EUA, great but we never ever rely on it. Also if we don't get what we like from one agent, you can always try try again and again

The point of this topic is that we should not have to try our luck at getting an agent to upgrade an eligible itinerary. The agents should be able to determine simply by looking at the PNR if EUA ran and attempted an upgrade or if the reservation was somehow skipped. If skipped, the agent should then be empowered to upgrade the itinerary if seats are available.

I am ok with the fact that I may not receive an upgrade, but I am not ok with the fact that as the system currently exists, there is no verification method that the upgrade was even attempted. A simple notation in the PNR that EUA ran would solve this problem. If we can send CO a note requesting this system enhancement, it will make the agent's job much easier and clarify the issue for all involved.

CWPFLY

Another major problem is the inconsistent response from agents about this kind of issue. I've never come across an agent that's willing to manually upgrade when EUA fails for whatever reason, but various topics in this forum seem to indicate otherwise.

cwpfly, agree with your sentiments. My problems with EUA are posted elsewhere, and won't be repeated here (thanks for the applause).

Less filling!

Motnot, I disagree. This is not a matter of opinion. We do have different results with EUA. Congrats to all the 100% upgraded flyers, but I am not one of them

I am one of them (100 percenters) and recently I have had success getting the agents to manually upgrade when I was missed by the EUA. This does not mean that I like this system better than the last, where I felt (rightly or wrongly) that I had some control of my situation and knew exactly what I could do at all times.
I think that cwpfly has some extrememly valid points and his idea of a "fix" is a very good one, but I would make one suggestion that might help him out and that is "always travel on separate records." I also travel most of the time with another Platinum, and the extra margin provided by separate records comes in when the EUA misses one of you. In that case, there has never been in our experience the agent who did not upgrade the other Platinum instantly and without further ado.

quote:
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"....On UA, US and DL (as top-level with each)...."
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Occasionally I fly enough miles to qualify for top elite level on two airlines, but never have I heard of anyone being top level elite on four (4) airlines. Exactly how many total miles/yr do you travel and how do you prevent ff blisters from forming on your butt?

MisterNice

Misternice Now you have made me pull all of my statements from the end of last year and realize just how many miles I flew. Last year I flew exactly 402,463 status miles (of course, those aren't all miles due to 500 mile minimums, but it is pretty close) In addition, it does not count flights that I redeemed using FF miles. Regarding the prevention of blisters on the posterior, that is a closely guarded secret that I can't reveal! Believe it or not, I actually have a friend that flew about 95% of those miles with me.

Got to go and check myself back into the FF ward at Bellevue...

CWPFLY

Cwpfly... welcome from another fellow NOVA flyer. I am a 100%er, usually fly from DCA or BWI, but have status on both NW and CO, this way I call NW when the window opens and immediately get the upgrade. No waiting for EUA to/or not to UG me. No "I'm sorry sir, you'll have to wait", just "would you like and aisle or window" is the typical response I get....

cwpfly - I would agree with "monitor" as to the idea of seperate records. As of today I have 122 flights this year and have only missed an upgrade on 1 flight. My wife is a "gold elite" and she's been on 54 of those flights, and on only four flights has she not received an upgrade. Don't know why we're doing better than you. But it may be the seperate records.