In January I'm going RT HKG. The outbound is direct but CO does not have the direct on the return so I'm going through NRT. The HKG-NRT portion is on United as NWA 18 was very expensive. CO.com could not book this and the Elite line could not even come close to the fares I saw at Orbitz, Travelocity, etc...
I called to upgrade my NRT-EWR portion and it is available. I have �B� fare (both EWR-HKG, NRT-EWR). The web site clearly states that B fares are upgradeable with $300 plus the miles. I was told over the phone that this could not be done due to the UAL portion. They said I had to change the HKG-NRT to another airline (maybe ANA?) adding $800 in fare plus the $300 service fee. Of course I was on hold for a good 15 minutes while they figure this one out. My argument to no avail was what does UAL have to do with this? I purchased a B fare which is the basis for their policies, not footnotes or asterisks. They live by this stuff and can�t just make up secret rules when convention to them. Got nowhere. They could not show me this anywhere in writing.

Any suggestions? Being an engineer and not a lawyer, in my opinion each flight has it�s own fare code that stands alone, especially when there are 2 different and unrelated airlines involved. As I have told CO on other incidents in the past if you publish a rule I may not like it but can understand. However, they can�t just make it up.

Every time I want to use miles CO gets in the way. They gave them out like candy a few years ago but it�s a one way street! In Sept I wanted to upgrade a RT HKG and did not clear either. Outbound was full but the return through NRT had BF seats empty and the gate agents refused to give me a seat since the computer did not clear it. No empowerment what so ever. To make matters worse they deducted 50K miles in advance and it took 3 phone calls to get them back. The Elite (Platinum) line is a joke and I heard 3 different stories from 3 people. I find most do not even understand their own policies. Well, here we go again�

Sorry for the rant and I would appreciate any suggestions. The corporate office may be who I contact next.

Thanks,

Someone ought to start a support line for people to help them get out of abusive relationships.

I don't see any justifiable reason for not treating the NRT-EWR segment as a one-way upgrade. Seems like the staff is trying hard to invent silly rationalizations for an IT glitch which might be trying to process this as a HKG-EWR upgrade and balking at the non CO segment. Your best bet is to call several times and hope you get someone competent who knows what to do.

If this is actually CO policy, I will leave it to the aplogists here to invent silly rationalizations.

They ought to let you get in line for your upgrades just like anyone else. You should persist. Ask for a supervisor. I can't see reason why you wouldn't or shouldn't be treated just like any other CO customer with a B class Asia ticket.

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by thesilb (edited Dec 14, 2003).]

Write Kellner. I am sure you will get a response.

1) Use a free SWU or Sweet Spot certificate
2) Confirm upgrade on the spot
3) Spend the $300 "service" fee on a nice Christmas or Hanukka gift for someone you like
4) Sit upstairs in a 747

Oh wait this is CO, not UA

[This message has been edited by Jim Phillips (edited Dec 14, 2003).]

We don't call it NonePass for nothin'.

Oh, am I (as a UA PE & CO Platinum) missing
something?? Wow, when did UA start giving out Sweet Spots & free SWU to anything but 1K's---And all this time, I go on the phone for hours with UA trying to get a cheap international upgradable flight, with generally little or no success? And btw, has UA (over the weekend) upgraded it's dismal F service from EWR on transcons????

Yeah, like:

* Getting upgrades on CO is a likely thing even as a Platinum Elite
* Calling CO's dedicated "Elite Priority" telephone hotline gets efficient knowledgeable service
* Doubtlessly you have a hard time coming by fares that are "cheap" "international" and "upgradeable" because you fly CO all the time - in fact, you probably had such a hard time struggling to comprehend what you were hearing on UA that it seemed to take so long
* Dismal transcon F service on UA out of EWR? I really don't know what you mean since transcon F on UA is fine with me to begin with (as if CO is so consistently stellar?), especially if I don't have to fly CO and accumulate their worthless ScamPass miles
* What I miss though are the fantastic upgrade certificates that CO gives for free and its industry-leading international network and route structure

Work Hard - Fly Wrong.

I keep reading these horror stories - and keep telling myself: Thank goodness I bailed out of CO back in '96.

Its garbage like this that tells me I did the right thing.

Good Luck.

Edited to get back to the original topic--no need to get confrontational when someone is merely asking for information:

Now, back to the topic at hand, Rignall-- call back to CO, oftentimes you'll find a different story depending upon who you speak with. I assume you mean a direct on the return was due to your travel day. I know CO has added a couple of new EWR-HKG flights so check with them to see if they are now offering one on your travel day. Were the fares you saw on Orbitz on CO/NW metal? CO's EWR-HKG is great in BF especially since it is a non stop. Unfortunately with Jan travel so close, I'm afraid most of the cheaper fares on many airlines will have disappeared.



[This message has been edited by mauld (edited Dec 15, 2003).]

Thanks for getting back on track here...
No direct HKG-EWR in Thursdays, at least in Jan when I am flying which is the reason for going through NRT. I tried to upgrrade the NRT-EWR portion and of course not the UA (via CO).

While I am sure that is the case, I have a strong suspicion that somehow the agents' attempts to upgrade you is encountering that segment as well either because of incompetence, limitations of the software and/or the way the PNR is structured. That is the only reasonable explanation I can think of for not being able to upgrade any specific segment.

I am assuming here that one is able to just upgrade a specific segment of a flight (any experiences from others here?) but not many reasons to do so typically. And so it may bump against the agent capabilities or the competence of the people who wrote the software.

I can say I upgraded CO EWR-AMS with an onward connecting ticket on KL to Istanbul. Not sure if that makes any difference wince KL is in CO's axis of allies. In any event, my upgrade was handled just like any other upgrade, I never heard any whiff of trouble (except that, of course, my KL segment was not UG'ed). This was several years ago.

I thought I would complete the thread and share the outcome should anyone else have a similar problem...
Customer care changed their story from the original UAL segment being the problem, to only H&K fares are upgradeable to NRT (not B)to B is upgradeable but not available. Of course they claim this is what they were saying all along but I didn't get it although I have it in writing. It took 5 days to get a reply from my e-mail sent to customer care so I decided to try Mr. Kellner. As usual his office replied very promptly and resolved the problem very professionally. The final answer was the last told to me by customer care and B is upgradeable but is not available. Why they just couldn't say that in the begining I have no idea other then the training issues continue. I can accept that answer. An exception was made for my inconvenience and my upgrade processed.

But weren't you told it is available according to your first post? Looks like they are trying hard not to admit a mistake/incompetency in the first place.

It is always amusing when airlines make a mistake and then correct it and say they are doing it as a special favor.