Waitlist improvements for OnePass upgrade rewards – coming June 17th
May 15, 08, 8:31 am
#1
Company Representative, United Airlines
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chicago, Houston, or somewhere in between
Posts: 2,178
Waitlist improvements for OnePass upgrade rewards – coming June 17th
Hi Everyone, today we’re pleased to announce that we'll be making some important waitlist improvements for OnePass upgrade rewards. This is an exciting change, and one that we talked about at the last DO (you may also recall some of the more popular threads on the topic from our esteemed ContinentalFan and craz). In short, we agree with you, and we're putting the technology in place to make sure this works seamlessly. Here are details:
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UPDATE 10/2/08 (click here) - Includes answers to frequently asked questions and issue reported, including examples of when complimentary Elite upgrades could trump reward waitlists.
“Beginning June 17, 2008, Continental will improve its waitlist policy for upgrade rewards. Specifically, customers who have waitlisted for an upgrade in conjunction with a OnePass upgrade reward will be permitted to stand by on the day of departure whenever their waitlist does not clear in advance. Upon check-in, these customers will automatically be added to the upgrade standby list for any flights that were waitlisted. All day-of-departure standby upgrades will be cleared by a Continental airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in.
The service fees and mileage deduction for all OnePass upgrade rewards will be assessed at the time of request. For BusinessFirst upgrade rewards, all miles and service fees would be refunded if the BusinessFirst segment of the trip could not be upgraded. For all other upgrade rewards, miles would be refunded only when no segments of the trip could be upgraded. When applicable, service fees and mileage refunds occur 7 to 10 days after the trip.”
This is also posted at continental.com > OnePass > Use Miles > Upgrade Rewards. Here are some important points worth noting:The service fees and mileage deduction for all OnePass upgrade rewards will be assessed at the time of request. For BusinessFirst upgrade rewards, all miles and service fees would be refunded if the BusinessFirst segment of the trip could not be upgraded. For all other upgrade rewards, miles would be refunded only when no segments of the trip could be upgraded. When applicable, service fees and mileage refunds occur 7 to 10 days after the trip.”
- The current waitlist policy will remain in effect through June 16th – no exceptions!
- Once this new policy is implemented, service fees will be charged at the time you request the upgrade reward, even when your flights are waitlisted. This is in contrast to our current practice where we charge the service fee upon waitlist clearance. We will, however, allow these service fees to be refunded anytime in advance as long as the waitlist for the BusinessFirst segment has not yet cleared. This particular change won't apply retroactively - meaning if you've redeemed for a mileage upgrade reward prior to June 17th, then you still won't be charged until the upgrade waitlist clears. You will however, still be eligible to standby on the day of departure for the upgrade if your trip departs on or after June 17th.
- Waitlisted customers will have an upgrade priority that is just below paid First/BusinessFirst customers. When applicable, the waitlist priority (which is driven by the Elite status of the account from which the miles were redeemed), then fare class paid, then the timestamp of the original waitlist will be the tie-breakers.
- We will be implementing the same “automatic” day of departure upgrade standby for waitlisted free travel rewards, which we expect to launch late this year. In the mean time, this must be handled by one of our airport representatives upon check-in.
- BusinessFirst upgrade rewards must still be requested at least 24 hours in advance.
- Waitlist requests still must be handled by calling our contact center.
- Waitlists for series 0 rewards (travel within or between the 48 contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada) are still only permitted for OnePass Elite members.
- For a brief period after this is implemented, we will not be printing "Added to First Class standby list" on our online, kiosk and curbside boarding passes. This will be corrected later this summer. In the mean time, to verify you've been added to the upgrade standby list, be sure to check on pda.continental.com/info or with a Continental airport representative.
- This will apply to all OnePass upgrade rewards, and will include all flights operated by Continental and Continental Micronesia.
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UPDATE 10/2/08 (click here) - Includes answers to frequently asked questions and issue reported, including examples of when complimentary Elite upgrades could trump reward waitlists.
Last edited by UA Insider; Oct 2, 08 at 5:35 pm Reason: Added 10/2/08 update
May 15, 08, 8:35 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: houston
Programs: UA Lifetime Platinum, 2MM since 1981, MAR Lifetime Plat, IHG Plat Amb. Global Entry
Posts: 561
Great news. Thanks Scott!
One related question. I assume this applies to Hawaii? If so, will the current Rev-ups continue and how will they be prioritized with respect to the 24 hour standby list?
mike
One related question. I assume this applies to Hawaii? If so, will the current Rev-ups continue and how will they be prioritized with respect to the 24 hour standby list?
mike
Last edited by Platcomike; May 15, 08 at 8:43 am
May 15, 08, 8:36 am
#3
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This is HUGE. Thank you, CO! 
May 15, 08, 8:49 am
#4
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Good golly Scott, you've done it again. A super duper ^.
Edit: I was just about to ask about #8, good thing I waited a minute.
Edit: I was just about to ask about #8, good thing I waited a minute.
May 15, 08, 8:55 am
#5
Company Representative, United Airlines
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chicago, Houston, or somewhere in between
Posts: 2,178
Hi Platcomike. I've since added a #9, which should clarify that this applies to all OnePass upgrade rewards. As for the Hawaii Rev-up program, this will remain in place, however, standby for upgrades in conjunction with this program will still not be permitted (Z class still has to be available at the time of request).
May 15, 08, 8:57 am
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Continental Gold Elite, United Premier Executive
Posts: 6,766
Great news!
I do have one question though. I'm currently booked on a trip EWR-IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG for the end of August, and so far only the HNL-GUM-HKG segments have become available for upgrading (and I've upgraded them). If EWR-IAH-HNL does not clear, would the system automatically recredit the difference in mileage between the 48US-> Asia UG award and the Hawaii-> Asia upgrade award?
Thanks, and job well done on the new system.
I do have one question though. I'm currently booked on a trip EWR-IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG for the end of August, and so far only the HNL-GUM-HKG segments have become available for upgrading (and I've upgraded them). If EWR-IAH-HNL does not clear, would the system automatically recredit the difference in mileage between the 48US-> Asia UG award and the Hawaii-> Asia upgrade award?
Thanks, and job well done on the new system.
May 15, 08, 9:03 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC, MSY
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Hi Scott,
There still seem to be some minor annoyances and possible problems left in place.
If you are waitlisted for a mileage upgrade and it clears, there's:
1. NO notification to you via email. You have to constantly check the status yourself.
2. You have to call reservations to have the upgrade processed.
So, If you are off on a long trip without a lot of computer access, and an upgrade for a different trip clears, you won't know about it and can't take the presently required actions. I'm not certain if there's a time limit for one to respond and call reservations but it's possible that you could lose the upgrade as a result.
BTW, the changes are great. This takes effect on my birthday and I'll class it with Watergate and the Battle of Bunker Hill as things to celebrate.
What number is this on the list of 6?
There still seem to be some minor annoyances and possible problems left in place.
If you are waitlisted for a mileage upgrade and it clears, there's:
1. NO notification to you via email. You have to constantly check the status yourself.
2. You have to call reservations to have the upgrade processed.
So, If you are off on a long trip without a lot of computer access, and an upgrade for a different trip clears, you won't know about it and can't take the presently required actions. I'm not certain if there's a time limit for one to respond and call reservations but it's possible that you could lose the upgrade as a result.
BTW, the changes are great. This takes effect on my birthday and I'll class it with Watergate and the Battle of Bunker Hill as things to celebrate.
What number is this on the list of 6?
Last edited by SuperG1955; May 15, 08 at 9:06 am Reason: Birthday comment
May 15, 08, 9:06 am
#8
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Fantastic news! Thanks Scott! ^ ^ ^
May 15, 08, 9:32 am
#9
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Good to see this finally implemented. Thanks, Scott!
May 15, 08, 9:38 am
#10
Moderator: United MileagePlus
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Finally one of the largest deficiencies of OnePass is being addressed ^
The one tweak you might want to make (if not made already) is to extend the ability to waitlist/standby for the flight up until 11:59pm CST of the day before the flight vis-à-vis 24 hours before hand. This way you can capture folks who have unexpected last minute demand and book their (high fare) tickets the day before.
Now if you can aim to announce the MillionMiller program on 6/4 it would be a great birthday present
The one tweak you might want to make (if not made already) is to extend the ability to waitlist/standby for the flight up until 11:59pm CST of the day before the flight vis-à-vis 24 hours before hand. This way you can capture folks who have unexpected last minute demand and book their (high fare) tickets the day before.
Now if you can aim to announce the MillionMiller program on 6/4 it would be a great birthday present
May 15, 08, 9:57 am
#11
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: DCA
Programs: UA LT 1K, AA EXP, Bonvoy LT Titan, Avis PC, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,539
The one tweak you might want to make (if not made already) is to extend the ability to waitlist/standby for the flight up until 11:59pm CST of the day before the flight vis-ŕ-vis 24 hours before hand. This way you can capture folks who have unexpected last minute demand and book their (high fare) tickets the day before.
Now if you can aim to announce the MillionMiller program on 6/4 it would be a great birthday present
Now if you can aim to announce the MillionMiller program on 6/4 it would be a great birthday present
JE - you can't be at 1MM yet? not old enough.
May 15, 08, 10:04 am
#12
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Posts: 16,679
He might not be to MM status yet, but he probably wants to know exactly how many EQMs he has to fly in the first 3 weeks after the program is announced to get to it.
May 15, 08, 10:08 am
#13
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Cleveland, OH
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I will pile on with my own thank you.
Thank you!
Thank you!
May 15, 08, 10:26 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2004
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This is great news, awesome work!
May 15, 08, 10:41 am
#15
Company Representative, United Airlines
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chicago, Houston, or somewhere in between
Posts: 2,178
Great news!
I do have one question though. I'm currently booked on a trip EWR-IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG for the end of August, and so far only the HNL-GUM-HKG segments have become available for upgrading (and I've upgraded them). If EWR-IAH-HNL does not clear, would the system automatically recredit the difference in mileage between the 48US-> Asia UG award and the Hawaii-> Asia upgrade award?
Thanks, and job well done on the new system.
I do have one question though. I'm currently booked on a trip EWR-IAH-HNL-GUM-HKG for the end of August, and so far only the HNL-GUM-HKG segments have become available for upgrading (and I've upgraded them). If EWR-IAH-HNL does not clear, would the system automatically recredit the difference in mileage between the 48US-> Asia UG award and the Hawaii-> Asia upgrade award?
Thanks, and job well done on the new system.
Originally Posted by SuperG1955
There still seem to be some minor annoyances and possible problems left in place.
If you are waitlisted for a mileage upgrade and it clears, there's:
1. NO notification to you via email. You have to constantly check the status yourself.
2. You have to call reservations to have the upgrade processed.
So, If you are off on a long trip without a lot of computer access, and an upgrade for a different trip clears, you won't know about it and can't take the presently required actions. I'm not certain if there's a time limit for one to respond and call reservations but it's possible that you could lose the upgrade as a result.
If you are waitlisted for a mileage upgrade and it clears, there's:
1. NO notification to you via email. You have to constantly check the status yourself.
2. You have to call reservations to have the upgrade processed.
So, If you are off on a long trip without a lot of computer access, and an upgrade for a different trip clears, you won't know about it and can't take the presently required actions. I'm not certain if there's a time limit for one to respond and call reservations but it's possible that you could lose the upgrade as a result.
Originally Posted by SuperG1955
What number is this on the list of 6?
Originally Posted by J.Edward
The one tweak you might want to make (if not made already) is to extend the ability to waitlist/standby for the flight up until 11:59pm CST of the day before the flight vis-ŕ-vis 24 hours before hand. This way you can capture folks who have unexpected last minute demand and book their (high fare) tickets the day before.
