I have an upcoming transpac itin - with 2 flight segments (diff flight #'s). Been on the WL for upg (with SWU) about 10 days - both seem open. Just checked today and the first segment cleared and I got my seat. Just decided to look at the 2nd seg to see how it looked. Still C9 D9 Z9..ok great. The I glance at the bottom and I see NC1 (and also XC1)!! That means an upgrade seat is available, So why am I still on WL?

Call 1k desk. Agent says its still upgrade not avail? She said even if she splits the segments....Any suggestions? Call for another agent? Check some other way? Or is this something that happens often? Maybe a lag between someone already getting the Upg?

Thanks for any advice...

It's 'something that happens'. .bomb doesn't always reflect actual upgrade availability. Very annoying.

Yup. Lots of people find out the hard way. If you are looking for upgrade space before you buy, ALWAYS call and confirm. You cannot depend on the bomb.

I suspect your problem is a .bomb error, especially because you see NC1 (as opposed to NC2-9).

Yeah that's what i figured. The other segment (the one that did upg) shows NC5 XC5. The agent did say it looks open - so will probably still get it. Just would like to confirm and get a good seat...

I had a similar issue yesterday. .bomb showed F9 NF6 and yet my upgrade was waitlisted. Called united.com support and was informed that it was actually NF0. The rep indicated that this was a well known glitch and they are actually working on the problem. At least we're not the only ones who've noticed.

I had this happen to me on UA 896 HKG-ORD two weeks ago. Here's what I saw:

F0 C1 D1 NC1 XC1 Y0 ...

I called the local HK office and she cleared me in about 5 minutes. Then it went to F2 P2 A0 C0 Y0.

Daniel

Just an update...I checked this morning and it showed NC0 - and my upg had cleared!! Not sure if or how they are related - but I know it stayed as NC1 for at least 5 hrs yesterday, with me still on WL...then voila all is good this morning!! Will be my 1st time in the UD on the new 747 (NRT-BKK)

I've had very similar incidents -- where .bomb seemed to "predict" the imminent UPG availability. In fact, I used to see it frequently 2-5 days before my transpac flights... I'd call to ask about it, they'd say the UPG availability wasn't there, and then a couple hours later, I'd get the upgrade that'd showed as being available.

But I've also recently had an odd experience which tells me that UA's UPG system doesn't work flawlessly (coming from the database world, I'd say that there's a bug with a database trigger somewhere, but that it's on the back end and not with .bomb), and that the "it's a .bomb error" crowd isn't always right (though they may be sometimes/frequently). Here's that experience:

Last Wednesday I booked a B fare for myself BKK/NRT/SFO/BOS on July 1 (then EWR/SFO/LAX LAX/SFO/NRT/BKK, but those parts aren't relevant). I applied an SWU to the BKK/NRT/SFO/BOS piece (all 1 day of travel) and none of it cleared.

Then Friday I booked a Q fare -- same flight segments -- for my wife. Her SFO/BOS segment cleared immediately when I applied the SWU to her itinerary. Mine still hadn't cleared.

My wife has MP status of "general member." I'm Global Services.

After that, I called the GS number for something else -- I wanted to apply CR1s to the EWR/SFO/LAX piece of our itineraries, and had them in my account, but .bomb would only give me the choice of using mileage or SWUs to upgrade. When the agent applied the CR1s, she said she'd forward my itinerary to the Inventory Management desk (so that if the loads are low enough, they can clear my upgrades early). 5 days after that, SFO/BOS still hasn't cleared (last time the GS desk sent an itinerary to IM for me, IM cleared all my upgrades on that itinerary within a couple of days of receiving the itinerary).

So, somehow, with a higher MP status (GS vs. general), a higher fare (B vs. Q), and applying for the upgrade 2 days before my wife, she still beat me to the upgrade on the same flight...

No complaints, since we're better off that way (in theory, I'm more likely to clear than her as the flight date approaches... but then again, maybe they're giving away all the upgrades to other people, and another general member on a Q fare will beat me to the next available upgrade), but it does show an issue with their system, on the back side with their inventory management or upgrade triggers, not on the front side (UA.com).