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Consolidated "Are Upgrades Becoming Easier or Harder on UA?" Thread [2012/13]

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Consolidated "Are Upgrades Becoming Easier or Harder on UA?" Thread [2012/13]

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Old May 10, 2012, 1:07 pm
  #151  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
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Originally Posted by UA-NYC
Yup - I've missed 4 in a row now, including 2 supported with RPUs. Pretty unprecedented for me.
WOW. and I think you and I fly out of same airports and both 1K's. Strange as like I said my upgrades are the ONE thing I have no complaints about. However almost ALL of my domestic flights are P.S. (I'm 16/16) and LGA-IAH which I'm surprised I do do well on 6/6 (FYI. My fares are all over the place from S,T to C, D). The only fare I will never buy is Y as if I'm gonna buy Y I might as well buy Z,A,D etc
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Old May 15, 2012, 10:32 am
  #152  
 
Join Date: May 2010
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Well, my wife (Premier Platinum) now understands it's the demand side that's limiting her chances with ORD-IAH seat upgrades which came often on CO. The GA told her all the Monday AM flights are filled with M-Th commuters. Likely a lot of 1k'ers in the mix.

Doesn't help that the other majors have backed off direct ORD-IAH connections either, with predictable results on seat availability and fares.
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Old May 15, 2012, 3:31 pm
  #153  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
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Originally Posted by sim510
I'm constantly watching for R availability to pop up, so I can make the call to 1K. I'm just not confident at this point that things work automatically anymore for waitlisted GPUs. The squeaky hinge, so to speak...
no 1k 1call left...
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Old May 15, 2012, 3:53 pm
  #154  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: UA 1K, DL Gold, HH Gold, and SPG Gold
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In the new UA's system, on the same itinerary, you could be on the upgrade list for some segments, but not others.

I flew four segments in the past weekend. Two segments cleared to F during my upgrade window, while the other two was in Y one the day of departure.

I only found my name on the upgrade list of one of the two segments, not the other one. When I checked with the customer service desk (airport), an agent said my name is not on the upgrade list because I had an "award ticket." I corrected her, saying that she saw a small amount of money paid because I used a PMUA ecert. She manually added my name to the upgrade list, and said I was the first one on the list, and there is still one F left. When boarding started, GA said F is booked full and checked in full.

This post is not to complain about sitting in Y.
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Old May 15, 2012, 5:47 pm
  #155  
 
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

STL-SFO tonight #3 on the UPG list 1K on a W fare. Thanks for rewarding my loyalty with yet another ride in Y
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Old May 15, 2012, 5:56 pm
  #156  
 
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My next 3 segments have all cleared into F. My last two segments cleared into F.

I am not doing anything with my reservations (I do not babysit them, I do not check for upgrade inventory, I do not call in to ask about upgrades...)

CPU'd:

Week of 5/7: SFO-LAS, LAS-SFO

This week: SEA-SFO (SFO-SEA is on AS, but as an AA EXP I was able to select preferrred seating)

Upcoming: SFO-IAH, IAH -ABQ

Last edited by LarkSFO; May 15, 2012 at 6:14 pm
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Old May 15, 2012, 6:11 pm
  #157  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Illinois-downstate
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jacrowe, I actually did speak to someone who answered the phone mentioning 1K. This was in the last day or two. I asked her when R space might open, since there is plenty of C space on both the 2:30 and 6:30 ORD-FRA flights on my day this week. She said "maybe tomorrow..." But 24 hours later... nothing. And today, nothing. I just wish UA would spell out the 'new' rules, if they are going to withhold ALL R/RN space within, say, the last week prior to travel. I got my upgrade 1 1/2 weeks ago... I saw R/RN1 and made the call. There has been no R/RN space since that day! Still watching because I'd love it if my husband could make use of the GPU I gave him. He is a 1K, thanks to my MM status. It's just so frustrating!!! Come on, UA.... give me a reason to remain loyal.
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Old May 15, 2012, 6:18 pm
  #158  
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Originally Posted by sim510
jacrowe, I actually did speak to someone who answered the phone mentioning 1K. This was in the last day or two. I asked her when R space might open, since there is plenty of C space on both the 2:30 and 6:30 ORD-FRA flights on my day this week. She said "maybe tomorrow..." But 24 hours later... nothing. And today, nothing. I just wish UA would spell out the 'new' rules, if they are going to withhold ALL R/RN space within, say, the last week prior to travel. I got my upgrade 1 1/2 weeks ago... I saw R/RN1 and made the call. There has been no R/RN space since that day! Still watching because I'd love it if my husband could make use of the GPU I gave him. He is a 1K, thanks to my MM status. It's just so frustrating!!! Come on, UA.... give me a reason to remain loyal.
To be fair, PMUA agents didn't know when NC inventory would open up, and IM's logic w/r/t when NC would show up was fairly inscrutable.

COdbaUA has the issue of not clearing waitlisted upgrades when R opens up--but the other aspects are nothing new.
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Old May 15, 2012, 8:33 pm
  #159  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ORD
Programs: UAL 1K, Starwood Platinum
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Originally Posted by sim510
jacrowe, I actually did speak to someone who answered the phone mentioning 1K. This was in the last day or two. I asked her when R space might open, since there is plenty of C space on both the 2:30 and 6:30 ORD-FRA flights on my day this week. She said "maybe tomorrow..." But 24 hours later... nothing. And today, nothing. I just wish UA would spell out the 'new' rules, if they are going to withhold ALL R/RN space within, say, the last week prior to travel. I got my upgrade 1 1/2 weeks ago... I saw R/RN1 and made the call. There has been no R/RN space since that day! Still watching because I'd love it if my husband could make use of the GPU I gave him. He is a 1K, thanks to my MM status. It's just so frustrating!!! Come on, UA.... give me a reason to remain loyal.
i had to call yesterday to have an rpu redeposited as the original request was the 7-10 day variety that never occurred (big surprise)...this time I went to milage plus and the woman had it back in my account in 3 minutes...

I asked her about 1k line...she told me it was gone...i actually wanted to have her adjust an existing reservation, but she said she couldn't....would have to be transferred to reservations. That didn't occur on the 1K line...hence 1 call!
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Old May 15, 2012, 9:17 pm
  #160  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: GSP
Programs: DL DM, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 52
As a platinum (originating and returning to MSY), I have been upgraded on the last 13 mainline flights and I just changed my return on my current trip from Thursday to tomorrow and I was just upgraded IAH-MSY which is pretty last minute. The flights have been at various times and days, cities, aircraft (including a few 737-500s) and fare classes (including 4 segments on an "L" fare). It seems to vary based on one's experience, but I have no complaints.
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Old May 17, 2012, 5:13 am
  #161  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 37
1258 Today

I am on 1258 tomorrow. Put in for an R-up weeks ago (I am a plat only).

Now I am on a waitlist and can't check in--and it looks like 13 people upgraded ahead of me.

Did I screw myself by asking for the R-up?

Last edited by jjardin; May 17, 2012 at 5:15 am Reason: temporally challenged
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Old May 17, 2012, 5:21 am
  #162  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Originally Posted by jjardin
I am on 1258 tomorrow. Put in for an R-up weeks ago (I am a plat only).

Now I am on a waitlist and can't check in--and it looks like 13 people upgraded ahead of me.

Did I screw myself by asking for the R-up?
What's a R UP. Didn't you just count on Automatic UDU's or did you apply an instrument. At T-24 if you don't check in ASAP chances are you scr**ed yourself out of an upgrade but there is still hope
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Old May 17, 2012, 5:29 am
  #163  
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Originally Posted by chinatraderjmr
What's a R UP. Didn't you just count on Automatic UDU's or did you apply an instrument. At T-24 if you don't check in ASAP chances are you scr**ed yourself out of an upgrade but there is still hope
Again, looking at the facts helps.

This is the Friday morning EWR-LAX - it's booked full already, with 16 on the waitlist. There was nobody upgraded it seems via EUA.
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Old May 17, 2012, 5:31 am
  #164  
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Dubai / NYC
Programs: EK-IO, UA-1K2MM, ETIHAD-GOLD, SPG-PLAT LIFETIME, JUMEIRAH SERIUS GOLD
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Originally Posted by aacharya
Again, looking at the facts helps.

This is the Friday morning EWR-LAX - it's booked full already, with 16 on the waitlist. There was nobody upgraded it seems via EUA.
FOR SURE. But I wanted to know what he meant by R-UP. Excuse my ignorance but I don't know what that is. I know Y-UP, B-UP, M-UP
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Old May 17, 2012, 5:46 am
  #165  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Washington DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott PP (LT Pt)
Posts: 236
R is the bucket that shows how many upgrade-eligible seats there are.. so its like saying F-UP (er.. F the booking code/cabin) to designate your destination rather than Y-UP using your origin code.
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