Mar 31, 2014, 3:57 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Waitlisting for awards
Click for the current rules from United
Waitlisting options
Waitlisting can only be done over the phone, not online.
You can not book a standard award and then waitlist for a saver award.
If waitlisting for a higher cabin, best if done at the time of booking or soon afterward.
If done more than 24 hours after booking you may be charged an award change fee.
Generally, the waitlisted class mileage is deducted at time of request and will be refunded if unsuccessful
When waitlisting for a higher, state you are waitlisting for I (or IN if a plat or higher) -- do not use the word "upgrade", it may confuse the agent
If waitlisting for a segment when the rest of the segments are already in the higher cabin, there is no refund if unsuccessful
Member experiences:
Note: The correct priority term here may, in fact, be a code that is one of WAX, WBX, WCX, or WDX depending on status. The is per GG ONESTANDBY lines 32-55.
Note: PR-1 status is given to those who "paid" the requisite miles for an upgraded seat (i.e. biz) when only the non-upgraded space (i.e. coach) was available. The PR-1* status is to clue the system (and agents) in so that it is clear that you have been "displaced." (NOTE: once you have obtained PR-1 status, should there be any change to your ticket, e.g., an involuntary reroute by UA due to missing a connection, the PR-1 status will most likely get dropped and you must have it reattached (esp. before any UGs are given to others).
Unfortunately at T-24, many GAs do not get this concept. Use the above to plead your case but be prepared to be unsatisfied. One method that can get you to a higher level of understanding is the UC. Their staff seems to not only have a better understanding of the issues, but they can contact the gate and exert some influence on the less informed GAs, AND they seem to have more of an interest in helping PAX. If you can get into the UC, it will be worth your while.
**Note: If you get the UG on the long haul, the higher level of award miles you are using (like with the GPU) are considered used up regardless of the short haul. You will not be charged the lower level # of miles (i.e. refunded the diff between the lower level and the higher level you paid in advance), rather the higher level award miles will be considered spent. That is the risk you take when you do Plan B.
Related thread - Understanding the United Upgrade List Comprehensively
Archive of past posts - Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues [ARCHIVE]
Click for the current rules from United
Waitlisting options
- Waitlist for alternative flights times / routing
- Waitlisting for a different cabin
From the above link on waitlisting for a different cabin: You may redeem miles for travel in United Global First, United First, United Business or United BusinessFirst, even if the space is not available. In these cases, United Economy in the same award type must be confirmed, and the front cabin will be waitlisted. If the courtesy waitlist does not clear, it will expire 24 hours before itinerary departure, and you will automatically be added to the airport upgrade standby list upon check-in. In these cases, you will be confirmed on a space-available basis by a United airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in. For United BusinessFirst and United Business travel awards, the difference in miles will be refunded when the United BusinessFirst or United Business class segment of the trip could not be confirmed. Waitlist requests may only be made over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center.
You can not book a standard award and then waitlist for a saver award.
If waitlisting for a higher cabin, best if done at the time of booking or soon afterward.
If done more than 24 hours after booking you may be charged an award change fee.
Generally, the waitlisted class mileage is deducted at time of request and will be refunded if unsuccessful
When waitlisting for a higher, state you are waitlisting for I (or IN if a plat or higher) -- do not use the word "upgrade", it may confuse the agent
If waitlisting for a segment when the rest of the segments are already in the higher cabin, there is no refund if unsuccessful
Member experiences:
- You must have a confirmed segment to waitlist for different cabin and/or a different flight.
- Can only waitlist for UA/UX operated flight, cannot waitlist for partner flights. Can waitlist for UA/UX flights on a mixed itin.
- The maximum number of WL segments in a PNR is 2.
- When confirmed segment is on a partner, you can waitlist for UA operated alternative.
Note: The correct priority term here may, in fact, be a code that is one of WAX, WBX, WCX, or WDX depending on status. The is per GG ONESTANDBY lines 32-55.
The agent should give you “PR-1 status”* which gives you top-priority status and moves you to the very top of the upgrade standby list, ahead of employees and everyone else trying to upgrade with miles+cash. If one agent won’t put you on the list as a displaced Business class passenger with "PR-1 status"* then find another one who will. With this status, the odds of you getting a business class are very high if there are still open seats (or if anybody no-shows).
If the agents in the airport are all clueless you should direct them to look
up “gg onestandby” in their system (they’ll know exactly what this is)
and look around lines 85-89 which spell out the details of the procedure for
this award.
If the agents in the airport are all clueless you should direct them to look
up “gg onestandby” in their system (they’ll know exactly what this is)
and look around lines 85-89 which spell out the details of the procedure for
this award.
* note "PR-1" may not be the correct term, see the Wxx note proceeding this section
Unfortunately at T-24, many GAs do not get this concept. Use the above to plead your case but be prepared to be unsatisfied. One method that can get you to a higher level of understanding is the UC. Their staff seems to not only have a better understanding of the issues, but they can contact the gate and exert some influence on the less informed GAs, AND they seem to have more of an interest in helping PAX. If you can get into the UC, it will be worth your while.
**Note: If you get the UG on the long haul, the higher level of award miles you are using (like with the GPU) are considered used up regardless of the short haul. You will not be charged the lower level # of miles (i.e. refunded the diff between the lower level and the higher level you paid in advance), rather the higher level award miles will be considered spent. That is the risk you take when you do Plan B.
Related thread - Understanding the United Upgrade List Comprehensively
Archive of past posts - Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues [ARCHIVE]
Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues"
Apr 4, 2023, 5:15 pm
#136
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 113
Didn't see the waitlist in the app on the reservation, but could see that I was waitlisted for IN on the United website. Looks like the system just cleared me into business. Something weird is going on with the flight however, as all the cabins were showing full on the flight status page, even though there are definitely empty seats in business. Maybe I was ahead of all the other instrument upgrades because others are not 1K but not sure.
Apr 6, 2023, 10:29 pm
#137
formerly 1984SW
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,058
PA1 is the status action code for the waitlisted segment (for 1 pax). A normal confirmed segment will be HK1 and scheduled changed segment will be WK1 and SC1 for the new segment.
From what I've tested:
PA: GS PlusPoints
PB: 1K PlusPoints
PC: Plat MUA, Gold MUA, Gold I (Biz Saver) Waitlist
Unsure about anything else I have not tested. If you are 1K and got waitlisted for PA, you are very lucky
From what I've tested:
PA: GS PlusPoints
PB: 1K PlusPoints
PC: Plat MUA, Gold MUA, Gold I (Biz Saver) Waitlist
Unsure about anything else I have not tested. If you are 1K and got waitlisted for PA, you are very lucky
HL was bookings from other carriers
PD was when the general public waitlisted directly with UA
PC was the only waitlist active within 24 hours of departure (it also just so happened to be higher than PD)
PB was from a corporate client or travel agent waitlisted directly with UA
PA was a supervisor-only waitlist, only used in extraordinary cases
Note that within 24 hours of flight departure, HL, PD, PB and even PA would not be processed, only PC would. Also, Apollo did continuous waitlist processing – if there was a waitlist and someone cancelled a seat, it would *never* appear in open availability – it would immediately go to the next person on the waitlists. As I understand it, SHARES only processes waitlists at designated times, leaving open the possibility that someone can "jump the waitlist" if they happen to check availability between the time someone cancels a seat and the time the next scheduled waitlist processing occurs.
Now, that said, I have no idea how it works in SHARES, but from some of the comments above it sounds like it's very similar to how Apollo worked.
As a total aside: When I left Reservations the phone reps were RSSRs (Reservations Sales & Service Reps). Had they shortened that when you started in 1985?
Apr 6, 2023, 11:45 pm
#138
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,834
Apr 7, 2023, 3:01 am
#139
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,039
My Reservations days slightly pre-dates yours: I transferred out of RR in 1984. I was an instructor and was very familiar with Apollo. Back then, with Apollo:
HL was bookings from other carriers
PD was when the general public waitlisted directly with UA . . . .
When I left Reservations the phone reps were RSSRs (Reservations Sales & Service Reps). Had they shortened that when you started in 1985?
HL was bookings from other carriers
PD was when the general public waitlisted directly with UA . . . .
When I left Reservations the phone reps were RSSRs (Reservations Sales & Service Reps). Had they shortened that when you started in 1985?
Yes, by February 1985 they had removed the "Service" from our job title. I never knew it had been there. The focus was definitely on sales.
Apr 7, 2023, 7:08 am
#140
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 2,279
My Reservations days slightly pre-dates yours: I transferred out of RR in 1984. I was an instructor and was very familiar with Apollo. Back then, with Apollo:
HL was bookings from other carriers
PD was when the general public waitlisted directly with UA
PC was the only waitlist active within 24 hours of departure (it also just so happened to be higher than PD)
PB was from a corporate client or travel agent waitlisted directly with UA
PA was a supervisor-only waitlist, only used in extraordinary cases
HL was bookings from other carriers
PD was when the general public waitlisted directly with UA
PC was the only waitlist active within 24 hours of departure (it also just so happened to be higher than PD)
PB was from a corporate client or travel agent waitlisted directly with UA
PA was a supervisor-only waitlist, only used in extraordinary cases
and while they exist I'm not sure how much they are utilized beyond feeding input that a segment is waitlisted into an external system that also gets information on things such as status and instrument usage. I'm not sure that SHARES does much in terms of processing the list anymore but rather a system external to SHARES that then sends the relevant commands to change the space.Just thinking about it logically, there has to be some other way they are differentiating waitlist priority beyond those status codes, else you could end up with someone of lower status jumping someone with higher status since at some of the priority codes, two levels of status would correspond to a single priority code due to 6 levels of status (GS, 1K, Plat, Gold, Silver, no status) with only 4 waitlist priorities (PA, PB, PC, PD)
Apr 7, 2023, 7:25 am
#141
formerly 1984SW
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,058
Just thinking about it logically, there has to be some other way they are differentiating waitlist priority beyond those status codes, else you could end up with someone of lower status jumping someone with higher status since at some of the priority codes, two levels of status would correspond to a single priority code due to 6 levels of status (GS, 1K, Plat, Gold, Silver, no status) with only 4 waitlist priorities (PA, PB, PC, PD)
) historical data, I found a link to https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.p...908#msg1068908 – admittedly an eight year old post – showing the direction the waitlist priority codes had taken:
While a bunch of the airline reservations were based on EA's SystemOne (like UA's Apollo, CO's SHARES and TW's PARS) they each developed features the others hadn't. During a 1979 strike at UA, I worked at a TW reservations office on PARS, and it was a very easy transition, but the small differences could trip one up. I bring this up because I think the idea of a PC priority waitlist being the only one active within 24 hours of a flight might have been unique to UA, and probably didn't exist at CO's SHARES.
Apr 17, 2023, 5:45 am
#142
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SFO, ORD, IAD
Programs: UA Plat, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Plat
Posts: 353
Ok, so if I am reading this rule correctly:
If I am confirmed for a business class saver award on the 5th, I should have no problem waitlisting for the same flight on the 8th, correct?
I do realize that since the waitlist flight is on a later date, it might not clear in time. I just ideally want to hop to the front of any released inventory.
- Nonstop flights: Customers can waitlist on only one flight per direction. Alternate dates and times are allowed.
I do realize that since the waitlist flight is on a later date, it might not clear in time. I just ideally want to hop to the front of any released inventory.
Apr 17, 2023, 8:14 am
#143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,391
It's allowed within the policy. Whether that means you'll have "no problem" or not is a different question. It's seemingly become more difficult to get agents to process waitlist requests of any flavor.
Apr 17, 2023, 2:55 pm
#144
Join Date: Jul 2022
Programs: United MileagePlus
Posts: 336
Data point: due to schedule change, was able to pick flights that worked better for me. EWR-SFO-TPAC. EWR-SFO was previously waitlisted XN for IN, after the flight change, I was again able to get it waitlisted without asking! I doubt it automatically transferred over, so that was nice by the agent. Seems WL is still alive, if you get a good agent.
Apr 17, 2023, 8:51 pm
#145
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 26
I managed to get a chat agent (along with their support team) to help me waitlist to business saver for a Europe flight next month . My original award is XN as I have the United Credit card -should I have been placed in IN waitlist , or is that only for people with status?
Apr 17, 2023, 9:05 pm
#146
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,834
Apr 18, 2023, 11:45 am
#147
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 286
Data point: due to schedule change, was able to pick flights that worked better for me. EWR-SFO-TPAC. EWR-SFO was previously waitlisted XN for IN, after the flight change, I was again able to get it waitlisted without asking! I doubt it automatically transferred over, so that was nice by the agent. Seems WL is still alive, if you get a good agent.
Apr 18, 2023, 11:49 am
#148
Join Date: Jul 2022
Programs: United MileagePlus
Posts: 336
I feel like from the DPs here and a few I have at other places, this is the only waitlist option that is still consistently working- if you have a business saver itinerary for a long haul international flight, but are only in economy for the domestic leg, you can waitlist for that up to domestic first. The "true" waitlist of going international X/XN-->I seems to becoming very very difficult to be able to convince an agent/supervisor to do.
something like 3-4 calls and a couple chats before I just used Twitter - who got it sorted shortly. So while this is still possible and not quite dead like what AA have done to their award charts, it is still extremely difficult to get done in practice.
Apr 20, 2023, 8:29 am
#149
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,318
After following the tips in this thread, I first had a few unsuccessful attempts to get a 1K agent to waitlist me on nonstop ORD-LHR in Polaris (my current ticketed booking is award ORD-IAD-LHR Polaris), a third or fourth agent said: "Yeah, no problem." And did it in seconds. I see the new waitlisted segment when I log it.
However, this agent said: "When your waitlist clears, you'll get a call from us to re-issue the ticket. That's how it works." Is that the way they do it?
However, this agent said: "When your waitlist clears, you'll get a call from us to re-issue the ticket. That's how it works." Is that the way they do it?
Apr 23, 2023, 10:52 pm
#150
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SFO, ORD, IAD
Programs: UA Plat, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Plat
Posts: 353
Can you waitlist for a Business Saver award (I/IN) and confirm yourself in an available Premium Plus seat (ON), even though PPlus doesn't actually have a dedicated saver award fare class? Or does waitlisting for I/IN require confirming in saver economy (X/XN)?
I know that this is possible for cash+points upgrades since I've been offered that on the website before, but I'm not sure about pure mileage awards and can't find any documentation on it.
I know that this is possible for cash+points upgrades since I've been offered that on the website before, but I'm not sure about pure mileage awards and can't find any documentation on it.