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"
Jan 29, 2023, 2:39 pm
#61
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: New England
Programs: American Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Silver
Posts: 5,636
The equivalent of HUCA on Twitter would be to stop responding long enough for another agent to respond when you do message them again.
Sending them a link to the policy should help, because if the agent doesn't know how to do it, they would at least look at it, realize that it is an existing policy, and would at least either pass it to a supervisor or to another agent who may know how to do it. Since their response is in writing, they wouldn't want to be on record being wrong, and then doubling down.
If the policy is published on their website, then that is the policy.
Sending them a link to the policy should help, because if the agent doesn't know how to do it, they would at least look at it, realize that it is an existing policy, and would at least either pass it to a supervisor or to another agent who may know how to do it. Since their response is in writing, they wouldn't want to be on record being wrong, and then doubling down.
If the policy is published on their website, then that is the policy.
Jan 30, 2023, 2:05 pm
#62
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 280
Another friend got the same from Twitter team. That one took two calls also, but 2nd phone agent got it done. It's hard out there folks, but stick with it.
Feb 2, 2023, 8:30 am
#65
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 562
Feb 3, 2023, 12:45 pm
#66
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 30
Does waitlisting work when you're not looking to switch classes, but rather switch travel days? I have biz saver seats for an itinerary on Sunday and would much rather travel Friday or Saturday. Seems to be decent amount of seats left and it's close in. I used up the last of my miles on this itinerary so I wouldn't have more to deposit.
Last edited by flyerflyer77; Feb 3, 2023 at 1:17 pm
Feb 3, 2023, 3:32 pm
#67
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,354
Does waitlisting work when you're not looking to switch classes, but rather switch travel days? I have biz saver seats for an itinerary on Sunday and would much rather travel Friday or Saturday. Seems to be decent amount of seats left and it's close in. I used up the last of my miles on this itinerary so I wouldn't have more to deposit.
Feb 3, 2023, 6:03 pm
#68
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 30
Thank you for the answer. I tried reaching out to United via twitter. The agent is suggesting I reprice my itinerary to the day I wanna travel ( supposedly 12.5k more for economy - no thanks) then they can add me to the waitlist. That can't be how this is supposed to work. My ticket is biz saver, so I assumed that fare class would be eligible for waitlist for the same class. But that might not be the case..
Feb 3, 2023, 6:16 pm
#69
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,354
Thank you for the answer. I tried reaching out to United via twitter. The agent is suggesting I reprice my itinerary to the day I wanna travel ( supposedly 12.5k more for economy - no thanks) then they can add me to the waitlist. That can't be how this is supposed to work. My ticket is biz saver, so I assumed that fare class would be eligible for waitlist for the same class. But that might not be the case..
- Ticketed customers may waitlist for travel in a premium cabin for an alternate flight. Reservations where all segments are waitlisted without any confirmed segments are not permitted.
- Connecting flights: Customers may waitlist on only one leg of the connecting flights and the flight must meet the required minimum connecting time.
- Nonstop flights: Customers can waitlist on only one flight per direction. Alternate dates and times are allowed.
Feb 3, 2023, 7:16 pm
#70
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 30
You're correct that the procedure they told you is bunk. The waitlisting rules can be found here: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...vel/types.html
I suspect the intent was to allow you to waitlist for a J award while holding a Y award on your backup date, but it doesn't actually say that anywhere.
I suspect the intent was to allow you to waitlist for a J award while holding a Y award on your backup date, but it doesn't actually say that anywhere.
Feb 3, 2023, 8:40 pm
#71
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: AA, but I play the field
Posts: 1,439
I've read many pages of this thread and I am trying to understand more about how this process works -- or at least how it should work, lol -- by using an upcoming trip as an example. (I note that I asked a question about this trip on a different award thread above, but I don't think I explained myself clearly, so want to try again).
I have an upcoming trip STL-IAH-SYD that was booked as a mixed cabin itinerary. The award price was 200K per ticket at the time of booking; the STL-IAH leg booked into XN, and the IAH-SYD leg into JN. In conjunction with switching to an earlier departure time, the STL-IAH leg is now booked into YN, and the IAH-SYD leg remains in JN. (And the current award price has risen to 350K per ticket).
Am I correct in understanding that in principle, because this was booked as a business class award, we should be able to waitlist for business class seats on the STL-IAH leg? And if so, would it still be correct to say that what I wanted to waitlist for was I class inventory, even though the STL-IAH leg is currently in YN, and the IAH-SYD leg is in JN?
To be clear: I already tried doing this by phone a couple of times before reading this thread and learning about the most helpful vocabulary to use. (Both times I was told that the only way to do this would be to reprice the entire award, but the agents gave completely different reasons each time, which seems a little sus). And because I already got lucky once in being able to change my departure time, I think I'm inclined to just leave well enough alone for this relatively short flight and not push my luck with calling United further. But I am nonetheless trying to learn how to do this correctly/most effectively, in case a similar situation arises again.
I have an upcoming trip STL-IAH-SYD that was booked as a mixed cabin itinerary. The award price was 200K per ticket at the time of booking; the STL-IAH leg booked into XN, and the IAH-SYD leg into JN. In conjunction with switching to an earlier departure time, the STL-IAH leg is now booked into YN, and the IAH-SYD leg remains in JN. (And the current award price has risen to 350K per ticket).
Am I correct in understanding that in principle, because this was booked as a business class award, we should be able to waitlist for business class seats on the STL-IAH leg? And if so, would it still be correct to say that what I wanted to waitlist for was I class inventory, even though the STL-IAH leg is currently in YN, and the IAH-SYD leg is in JN?
To be clear: I already tried doing this by phone a couple of times before reading this thread and learning about the most helpful vocabulary to use. (Both times I was told that the only way to do this would be to reprice the entire award, but the agents gave completely different reasons each time, which seems a little sus). And because I already got lucky once in being able to change my departure time, I think I'm inclined to just leave well enough alone for this relatively short flight and not push my luck with calling United further. But I am nonetheless trying to learn how to do this correctly/most effectively, in case a similar situation arises again.
Feb 3, 2023, 9:28 pm
#72
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,354
I have an upcoming trip STL-IAH-SYD that was booked as a mixed cabin itinerary. The award price was 200K per ticket at the time of booking; the STL-IAH leg booked into XN, and the IAH-SYD leg into JN. In conjunction with switching to an earlier departure time, the STL-IAH leg is now booked into YN, and the IAH-SYD leg remains in JN. (And the current award price has risen to 350K per ticket).
Am I correct in understanding that in principle, because this was booked as a business class award, we should be able to waitlist for business class seats on the STL-IAH leg? And if so, would it still be correct to say that what I wanted to waitlist for was I class inventory, even though the STL-IAH leg is currently in YN, and the IAH-SYD leg is in JN?
Am I correct in understanding that in principle, because this was booked as a business class award, we should be able to waitlist for business class seats on the STL-IAH leg? And if so, would it still be correct to say that what I wanted to waitlist for was I class inventory, even though the STL-IAH leg is currently in YN, and the IAH-SYD leg is in JN?
Theoretically, if you find yourself in an XN/JN situation, you should be able to waitlist for I/IN on the XN leg, but you may need additional miles to do so (if you managed to end upon a broken XN/JN fare). And it's going to look really weird to the agent, so I'm not surprised you're having problems. There's not really any mechanism to waitlist for JN (because it should clear immediately unless J is sold out), and you're not supposed to be able to waitlist from YN in the first place.
Does your receipt include a link to the fare rules? What city pair(s) and fare basis codes are listed if you click it?
Feb 3, 2023, 9:50 pm
#73
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: AA, but I play the field
Posts: 1,439
Thanks so much jsloan for the analysis. At the time I booked, there was no J award availability on the STL-IAH leg, so I think that's how it wound up being mixed-cabin. (And obviously the STL-IAH in Y is no big deal, compared to getting the J seats to SYD). But I didn't appreciate until recently (after reading some of the threads here) that we actually "paid" for an entire business class award. And after switching to the earlier domestic flight, I noticed that there was a ton of JN availability.
So, after making my post above, I decided to go ahead and try my luck on Twitter, while all of the information from this thread was fresh in my mind. And voila, it worked, and in pretty short order. I decided to go ahead use the magic words "I class inventory" and that was apparently sufficient to convey the point, although we were in fact able to get confirmed immediately (rather than 'waitlisted'), and the final booking is now in JN (rather than I). I've pasted the relevant portions of the dialogue below in case it's useful to others. Thanks very much to you and everyone else whose contributions upthread gave me confidence to try once again! We of course would have survived just fine in Y, but I like a challenge and the small feeling of accomplishment brought on by success . . .
So, after making my post above, I decided to go ahead and try my luck on Twitter, while all of the information from this thread was fresh in my mind. And voila, it worked, and in pretty short order. I decided to go ahead use the magic words "I class inventory" and that was apparently sufficient to convey the point, although we were in fact able to get confirmed immediately (rather than 'waitlisted'), and the final booking is now in JN (rather than I). I've pasted the relevant portions of the dialogue below in case it's useful to others. Thanks very much to you and everyone else whose contributions upthread gave me confidence to try once again! We of course would have survived just fine in Y, but I like a challenge and the small feeling of accomplishment brought on by success . . .
Hi there: Hoping you can help with an issue related to my upcoming flight STL-SYD (via IAH), confirmation xxx (2 passengers). This was booked as an Everyday Business Class award (JN) back in October; however, at that time, there was no business class award availability on the STL-IAH leg of the trip so we were booked into economy for that portion of the trip. However, I recently learned that it should be possible for us to waitlist for I inventory on the STL-IAH portion as well. Can you help with that?
Thank you for waiting. It looks like the JN booking class is still available from STL-IAH. We can confirm you in the Upgraded cabin. Please let us know if you'd like to proceed.
Feb 3, 2023, 10:07 pm
#74
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,354
Thanks so much jsloan for the analysis. At the time I booked, there was no J award availability on the STL-IAH leg, so I think that's how it wound up being mixed-cabin. (And obviously the STL-IAH in Y is no big deal, compared to getting the J seats to SYD). But I didn't appreciate until recently (after reading some of the threads here) that we actually "paid" for an entire business class award. And after switching to the earlier domestic flight, I noticed that there was a ton of JN availability.
But, yes, if that was the case, the I agree that you should have been able to be reseated into JN and I'm glad that the latest Twitter agent agreed.
Feb 3, 2023, 10:37 pm
#75
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: AA, but I play the field
Posts: 1,439
Ah, you just jogged my memory. The issue wasn't that J was sold out, but rather unavailable at the time of booking-- because the original flight was on an ERJ-145, where none of the seats were considered First or Business, only E+. And because that was originally the flight time I wanted, I didn't care. The earlier flight we recently switched to is on the larger ERJ-175 where there are 10 seats in First.
