Feb 22, 2017, 12:57 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Active thread Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues"
Waitilisting for awards
Click for the current rules from United
Member experiences:
At the airport if you have not yet cleared:
Note: The correct priority term here may in fact be a code that is one of WAI, WBI, WCI, or WDI 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 seem 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.
Waitilisting for awards
Click for the current rules from United
From the above link: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 must have a confirmed segment to wait list 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.
- Maximum number of WL segments in a PNR is 2.
- When confirmed segment is on a partner, you can waitlist for UA operated alternative.A report of being refused waitlisting for Economy{mixed reports - need further confirmation/clarification}.
At the airport if you have not yet cleared:
Note: The correct priority term here may in fact be a code that is one of WAI, WBI, WCI, or WDI 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.
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 seem 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.
Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues [ARCHIVE]
Mar 29, 2019, 3:20 pm
#2761
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: 66,857
There is a valid (but for UA';s point of view, a less desirable) case but requires the extra step and most agents require the miles up front.
Mar 30, 2019, 12:53 am
#2762
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 77
I booked Saver Economy for EWR-PVG in Sept (6 months from now) and called in to waitlist for Saver Business.
The agent tried and said the system would not let her, and said that some flights it is not available yet. She indicated I was probably calling too early. The capacity was 50 seats and none were occupied yet, so she suspected that the marketing dept wanted to sell rev fares first and would open up award seats closer, at which I can book Saver if available, or waitlist at that time.
Is that true? It is "too early" right now, or did I just not say the magic words to get her to manually make the waitlist happen?
The agent tried and said the system would not let her, and said that some flights it is not available yet. She indicated I was probably calling too early. The capacity was 50 seats and none were occupied yet, so she suspected that the marketing dept wanted to sell rev fares first and would open up award seats closer, at which I can book Saver if available, or waitlist at that time.
Is that true? It is "too early" right now, or did I just not say the magic words to get her to manually make the waitlist happen?
Mar 30, 2019, 1:19 am
#2763
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: 66,857
Mar 31, 2019, 1:38 am
#2764
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 77
Thanks, HUCA'd and got an agent who was able to put me on the waitlist. It took about 35 minutes of hold time to process.
Apr 4, 2019, 3:09 am
#2765
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
Thanks to this thread i called up to request a standby upgrade on a Business Saver AU-LAX-XXX-XXX itinerary where AU-LAX is confirmed I class and the domestic connectors are in main cabin (X).
The agent initially went away to see if I was eligible and came back to ask how I would like to pay for the upgrade. I explained I'd already 'paid' the biz saver level all the way through to my final destination and she said 'oh yes'. She went away for another 3 minutes and came back to say everything had been waitlisted! (This now shows in 'my trips' as two additional segments with 'waitlist' and a message saying I'll be accommodated in First (I) if a seat becomes available).
Total call time was about 10 minutes. ^ to a great agent.
The agent initially went away to see if I was eligible and came back to ask how I would like to pay for the upgrade. I explained I'd already 'paid' the biz saver level all the way through to my final destination and she said 'oh yes'. She went away for another 3 minutes and came back to say everything had been waitlisted! (This now shows in 'my trips' as two additional segments with 'waitlist' and a message saying I'll be accommodated in First (I) if a seat becomes available).
Total call time was about 10 minutes. ^ to a great agent.
Apr 4, 2019, 8:07 am
#2766
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
. Next time, say that you want to "waitlist for a business class award." I'm glad the agent was able to figure it out, though; sometimes, once you say "upgrade," their mind is made up. ^
Apr 4, 2019, 12:03 pm
#2767
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,419
I'm always mildly surprised at the problems reported here.. maybe it's because I'm 1K but I am something like 8-for-8 on asking for an "IN waitlist" or "waitlist for a different flight" (I have added an XN waitlist for better routings several times) and the agent knowing exactly what that was and how to do it.
Apr 4, 2019, 3:01 pm
#2768
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
I think it helped that I called at a very quiet time (instant call answering). Allowed the agent to confer with her colleagues/supervisor immediately and sort it out.
Apr 9, 2019, 9:13 am
#2769
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Montrose, CO
Programs: United 1K MM, Marriott LTPP
Posts: 548
I wonder if the removal of award charts will get rid of the "saver" concept and in turn remove the whole waitlist approach?
Apr 9, 2019, 12:13 pm
#2770
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
Apr 10, 2019, 7:21 pm
#2771
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
I've been wondering about this. Can you please elaborate your thinking on why that is so? (I mean, besides just being generally bummed about UA now and expecting the worst...which may indeed be a perfectly valid expectation, I'm not saying it ain't).
Do we know that this process (which I have used with some success a few times before) is being removed?
Do we know that this process (which I have used with some success a few times before) is being removed?
Apr 10, 2019, 7:28 pm
#2772
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
I've been wondering about this. Can you please elaborate your thinking on why that is so? (I mean, besides just being generally bummed about UA now and expecting the worst...which may indeed be a perfectly valid expectation, I'm not saying it ain't).
Do we know that this process (which I have used with some success a few times before) is being removed?
Do we know that this process (which I have used with some success a few times before) is being removed?
Apr 10, 2019, 8:09 pm
#2773
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
If you look at award prices beyond 11/15 today, there are still multiple "price levels" shown. I figure the first level (what United calls "saver" and what I call "the real price") will still be a so-called a "saver" level award. It'll just be a higher number. Of course, this is largely semantics, but not entirely - for the purpose of wait-listing like this, it makes a real difference. I've seen nothing to suggest that the multiple-level pricing of awards is going away, just that prices will become slippery.
If you look at Delta reward levels there are definitely still "tiers" or whatever you want to call the levels (maybe "tears" would be more accurate?). Although they only display one price...hmmm.
Maybe it boils down to how they design the web user interface (now that's a scary thought...).
Apr 10, 2019, 10:23 pm
#2774
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
What are they supposed to deduct if it "clears"?
I would expect that they might retain the concept on mixed class awards, to whatever extent those can still be purchased. But I honestly don't know what it would mean to waitlist for I when there's no award chart.
Apr 10, 2019, 11:46 pm
#2775
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
If the cost isn't fixed, how can you waitlist for it?
What are they supposed to deduct if it "clears"?
I would expect that they might retain the concept on mixed class awards, to whatever extent those can still be purchased. But I honestly don't know what it would mean to waitlist for I when there's no award chart.
What are they supposed to deduct if it "clears"?
I would expect that they might retain the concept on mixed class awards, to whatever extent those can still be purchased. But I honestly don't know what it would mean to waitlist for I when there's no award chart.
Today, this works because you pay the price up front (in miles) for the full trip, in Business, even though you aren't guaranteed a seat in Business on every leg -- right? So I would assume that they would use the same pricing scheme for the whole route then - you pay (in miles) for what would it cost you (in miles) all the way through (however they determine that). If your wait-listed seat in Business clears, great, that's what you paid for, no complications. If your seat doesn't clear, then you would get a refund of (miles) based on the difference between what you paid (for all legs) minus what it would have cost you for the mixed-class award at the time you booked it -- same as it works now (without the mystery). The trick, obviously, is what that "refund" would be, but despite all the obfuscation of prices, there's definitely a price they will apply to it in either case (even if they hide that price from you). Or, as they might blithely say, "your refund is whatever we tell you it is". Yeah, not the way I'd like the world to run, but they haven't offered me the CEO position yet... Maybe they could share that detail with you after you book with the wait-list option.
Bottom line: all the things that United is selling you have a price. That's not changing. Exactly when you find out what that price is, that's what's changing. I'm just saying, the hiding of the ball that they're going to do may not necessarily mean this "wait-list" option will disappear. It might. But I haven't seen anything that specifically says that, and from what I have seen, it could survive. Perhaps I'm just not being realistic or being too literal in my reading of the changes, or just not cynical enough (not something I've been called very often).
Maybe I'm just suffering "Stockholm Syndrome." But if I'm going to Stockholm, that's a long flight, and I'd like it to be on Star Alliance Partner SAS, up front, please, and I'll wait-list for the domestic leg, thank you.