That's not handing away a F seat. The poster is a 1K and should have been upgraded for free from their M fare. That $17 was a sucker punch.

and take screenshots of the pending charge and print/screencap a receipt if you got one.

Only if there was PN space...which there likely wasn't.

Agreed on the sucker punch though...

Winner of the coveted RNE's Pick for Post of the Week!

Special citation for pugilistic pulchritude.

RNE, congratulating you.

Or "rectifies" and "rectify."

A week or so I was offered a $107 upgrade on last-minute EWR-TPA flight. As there was one seat left and I was #1 on the upgrade list I ignored the offer. I saw it two more times, when I checked in and then again when I reprinted my boarding pass. I declined each time. At boarding time I asked the agent whether she was going to upgrade me then or make me move from the back. I got no response. As boarding was completing she came to find me. I'd already noticed the upgrade via the mobile site and moved myself. I was given a huge r:rolleyes:lleyes and handed my new boarding pass.

The TOD logic is amusing. I checked an existing res to see what the upgrade offer would be and the "Buy up to first" tab said no seats available. I then simply moved my E- seat from 24C to 25C and the "Buy up to first" tab now says 9 seats available... ($560, CLE-MCO, LOL)

Update: Missed CPU, ended up either 2nd or 3rd. No big deal, since I was in row 7 anyways.

4th May - JFK-LAX PS (6am) - $249.
Q to ZN
1K with UA

Absolutely infuriating. I had already put up 15,000 and $125 to be on the waitlist and I (and presumably everyone else) get to buy up for just $249. This is why it has become impossible to use instruments on the PS routes - my primary reason for sticking with United. I would be jumping ship if there was more Mint inventory on JetBlue.

To add insult to the injury you can't use the stored credit card info in your profile to pay the upcharge - a reminder that they don't know or care who you are.

On the flip side, you'll get your miles and $ back. Though you'll probably have to get your CC issuer involved.

yeah $249 is a better outcome, though only until the "dynamic awards" go into effect and it costs 150K to fly EWR to FRA in coach as a 1K, but 25K as a GM :rolleyes:

This is just lunacy on UA's part. They're tripping all over themselves to sell you the upgrade for about half what they would have gotten if they'd taken your miles + copay.

I'm almost out of RPUs and would take the $249 buy-up every single time.

Me too - but for some reason I don't always get offered it. I am now getting used to sitting near the top of the PS upgrade queue (on an instrument) watching the last third of the front cabin fill up with TODs, ping ping ping.

I feel like the moral of the story is...never use miles + copay ahead of time unless you really, REALLY want to lock in R availability / position in the waitlist?

It almost seems pointless doing it so far ahead of time otherwise.

I hear ya. I also much prefer having the confirmed upgrade.

And having watched lots of these flights, I agree with you 100% about how UA is filling the cabin. Routine to see the cabin go from 18/28 to booked full with zero pax showing as upgraded.