SkyTeem

Just wanted to point out...

While all this upgrade nonsense is driving us elites to abandon United (and rightly so), I wanted to let y'all know that Continental - I mean United - use "married segment" logic to control upgrade availability, just as they do to control availability in all their other fare classes.

Let me explain - not excuse, just explain. I'll use a hypothetical revenue ticket as an example: let's say I want to fly from IAD to AZO, with a connection at ORD, and I want to book the cheapest ticket which requires L class on both segments. While the lowest L fare from IAD to AZO may be $350, due to competitive forces there also happens to be an "L" fare in the IAD-ORD market for $50. In order to keep "L" open for me (remember I need the L booking code on both IAD-ORD and the ORD-AZO flight), they will block offering an "L" booking code on itineraries that are just IAD-ORD, but offer it when it is "married" to a connecting flight to whatever the continuing city is.

The same goes for upgrade "R" inventory. I don't know why, but for some reason United shows R class available when connecting to certain flights but not to others. Just one example is the nonstop Hong Kong-ORD (UA896) this summer (not every day, but some days). R shows available for the transpacific flight ex-HKG, but only when connecting to some flights - and sometimes not when you just look at the HKG-ORD flight by itself in the availability display. And not to all the connecting flights to a particular city, either.

(Yes, it's the same, one daily nonstop UA896 HKG-ORD flight that has R available when paired with some connections and not others. And there's no reason to it, from what I can see. For example, R is avail on UA896 HKG-ORD when paired with certain DCA flights but not others to DCA, and neither connecting time nor upgrade availability on the connecting ORD-DCA flight seems to make a difference. I use the HKG-ORD flight as an example but I have seen this same thing on almost all UA longhaul flights, to and from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.)

This likely explains why upgrades into R aren't automatically clearing when we think they should. You'd have to pull up availability for your entire connection (origin-connection-destination) to see if R shows available for the longhaul flight you want to upgrade - and if so, then it will automatically clear. Otherwise, since the segments are "married," SHARES doesn't see it as available unless the married segment logic allows it to be given the particular flight pairing; SHARES is not looking at the one segment alone but at the married pair. When we call and have the agent clear it manually, the agent is breaking the married pair and booking the one segment into R.

And remember, I'm not excusing this - IMHO upgrades should not be controlled by the same logic as sales revenue management. But tell that to Continental...

sbm12

This only affects what you are seeing when you search for a reservation, not how the system actually checks to give you an upgrade if you request one.

In other words, you're describing a front-end UI issue, not an actual process or inventory issue.

DeaconFlyer

And they aren't.

c1mth0g

Yeah, this is annoying. When you want to fly AAA-BBB-CCC, it will show R availability only if R is available on both AAA-BBB-CCC. So you need to search the segments separately. When you apply the upgrade, it should clear for the segment that R is available.

SkyTeem

It's actually not a front-end UI issue. This married logic is established by revenue management and is used by most airlines - in this case, it's in SHARES. I have WorldSpan and SABRE access currently and it's in there, and I worked at AA when they introduced married segment control, back when it was a new thing.

Nor does the UG need to be available on both connecting segments.

sbm12

I know what married segments is. I know how it works and what it means.

The upgrades are processed segment-by-segment. They really are not affected by married segments.

halls120

Then why did I have to seek intervention to have a recent married segment split in order to have my instrument supported upgrade clear on the one segment that was showing R availability?

channa

Are you talking about splitting a direct flight, or married segment availability?

sbm12

Two connecting segments which operate as the same flight number are a direct flight, not married segments. If you had something split this is almost certainly what it was.

Married Segments Logic defines that a flight will have different published availability depending on whether there is a connection associated with it and even based on which connection is associated with it.

chinatraderjmr

Actually. You are all kinda of right. YES, they process upgrades segment by segment so it's not really a married segment issue. But SHARES sometimes will and sometimes won't automatically do that unless you force it

If the LAX-NRT flight has R9, the NRT-BKK flight has R0 and the NRT-SIN has R9 then when looking for availability LAX-SIN it will show all segments R9 but if you look LAX-BKK it will show R0 even though the LAX-NRT has R9. They are supposed to at least upgrade you into the R space that's avail. It's not really married segments. It's just SHARES acting as if that is what it is because it's a screwed up system. It's not using "married segments" for upgrade availability but it does behave that way sometimes. If it was using true "married segments" then it would not allow you to force the upgrade in (which it does) just like an agent can't force "L" space if it's not there to sell

channa

But if you were to apply a SWU to LAX-NRT-BKK, LAX-NRT would clear immediately, regardless of what it shows.

It's more of a query issue rather than a practical issue.

Now there still is an issue about waitlisted upgrades not clearing properly. And whether this has any relevance, who knows. It's certainly worth exploring since I'm not aware of an official answer.

Beerman92

To posters who think that logic has any business being in the same sentence as upgrades on United - I have a cold fusion machine I'm willing to sell to you at a great price.

channa

halls120

My mistake, I misunderstood what a married segment meant.

Still, when I first spoke to a UA employee about getting an UG confirmed on the leg where there was R availability, I was told that wasn't possible. Fortunately, I found a very knowledgeable UA employee who told me thje other employee was wrong, and fixed the problem. I never encountered this problem prior to 3/3, and it is annoying that one has to continue to seek manual intervention to have problems solved. Hopefully, they will address this issue in the coming months.

sbm12

It is my understanding that they are working on changing the logic associated with direct flights. I have no idea where that is on the priority list or when the fix is expected to happen. But I know they are aware of the issue it presents.

If you happen to be booked on one calling in should see the agents split it for you. Sadly, they aren't all so willing to do it, but it absolutely can be done and shouldn't take too long, assuming the agent understands what to do.