On UA 924 tonight IAD-LHR at 11pm. Booked J/business ticket thru travel agent on Friday; manually requested a GPU upgrade on website Friday; shown as wait listed till sun pm..
Swing by the airport this am ( I had other business + had read about disappearing upgrade requests). Agent at GS counter : " we have no record of your upgrade request" [ I am now within T-24 window]...
Ok, she is very nice, puts me in manually, but unable to explain upgrade policy ("I am seeing premiers clear before GS, I have no idea what's happening").
Get home, call the GS line, ask "what's happening?". After 10 min hold, she tells me "some agent in Detroit deleted the whole waitlist...."
Does anyone know what the upgrade policy really is? Are these issues IT issues? Or is it new policy that at T-24 (a) existing waitlists are trashed (b) upgrades are then given by fare trumping status?

Been a heavy GS since the program begun, very confused now as to what's happening.

See post #31 in this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-only-3.html (though it doesn't relate to wait lists being deleted ).

What's happening is three-fold. First, the PSS integration has left the new United with a system that can't carry over a waitlist at T-24. Second, because of inadequate training and poor leadership, many line employees aren't sure just what some of the new airline's policies are. Third, the senior management is more interested in what you bring to the table as customer today, not what you've brought in the past. They recognize that the old United made a lot of promises they now can't afford to keep, and are easing into a new paradigm where monetizing everything, including selling the seat you used to upgrade into as a GS, is more important than repaying your past loyalty.

Interesting. Yes, we had problems with husband being dropped from the wait list yesterday afternoon. (I was not dropped) This was ORD-FRA. A number of other passengers had the same problem. ONE passenger, evidently, found someone in the United Club who could fix the problem. Others of us jaunted over to the UC, minutes before boarding would start, to see if we could have the same outcome. "NO...we can't do that" was the reply. No time to argue that... "You just did it for someone else..." Not enough upgrade seats available anyway, so no need to waste more time.

I just got back from doing LAX to SFO to FRA and back. All flights were booked pre-switch over on PMUA .bomb.

LAX to SFO and SFO to FRA were to different PNRs for a variety of reasons.

LAX to SFO UDU worked just fine and I was upgraded both directions about 90 hours out.

SFO to FRA and back was a bit of a mess.
Out I was on a U fare and return on an M fare.

At 24h15m I got told, via e-mail, that I was off the wait list but would be on the stand by list both directions.

SFO to FRA I couldn't check in online because of "doc issues". At check-in I was put on the stand by list and ended up being #5.

At SFO, they told us all to board. As we waited, the GA came on and upgraded folks 1 to 3.

I was sitting next to Mr. #3 who was a 1K on a B fare.
Ms. #4 was sitting in front of me!
Kind of funny because Mr. #1 was sitting in front of her!

Don't know Mr. #1's status but Ms. #3 was also a 1K. Of note is that all of them were in middle seats (and I had been earlier when I booked). Ms. #4 and I both stayed in coach for the flight. :-(

FRA to SFO I checked in just after the window opened. However, I did not show up on the iPhone upgrade list. I called the 1K desk and they could do nothing.

They told me they couldn't even see the list (even had a supervisor look).

When I got FRA, the counter agent was from LH and had worked the PMCO flights so he knew the system. However, he had to get a supervisor to get me "on the list".

That said, once they added me I showed up on the list as #1. I stayed that way until boarding and got my upgrade at that time (#2 and #3 got upgrades too, but that was it).

So it seems at this point, as long as you're on the list before the 24 hours, you shouldn't worry even if you don't show up right away on the airport list 24 hours out.

However, making sure you have extra time at check-in is a good idea for a bit longer so things can get fixed at check-in.

Thanks for the replies. I am ok if they (COdbaUA) want to implement a different policy- I just don't get why they can't come out and say so. The UGS materials I got in March pretty much implied status quo in terms of UGS priority regards wait lists; every PMUA employee I have asked says "UGS gets top priority for upgrades" and yet are completely mystified when Premiers clear vs UGS (as the agent at IAD told me had happened) and when wait lists get "deleted".

If fare trumps UGS status then there is little value in UGS per se. I travel often, at short notice (so don't get discount fares) , and my company gets similar discounts from the majors, plus I have 1K locked in in theory (3+MM miles), so if this is truly the case I can and will try other airlines. And, in theory, I am the type of high fare paying customer United wants..

As a 1K, I was initially incensed as to how UA degraded that status. Now that I see GS are in the same boat, I don't feel quite so bad.

Welcome to the "newly enhanced airline." I have found that the way to go forward for travel is (for me):

Domestic:
1) Evaluate where you are going and who can get you there based on your criteria (fare, convenience, service etc.)
2) If UA is apart of the criteria, then Domestically, if Fare on UA for Y, B, M fares (with upgrade space avail at time of ticketing) compared to others is equal or lower, book UA. If not book other preferred carrier that you can get the upgrade with.
3) If F is only available on the carriers for the route, go with who you feel most comfortable with in respect to service.

International:
On step #2:
If INTL premium, buy UA ONLY if the C fare has upgrade space avail to F AND the fare is less than its competitors in C (especially for CX, SQ, NH, OZ)....I have found the overall experience in foreign carriers C cabin to be better than United F....(from the booking of the flight all the way through to the arrival lounges) I used to pay a little extra to be loyal to PMUA, but not the new entity....

Bottom line...keep it simple, (shift loyalty to other airlines), and only use this airline when it is to YOUR ADVANTAGE....a one way street....Yeah...they may get a slightly higher RPM from me (i.e. 45-50 cents vs my lifetime number at PMUA of 40 cents), but instead they are only getting a "one off" here and there vs almost weekly volume and if that is ok with them, good for Jeffco (and the NEWCO) and more power to them.....quite frankly, I could care less.....

that alone is a bit misleading. At t-24 the waitlist is transferred (carried over) to the Upgrade Standby List (which is effective a waitlist in PMUA nomenclature -- just a new name in new UA terminology). The major change in this appraoch is no new waitlist requests can presently be made after T-24.

In theory.

In practice, there are many technical glitches which are often preventing this from happening, causing chaos to ensue at the airport when an agent is unable (doesn't know how) or unwilling (misinterpreted the rule) to properly rebuild the Upgrade Standby List, and re-add passengers awaiting an upgrade (if the pax even realize what has happened!).

Hopefully both cases are improving now that UA_Insider has said the company was "sending a memo" (my term) on the issue to line staff. And hopefully the system bugs will get worked out.

OK, so what do we make of all the posts that describe being on the list before T-24 and off the list afterwards?

Look, I am willing to be patient if the main issue is a IT issue and/or a training issue. But will someone from COdbaUA please be clear:

1. Do UGS members get top priority for upgrades, irrespective of when they apply? (meaning a UGS will trump every other flier status, and will only "compete" with other UGS based on time of applying and/or fare class). Just want a simple answer- Yes? Or No?

2. If no, what is the algorithm/logic for allocating upgrades?

(If its fare, I will probably be still OK, but given I am lifetime gold on AA and Delta not sure what the benefits to me are of UGS- and my travel options out of IAD/DCA expand hugely)

My understanding is that we still have to check in to get on the standby list even we apply GPU/CPU etc before T-24. Otherwise our names won't be transferred to the Upgrade Standby List, no?

Correct, but if you don't check in, you won't be taking the flight.

The upgrade standby list is only processed at the gate.

Ah, OK. So, are there no advantages to check in earlier?