aindfan

Hello everyone,

I have the following flights coming up, and I'm using miles+copay to upgrade:

JFK-SFO (W)
SFO-KOA (R)
LIH-LAX (R)
LAX-JFK (S)

As you can see, the mainland to Hawaii upgrades already cleared. When I call United to check on the JFK-SFO and LAX-JFK, they say that I am on the upgrade waitlist for both legs. However, my itinerary also has a fifth leg, a copy of LAX-JFK, but this time in (R) and including the text "This flight segment is waitlisted." I'm a bit confused... does this mean that the upgrade is only waitlisted on the LAX-JFK leg and not the JFK-SFO leg? Is there any other way to verify whether I am upgraded?

Thank you!

Phil Level

PS (LAX & SFO - JFK) have always displayed inconsistently.

If you can select a seat in C cabin, then your UG has cleared & been accepted by the system. And I suggest you take a screenshot, or print as PDF and keep record that you have been upgraded with seat assigned. While it hasn't happened to me personally, too many reports of UG being kicked back into Y in the middle of the night for my own comfort.

aindfan

Thanks for the quick reply!

It's obvious on the website that the update hasn't cleared, but it's not obvious whether it is actually waitlisted. I can't select C seats on the p.s. legs. I have an emailed receipt with the two cleared legs listed in R class (with others in W and S) along with the seat assignments, so I think I have the CYA portion taken care of.

Thanks again - anyone else have some insight on checking whether a particular leg is waitlisted?

Edit: the last bit of conflicting information is that the "Upgrade reservation" link still allows me to select the first leg for a waitlist upgrade, while the last leg does not have this option anymore.

"Hang up and call again" has been the most useful advice that I have seen on this board. On my most recent call (my third or fourth about this issue), the phone agent was finally able to waitlist me on the last remaining leg, and she was most importantly able to force the waitlist to hold. Apparently it took a couple of tries while I was on hold.

Issue resolved!

So, I have now learned that the answer to my original question was:

If the waitlist upgrade does not appear as a separate segment (from the original, lower class seat), then you're not on the waitlist.

donnmein

I'm flying RT with family DCA-IAH-EZE. I used miles and $$ to upgrade the outbound trip. The upgrade cleared for IAH-EZE, but DCA-IAH is waitlisted (although first class is almost completely empty at this point). Seems to me I already "bought" the upgrade seats since UA took my money and miles. Can UA really "sell" the first class seats to someone else now?

channa

Sure. You're waitlisting for an upgrade seat, which is a subset of first class. UA controls if, when, and how many are released.

It's a bit of a game. If you wanted a guaranteed F seat, you could always have paid for it.

donnmein

Thanks. It seems I already have paid for F; in cold hard cash plus lots of hard earned miles, which I'm not going to get back because another part of the trip was upgraded. It's not like the seats are not available, either.

Antipode

You paid for an upgrade to F (from an economy ticket), not for the F seat itself (by purchasing a first class ticket). If there is no upgrade inventory available, then you'll have to wait to see if they'll release upgrade inventory to clear you off the waitlist. As channa wrote, it's part of the game if you want to upgrade vs. buying a first class ticket outright.

redwoman

You're using your miles and co-pay to enter a lottery. In fact, most agents have asked me if i want to back out of the upgrade when it happened that the lame RJ segment of a domestic upgraded while i was still waitlisted with miles for the hub-to-hub segment. They know that it pi$$es most people off when the big plane segment doesn't clear.

This was the case on the old United; it's nothing new. For example, going back 3 years, I used to get upgraded on the lame RJ CVG-ORD but not on the continuing ORD-SFO segment on the big plane. UA would take my full co-pay and miles as if I had been upgraded CVG-SFO. I would get charged the same co-pay and amount of miles when both segments cleared. It's different for international itins though; if your domestic segment clears but the intl doesn't then they return the co-pay and miles to you.

Keep in mind that just because F or C cabin seats are empty, it doesn't mean that UA will make them available for awards and upgrades. I've seen them held until a couple of hours before the flight, sometimes even closer in. The last time I flew ORD-LHR all 5 seats in F cabin (one is kept for the crew rest on 67I) were empty, website was showing F5, A5 and I didn't get upgraded until 5 minutes before they started boarding. I guess they were really hoping that someone would buy them.

donnmein

Thanks for the replies. I wonder if I get first dibs on the "upgrade" inventory in F--ahead of all others who don't buy F outright. Can UAL sell upgrades to others (e.g., those getting an offer to upgrade at check-in) and bump my upgrades? That would definitely seem unfair.

GottaGoFlying

Many here share your concern.

CDKing

I was waitlisted prior to 24 hours for international miles upgrade. I received an automated call stating my upgrade had not cleared. I don't see myself on the waitlist on mobile app but they took my points. Do I still have a chance? It appears as if i'm checked in but not so sure as it wants me to show my passport at check in. R now = 6. it was R=0 before OLCI

UA-NYC

CALL NOW CALL NOW CALL NOW to force the upgrade!

It's of course just a "glitch" and not a nice anti-consumer feature of SHARES

njcommodore

If it's saying you have to show your passport at checkin you're NOT checked in. That will probably make it easier for the phone agent to force your upgrade through or back it out and apply it again.