jjay

Thanks for the quick response. Yes we are on the same PNR.

jsloan

Are you still on the same PNR? You say that you're on "standby" for an upgrade. Does that mean you're already checked in, and you both appear on the upgrade list? If that's the case, it is possible for one person to be upgraded and not the other, because your PNRs were split during the check-in process. There's a board thread about this ("The stupid auto-splitting at T-24 has to stop," or something like that).

jjay

@jsloan, we are not yet checked-in. We will be checking-in in a few days and yes we are on the same PNR. So are you suggesting that once we are checked in and that seat is available, it is still possible for one of us to be upgraded but not the other?

findark

Yes. In order to be eligible for any upgrades at the gate, you must split the PNR and accept that only one of you might clear. If this is completely unacceptable, you need to get the upgrade request removed before check-in opens to prevent the PNR split.

jjay

To clarify: we applied GPUs to our ticket but those haven't cleared yet. Sorry I should have been clearer as opposed to stating we are on "standby." Once we check in, I believe we will be on the upgrade waitlist.

Oh! What if one of us gets upgraded but refuse the upgrade? Will the PNR still split? This is for a round trip ticket so ideally we would like to keep our PNR

findark

If there is an (instrument-supported) upgrade request on your PNR when you check in, the system will split the PNR and add both of you to the upgrade standby list. At this point, your PNR becomes irreversibly split, even if neither of you clear the upgrade. Most hassles of a split PNR can be worked through and are a reasonable cost of getting a Y->J upgrade overwater, but that's up to you of course. The only way to avoid a PNR split is to remove the request before check-in.

Kacee

Prior to check-in, either both of you will get upgraded, or neither. It's at check-in that the PNR splits, so "one of us gets upgraded" can only happen after you've checked-in and the PNR has split.

A half-way solution is to wait as long as possible to check-in. That will maximize the possibility you both get upgraded together. But when you do check in, the PNR will split.

There was a recent post suggesting that even if you remove the instrument, the underlying coding may still result in a split. Though I'm not 100% convinced that's really what happened.

100% Green

What is the longest possible that you can wait to check in?

For example, if I check in (but do not split my reservation), go through security, call United and un check myself in what is the latest that I need to check in by to assure I am not booted from the flight but that i've given myself and my traveling partner the highest likelihood of an upgrade?

Also I seem to ALWAYS accidentally split the reservation when checking in so can someone walk me through what to select so it doesn't get split?

jsloan

As soon as you refuse to split your reservation, your reservation will be marked as ineligible to upgrade. It's a huge pain to get back onto the upgrade list once you do that.

fumje

You will also have a devil of a time getting your companion to inherit your upgrade priority.

Re: your original question, gate control is the nominal limit, although some agents can figure out how to sort you out if you miss it but stand at the counter in person.

WineCountryUA

If using a supported upgrade, you have no choice when checking-in.

UncleJed

You may find that you have no choice even when you are not using a supported upgrade. I've had PNRs get split when only using CPUs (no RPU/GPU/miles) by agents who did it without asking (or if you believe the story I got from an agent this afternoon after this happened again, their "system is doing it automatically"). It's annoying when traveling with another adult, but it is outright ridiculous when traveling with a small child - nobody in their right mind is going to take the upgrade and leave them on their own in the back (as tempting as some people might find that option).

If you catch it when the agent hands you a boarding pass (too late!), their response is always that they were "helping" you. If you don't catch it then, you'll get a surprise when you can't check in online/with the app for your return because suddenly you have an unaccompanied minor on their own reservation.

Buying one-ways domestically helps, but only if that doesn't make the fare absurdly high in the market in question and can come with its own set of problems if you need to cancel/change something. It's not a remotely practical solution for international destinations.

Howard

I need some help from the experts. My wife and I are waitlisted for LAXEWR in a couple of days using a GPU. The flight is now J0 (my usual experience as a 1K). We are also waitlisted for a return flight in a week or so (also using a GPU). We don't want the PNR to be split because we want to maintain my 1K priority for the waitlist on the return. I have called UA twice in the last half hour, and both agents told me that the record won't split, and there's nothing I need to do. However, from everything I've read here, the waitlisted segment needs to be removed in order to avoid the split. Is that correct? If so, what do I do? Call a third time?

fumje

Yes, you need to (ask an agent to) remove the GPU for your outbound before you check in. Make sure your reservation does not show any upgrade requested once that's done. Otherwise, as you anticipate, it will automatically split when you check in.

cfischer

for instrument-supported UGs this is not really important. For a CPU that's a different story.