FlyWorld

We're now at 6 weeks since the takeover of UA by CO. My experience has been that a lot of things seem to be settling down and working fairly well, but there's one hugely important problem that doesn't seem to have had any resolution. Even as recently as this week, I'm still reading posts from other flyers that are experiencing the scenario as follows:

1. Check in, #1 on waitlist, has 1K status
2. Several open seats in F
3. No offer to pay for upgrade is given to the 1K
4. By T-1, F has become full and the 1K has jumped from #1 to near bottom of the waitlist, while a bunch of new people who were never there before magically appear above him/her with check-marks.

It seems clear from observing over time both in FT and at airport that the $smi$ek regime is offering super-cheap upgrades to people with no status and refusing to give 1K's any opportunity whatsoever to upgrade, no matter what the fare class, no matter how long they've held the ticket and been on the waitlist, and no matter what instruments they are using. He won't even take cash from the 1K.

It's impossible now to avoid the conclusion that 1K's have simply been frozen out of the upgrade process in favor of taking cash from non-members.

I'd be fine with COdbaUA making the same offer to the 1K as the non-member and at least giving the 1K the same chance as is given to non-members to purchase a UG into F, though this does unfortunately indicate that systemwide and regional upgrades have been devalued to nearly nothing (only remaining opportunity to use them is booking in advance with RN>1 inventory).

Is this just how it is now?

Why has UAInsider disappeared? Why does UA refuse, in any form, to address this issue? Where does this leave us?

We've been reporting the same observations and asking the same questions repeatedly for 6 weeks now - and there has been no response whatsoever from COdbaUA.

Is it correct to conclude that we are, in fact, frozen out of UG opportunity except for RN>1 case, as legacy UA 1K flyers?

aacharya

Many possibilities exist.

You do know of course that you considered all of the above before your new thread (the topic of which
is covered ad nauseum here) and drawing your conclusions:

1. Airport list is not the same as the U/G list.

2. ToD discussions have their own thread - I've read through it - more like
HoD updates, and mainly from folks in high fares.

3. 1Ks on business travel may take advantage of #2, as it upfares to
possibly a B/Y - well worth the miles.

4. Those 1Ks might be #1 at OLCI, but a lot happens in 24 hours. Like a GS checking in.

jh6000

I have only taken a few flights this year (versus 40+ r/t flights on UA last year), so I don't have a large set of data points to assess what is happening. But, I do know that I now look at upgrade availability before I ticket and will ONLY ticket if I know I can use a GPU or RPU immediately upon ticketing. That way I won't be disappointed if upgrades don't come through. So, I definitely discount the value of CPUs.

blue47

Or a 1K checking in on a higher fare, or the same fare bought earlier. Or, what I think may be happening frequently, any elite using miles or instruments. I think another poster in another thread called it a "conga line" of legitimate (or at least according to the current policy) waitlisters.

ssoonngg123

If they also sell upgrades to elite members, this "contradicts" to their own policy "unlimited complementary domestic upgrades"?

I personally think the AA 500 miles upgrade system is a bit better. You get what you pay.

aacharya

They are not offering those elite members those upgrades as often, but anyone can "upfare" to First Class. And why not? If someone wants to pay for F, why stop them?

jpsj

But doe the 96 hour window prior to the flight have any relevance anymore? Isn't this what the 1k level game to each of us? Yes there are swu and regionals, but the idea of being able to slip into an upgrade first was quite the privilege. It seems now, that that no longer exists.

blue47

I too would prefer instruments. But they don't use the term "unlimited". It is referred to as complimentary, space-available upgrades.

aacharya

"No longer exists" is stretching reality. Even as a Gold, flying to ORD (such a hub) often, I was upgraded somewhat often. That should jump as a Plat.

blue47

This is an exaggeration. On many flights, according to posters, upgrades are being released at t-96. But revenue management may be stingy right now with the early upgrades.

ULMFlyer

Yesterday, I was flying PIT-IAD on a last min ticket and ended up #1 on the UL on a Y fare and 2 F seats available. Departure was 8:08 pm.

So, at 7:30pm, with pax getting off the inbound, the gate counter cleared of people, so I approached one of the 3 available agents, handed my BP and asked: "Any chance you can upgrade me now? This seems like a good time." Agent: "Oh, you have to wait another 10 mins or so. There might be other pax with higher status than you showing up."

I thought that was funny, smiled back and said: "I doubt that, but sure no problem." Anyway, 10 mins later, the guy working the BP scanner away from the counter calls my name immediately before starting boarding and upgrades me. Had to wonder about the rationale for having to wait until the very last second.

FlyWorld

I don't agree with the notion that "a lot of things happen at T-24" and that I'm just too stupid to understand what they are.

I've flown 600,000 miles on UA over the last 9 years or so. My experience is more than sufficient to understand what was normal under UA and what has changed under CO.

Furthermore, I'll tell you this. I flew about 7 segments on CO after the takeover but before the system cutover, and my UG success with them was zero. I experienced exactly the same problems on every CO flight I took.

This is a fundamental change in policy. There can be no doubt about that.

All these other cases that you're describing of things that happen T-24 also happened with UA, and yet, with UA, I had an outstanding UG track record whereas on CO before cutover and COdbaUA after cutover, my track record is close to zero except when confirming at time of booking with RN inventory.

FlyWorld

It's clear to me that $mi$ek has destroyed UDU but he's too much of a coward to admit it.

Instead, he spends his times making videos that we're forced to watch over and over again telling us how much we're going to love the changes that he's making.

Let's just move forward on the assumption that UDU is dead.

The 96 hour window is still beneficial to a 1K on wait-list with SWU or GPU at T-96 if they choose to release inventory at T-96. But if they hold all inventory at T-96 and sell those seats for next to nothing to general members while we languish on the waitlist, then what's he point?

I found that behavior to be standard under the old UA too. The only difference is that in the old UA, if you were #1 on the wait list, you'd be guaranteed an UG unless a 1K on higher fare or GS just happened to show up (which can happen due to IRROPS, for example).

But, in the old days, being #1 meant 99% chance of UG. With COdbaUA, being #1 seems to mean 10% chance of UG.

txp

There could be several reasons why people jump ahead in line, OTHER than throwing away cheap upgrades to non-elite passengers. I don't know if it is true that 1K are not offered the opportunity for upgrade. But I do know of two specific situations when someone would jump in front of an 1K for an upgrade, based on current COdbaUA policy:

1. When I book a flight in booking class B, and I get an upgrade to F, I have priority over the 1K who is booked in a lower fare class inventory, even though my status is only silver. My name then shows up on the upgrade list in front of the 1k.

2. When I upgrade with miles, again, I have priority over the 1K, irrespective of my elite status (or lack thereof). Again, a mileage upgrade will add my name to the upgrade list ahead of the 1k.

These are just two examples of COdbaUA upgrade policy.

bmr12

I really wish United would come clean on whatever is going on with upgrade process. The lack of communication is terrible, and the drop in upgrade rates quite significant. I did better on both PMUA and PMCO, so something is different.

This past week I did not clear on a flight DEN-IAD. The flight was on a PMCO 738 with 16 seats in F. I was on an E fare for that leg, and had a GPU applied to the flight (connecting internationally) for over two weeks. I was #5 at departure on the list. On PMUA, I would clear a flight like this about 50% of the time AS A 1P with no instrument!.

I struggle to believe that the 10 or so people who were upgraded (according to the list) along with the four in the queue above me all were either flying on a Y, B, or M fare--the only things that should be able to trump a 1K with an instrument-supported upgrade on an E-fare. Those upgrades either were sold out from under me for a few measly extra dollars or the process is not working as it is advertised.

The other behavior I have seen is keeping flights at R=0 until 48 hours prior to departure. What's the point of having different upgrade windows for different levels if you don't actually get an earlier crack at the upgrade space? Just leave it all until the gate and only give out the upgrade space if you can't sell all the F seats for ToD.