RPUs still not clearing automatically
May 7, 2012, 4:39 pm
#46
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Hi exedra, I’m glad to hear you got your issue resolved. I also wanted to share a bit more about waitlists clearing into R (which is completely different than how Complimentary Premier Upgrades clear). For waitlists outside 24 hours to departure, there is actually no “sweep” at a flight’s scheduled departure time. Instead, the moment R becomes available, the next person on the waitlist should be cleared. So really, if you see R available on a flight, there should not be anyone on the waitlist for R.
Obviously, we’re seeing examples where this is not the case. When we see these on the weekend, it’s usually because the process that auto-clears waitlists is turned off when we are in the middle of a schedule change (which usually happens on the weekends). But, as soon as the schedule changes are complete, the process is turned back on – so historically, it’s always been quite seamless. We are trying to get to the bottom of why the auto-clear process is not resuming in all cases. Seeing R become available while customers remain on the waitlist for R is definitely not the end-state. We know this is important and have been researching this with high priority.
Shannon
Obviously, we’re seeing examples where this is not the case. When we see these on the weekend, it’s usually because the process that auto-clears waitlists is turned off when we are in the middle of a schedule change (which usually happens on the weekends). But, as soon as the schedule changes are complete, the process is turned back on – so historically, it’s always been quite seamless. We are trying to get to the bottom of why the auto-clear process is not resuming in all cases. Seeing R become available while customers remain on the waitlist for R is definitely not the end-state. We know this is important and have been researching this with high priority.
Shannon
Why is it that "the process that auto-clears waitlists is turned off when we are in the middle of a schedule change" in fact needs to be turned off? As "funky"
as PMUA's ".bomb" was, this was never an issue. You couldn't select seats or do anything else until the schedule change was accepted but it never affected waitlisted upgrades 
And I'll be honest, this sounds like either a system limitation and/or something that was "always done PMCO" and folks simply drank the COol-aide and got used to it.As to "R" being available and waitlisted upgrades not clearing, imho, it is not an isolated incident as it is still happening and yet all we get is to please be patient as this is a top priority etc, etc, etc yet folks are still not clearing unless they babysit the itinerary and call the moment they see availability and with that, how about a "we screwed up and we're trying to fix it but we haven't isolated the problem" as at least that's an answer that. imho, folks and live with
May 7, 2012, 5:12 pm
#47
Join Date: May 2008
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History shows that glitches/bugs which improve UACO's profits will not be fixed quickly, if at all.
In this case, I guess it is in UACO's best interest to withhold benefits such as free upgrades from those annoying elites who don't know better (because they aren't checking R space themselves), and sell TODs instead. So, if you find R space, UA will reluctantly clear you into it (without apologizing for wasting your time or nearly ripping you off!!), but if you're not checking R space and won't be able to prove that UA denied you a benefit, UA will just sell your upgrade instead and pretend there was never enough space to clear it.
Ugh.
In this case, I guess it is in UACO's best interest to withhold benefits such as free upgrades from those annoying elites who don't know better (because they aren't checking R space themselves), and sell TODs instead. So, if you find R space, UA will reluctantly clear you into it (without apologizing for wasting your time or nearly ripping you off!!), but if you're not checking R space and won't be able to prove that UA denied you a benefit, UA will just sell your upgrade instead and pretend there was never enough space to clear it.
Ugh.
Happy Travels
DLP
Last edited by DLPhoenix; May 7, 2012 at 6:26 pm
May 7, 2012, 7:17 pm
#48
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They might have some sort of competing logic that uses the R availability to adjust pricing.
Remember that all of CO's systems are distributed and not talking to each other. They just make assumptions about the data they see.
May 8, 2012, 7:59 am
#49
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IME sometime in mid April my waitlisted segments started clearing on their own. In all, I had 3 segments clear before I had a chance to call in after receiving the EF alert and each time I was online within minutes. In all of those cases the GPU supported upgrades cleared outside of the 24h window. The last segment I had waitlisted showed R>0 within 24h of the flight and I had to call in for that one to be confirmed. All of this is in line with what Shannon said above. Prior to mid-April I had to call each time EF notified me that R>0.
I don't know if this is true but there were reports here on FT that if a person ahead of you on the wait list had their reservation out of synch then the entire automatic UG process for that flight would stall until the discrepancy is resolved. Of course, one could always call and get the UG processed manually. I guess setting up a simple flag that would point to the flights with stalled processes would go a long way towards maintaining the integrity of the system since it would give a chance to the human to manually clear the UG and restore the process. Even better, confirming UGs regardless of the in synch/out of synch status of the reservation would eliminate the need for the manual intervention altogether.
I don't know if this is true but there were reports here on FT that if a person ahead of you on the wait list had their reservation out of synch then the entire automatic UG process for that flight would stall until the discrepancy is resolved. Of course, one could always call and get the UG processed manually. I guess setting up a simple flag that would point to the flights with stalled processes would go a long way towards maintaining the integrity of the system since it would give a chance to the human to manually clear the UG and restore the process. Even better, confirming UGs regardless of the in synch/out of synch status of the reservation would eliminate the need for the manual intervention altogether.
May 8, 2012, 8:06 am
#50
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...I don't know if this is true but there were reports here on FT that if a person ahead of you on the wait list had their reservation out of synch then the entire automatic UG process for that flight would stall until the discrepancy is resolved. Of course, one could always call and get the UG processed manually...
Ultimately, it's just a pain to stalk inventory -- and unlike your luck, I've had to do this for each of my three p.s. RTs in April/May.
May 9, 2012, 10:41 am
#51
Join Date: Feb 2010
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I recently applied an RPU; 1 segment cleared on booking, second was WL. About 3 weeks out, got emails from AMEX travel saying there was a major change to my itinerary.
Checked UA site ... sure enough, big red error message saying my itinerary had a change and needed to be re-ticketed. My first thought when seeing this was the flight time was moved or there was an equipment swap. Called in - agent said no change to the itinerary but my upgrade had cleared, and he re-issued the ticket fairly quickly. After about 15 minutes, the reservation cleared itself up online and I could select a seat up front.
So I guess (?) the system sort of worked in this case.
Checked UA site ... sure enough, big red error message saying my itinerary had a change and needed to be re-ticketed. My first thought when seeing this was the flight time was moved or there was an equipment swap. Called in - agent said no change to the itinerary but my upgrade had cleared, and he re-issued the ticket fairly quickly. After about 15 minutes, the reservation cleared itself up online and I could select a seat up front.
So I guess (?) the system sort of worked in this case.
May 9, 2012, 10:57 am
#52
Join Date: Mar 2001
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no clearing
I too have RPUs stuck...even had a situation earlier this year where a person I gave one to sat in Y even though there an empty F seat was left on the flight.
I have another upcoming flight with an empty 777 forward cabin and lots of r/rn9's. I had to call a few times to get it fixed. Each time the agents sigh and say the system was never designed for the instruments.
I have another upcoming flight with an empty 777 forward cabin and lots of r/rn9's. I had to call a few times to get it fixed. Each time the agents sigh and say the system was never designed for the instruments.
Last edited by Weatherboy; May 9, 2012 at 11:07 am
May 9, 2012, 1:29 pm
#53
Join Date: Oct 2009
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The wait list expiration is worse than I thought. It expires at time of your check-in, not 24 hours before your flight. So if you are wait listed on the second flight of the day, it expires 24 hours before your 1st flight, not 24 hours before the wait listed flight.
May 10, 2012, 8:41 am
#54
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The wait list expiration is worse than I thought. It expires at time of your check-in, not 24 hours before your flight. So if you are wait listed on the second flight of the day, it expires 24 hours before your 1st flight, not 24 hours before the wait listed flight.
May 10, 2012, 9:15 am
#55
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The wait list expiration is worse than I thought. It expires at time of your check-in, not 24 hours before your flight. So if you are wait listed on the second flight of the day, it expires 24 hours before your 1st flight, not 24 hours before the wait listed flight.
Now, for the sake of argument, let's assume that process does work. The pax is now on the day-of-departure upgrade waitlist at T-30 or whenever. What happens when R > 0 shows up at T-23.99?
The pax had been waitlisted with an instrument, but that waitlist "expired" and the pax is now atop the upgrade waitlist--which does not seem to be cleared with any connection to R inventory availability.
So it's quite possible someone else at T-23 says, "Hmm, I see R1, better apply my RPU..." and takes that spot.
May 10, 2012, 9:34 am
#56
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Now, for the sake of argument, let's assume that process does work. The pax is now on the day-of-departure upgrade waitlist at T-30 or whenever. What happens when R > 0 shows up at T-23.99?
The pax had been waitlisted with an instrument, but that waitlist "expired" and the pax is now atop the upgrade waitlist--which does not seem to be cleared with any connection to R inventory availability.
So it's quite possible someone else at T-23 says, "Hmm, I see R1, better apply my RPU..." and takes that spot.
The pax had been waitlisted with an instrument, but that waitlist "expired" and the pax is now atop the upgrade waitlist--which does not seem to be cleared with any connection to R inventory availability.
So it's quite possible someone else at T-23 says, "Hmm, I see R1, better apply my RPU..." and takes that spot.
May 10, 2012, 9:36 am
#57
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Correct. Inside the 24, your upgrade is frozen in the system -- you cannot revoke it at that time. But if R opens up, you won't clear either (the upgrade list that you see is an airport upgrade list). The only way to snag that R space if you happen to see it would be to burn a second RPU and then fight for the other one to come back later.
That's what I thought.
May 10, 2012, 10:13 am
#58
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Assuming the "automatically added to the waitlist upon check-in" bit works (which isn't a valid assumption these days), presumably one gets added for that particular flight even though it's > 24 hours before departure.
Now, for the sake of argument, let's assume that process does work. The pax is now on the day-of-departure upgrade waitlist at T-30 or whenever. What happens when R > 0 shows up at T-23.99?
The pax had been waitlisted with an instrument, but that waitlist "expired" and the pax is now atop the upgrade waitlist--which does not seem to be cleared with any connection to R inventory availability.
So it's quite possible someone else at T-23 says, "Hmm, I see R1, better apply my RPU..." and takes that spot.
Now, for the sake of argument, let's assume that process does work. The pax is now on the day-of-departure upgrade waitlist at T-30 or whenever. What happens when R > 0 shows up at T-23.99?
The pax had been waitlisted with an instrument, but that waitlist "expired" and the pax is now atop the upgrade waitlist--which does not seem to be cleared with any connection to R inventory availability.
So it's quite possible someone else at T-23 says, "Hmm, I see R1, better apply my RPU..." and takes that spot.
May 10, 2012, 1:58 pm
#59
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Same issue here
I too have had 2 examples of where I am waitlisted with an RPU and space opens up, but I am not cleared. Luckily I am crazy enough to check space pretty much every day to see if something changes, as I just do not trust the UA systems. Both times, it took 30 minute calls (and this was the GS line) to resolve the issue.
FRUSTRATING!!!
FRUSTRATING!!!
May 10, 2012, 2:02 pm
#60
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,942
I too have had 2 examples of where I am waitlisted with an RPU and space opens up, but I am not cleared. Luckily I am crazy enough to check space pretty much every day to see if something changes, as I just do not trust the UA systems. Both times, it took 30 minute calls (and this was the GS line) to resolve the issue.
FRUSTRATING!!!
FRUSTRATING!!!
