Info/Experiment on Intl Upgrade Priority Miles vs GPU
 

Here is the results of an "experiment": I and a colleague both booked the same LAX-LHR flight on two different PNR's (no way to tell that we knew each other even). I'm a 1 K for over a decade, and 1 MM miler (nearly 2 MM but just under and so lost the RCC for life during the merger by about 4 months of flying); he is a GM with no status and only about 20 K lifetime UA flight miles. I booked my res prior to him, and I went onto the waitlist for upgrade immediately using a GPU. He booked and paid for his ticket one week after I did, on the exact the same flights. My fare basis was V; his was W; my fare was higher than his fare in dollars as well, for the same flights. He requested an upgrade from E to C using miles. In short, I had him "beat" on every single possible published and elite criterion, except that I was using a GPU and he was "paying" with miles.

So what was the outcome?

I checked frequently for R and RN inventory, and although there were initially 20+ C seats available (lie-flat new config 777 in C) one week prior to the flight, C inventory on the seat map started to "disappear". Frequent checks online and using EF by me never revealed R or RN inventory opening up. During the last week prior to the day of the flight, the buy-up amount was over $5000 one-way, so probably not many people did it. 24 hrs prior to departure, there were only 2 seats (!) showing availablility C. EF showed finally (!) one RN availability at somewhat less than 24 hrs prior to departure, and even though I was on the waitlist still, i promptly called, and finally got someone to force the upgrade (even though they said that they were instructed not to do so). I got on the plane the next day, and sure enough, my colleague is sitting right next to me! His upgrade, on miles, from GM status, came through several days prior, without him asking or doing a single thing. I repeat, he is a GM, with no status, on a cheaper fare, in a lower fare class, who booked after me and requested the waitlist for UG after me, and his upgrade cleared automatically and mine did not clear at all (and wouldn't have cleared at all if I hadn't forced the UG when RN became available).
On the return flight, a similar thing happened, except that there were 18 seats showing available one week prior to the flight in C, and they all 'disappeared" from the seat map, becoming assigned as taken, in a two day period. No R or RN inventory ever opened up per EF but the cabin was full, and walking around showed lots of people who had been upgraded on miles and with other instruments and who were of varying status. And E+ inventory two days prior to departure showed 50% load in E+ on the return flight and lots of seats with whole rows empty. But when I boarded the plane, voila, E+ was full (they were offering TOD upgrades to E+ for $89 to all at check-in).

So GPU's apparently are not worth much, except after all possible revenue generating opportunities, including miles, are exhausted, and elites (in my case now 1K formerly GS for 6 years) using GPU's are lower on the totem pole even than GM's for upgrades if they are using GPUs as their upgrade instrument.

So this is why GPU upgrades are so hard (at least in part) to usenow; they are basically useless.

Hello AA or basically anyone else who treats their elites, well, like elites. And who does what their published priority list says they will do.

This is the first time in a decade that I have not upgraded on an intl flight. But it is just a sign of the way that things are going (having lots of problems, like everyone else, on domestic flights of all types as well).

We had a nice thing going with the PMUA. Sorry to see it gone but I don't suspect that post-M UA is in fact really sorry to see so many loyal elites over the years gone now. They are making their own bed and are going to have to lie in it. Very sad.

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Lovely. More evidence the system is broken - screwing over the ones at the top tier conveniently

Thanks for taking the time to investigate and post this.

Just to clarify, was your GM friend upgraded on the return flight using Miles while you were not upgraded using your GPU?

Really appreciate your efforts to construct and share this experiment. So important to have more and more facts in the face of so many lies from UA.

Can you please send a private message to UA Insider with the record locator for each PNR and ask for investigation then get back to us with results?

My guess is that you'll never even get a reply but since UA Insider has intermittently made claims to investigate apparent errors in the process, it sure would be helpful if we can get an investigation done here.

Best to act on this asap as apparently there is a small time window when these investigations can be done. Yet another fantastic feature of SHARES that we should all be thrilled about.

Oh, just FYI, in case you didn't notice the other thread, it turns out that the CFO of United probably thinks you are "over-entitled" for expecting to be able to upgrade. Maybe that's the real problem here. Perhaps you need to get some counseling to fix your sense of over-entitlement and then you'll "adapt" to these changes in the way that he wants you to. What do you think? Maybe that's it?

I would need to check with him to see what happened on the return flight. He took a different return flight than I did, so that is not a direct experiment confirmation or denial of the repeatability of this issue. I just described exactly what happened and what I observed both on the outbound (when he was there) and in the return (when I didn't upgrade but a whole slew of other GM's etc. did, upon asking around in C and sneaking a peek at the manifest). Of course, on the return flight, I did not have the data regarding everyone's fare basis or time of check-in to directly compare with mine definitively but it is pretty hard to believe that there were 18 people that all of a sudden trumped a 1K on a V fare within two days.

I don't know what the use would be of contacting UAInsider with a PNR. I don't expect any compensation or anything; this is just what is happening now with UA over and over apparently.

I agree with lots of others; they need to earn our business and loyalty, not vice versa. This is obviously not the way to do that. It is their problem to find it and fix it, not ours to complain about to them at every instance and then struggle/fight with them to make it right.

I used to (for 19 straight years) have absolutely no trouble for example getting to and from Hawaii over X-mas as NY fares 330 days in advance on PMUA. Now entire weeks are blocked out, and have been blocked out, from saver awards, from any island, on any flight, on any eligible MP redeemable airline. And it has been that way for 330 days in advance for weeks around X-mas. What is the point of being a 1K and having the (old designation) NY fare bucket if during peak periods they simply never open up a single NY fare on any flight from any island to either SFO or LAX for entire two week periods? I could (and still can) redeem standard awards even as a GM; being a 1K has no advantage now whatsoever. 1K is more like "none-K", especially when you are PP for life, if you can't get NY fare buckets and can't use GPU's or even RPU's much.
The system is not broken, this IS the new system. People who want to live with it can stay, lots of us others are just leaving once and for all as a result of having lost our "friend"ly skies partner, the old PM-UA, and having this dragon company UAdbaCO instead at this point in time.

I'm not suggesting you get compensation. What I'm suggesting is that maybe, just maybe, UA Insider isn't lying to us, and your record will help them find and fix a bug that will then help everyone in the future.

I'm not holding my breath for this sequence of events - merely suggesting it could happen.

They need to DROP the W fare minimum OR make our upgrades worth something. They want there cake and to eat it too and that won't fly. I, for one will ONLY use my upgrades if R space is avail at booking

I notice the OP said even with R space showing now they are told NOT to manually do it? Why not? I'm glad he got them to do his. If an agent told me know I would insist they cancel my upgrade and then re apply it

Info/Experiment on Intl Upgrade Priority Miles vs GPU
 

What fare class bucket do mileage upgrades come out of?

Any and all. (if you upgrade from B is less $ or miles then if you upgrade from S. look at the upgrade chart. It breaks it down

Miles and GPU both fall in the R fare bucket (or for 1K/GS the RN fare bucket, which should open up preferentially to R, but might not always do so).
As I said, I had my partner trumped in every possible way, not only in the priority rules as per the published guidelines, but in all ways (fare, time on WL, ticket price paid, status) and it still left me out in the cold.

UA can fix this, but one has to believe that they don't want to fix it.
If they ever do fix it I'll read the boards and may possibly consider coming back to see, but in the meantime this is their problem, not my problem, to continue to turn off their loyal (and in my case generally reasonably high rev) customers and have them go elsewhere. Takes a long time to make a friend and a short time (but repeated effort!) to lose them.

Thanks so much for posting this. I've just called to ask for an upgrade using miles at T-24h. I didn't waitlist it because I wanted to see for myself the magical opening of R/RN and O/ON at T-24 after being 0 since I made the reservation. And that's exactly what happened.

Now, I could also have used one of my 3 GPUs, so it's nice to know they're pretty worthless indeed and will be trumped by a GM using miles. I suspect RPUs would work the same way.

As I've written many times, FT'ers are too hung up on CPUs, when instrument upgrades are, at least to me, a much bigger issue. I really don't want to be sweating those and checking buckets or ET all the time.

In any case, I'm so looking forward to flying AA C until I reach my 30k challenge. If that costs me my GS status, so be it.

Just to recap the salients --
you: 1K, V fare, booked at time T, upgrade waitlisted with GPU, upgrade did not clear in advance but was cleared manually by an agent within 24hr of travel when R inventory opened up
your colleague: GM, W fare, booked at time T+7 days, upgrade waitlisted with miles, upgrade cleared well in advance of travel

I really hope you'll get an explanation from UA and post it here so we get some further insight on what happened.

This sucks big. :td::td::td:

I am waitlisted GPU EWR-PEK for June 4.

40/50 C seats were open few weeks ago when the ticket was booked. The agent said it looked good.

C seats are filled up gradually. R=0. I fear that GMs are upgraded using miles.

Is there another secret code preventing GPU clearing? :confused:

Close, although OP said he was at least able to secure the upgrade on the outbound but had to call to force the upgrade through when it showed R availability. But your point is still the same: value of GPU really diminished even more than we thought when GMs on lower fare basis can use upgrade based on miles to trump.

Who knows. Not much truth coming out of UA these days.

Be sure to check at T-23:59 for R space, and be prepared with an add'l GPU ;)