Does award waitlist actually work?
 

Mr. Ericka and I are booked on a saver first award. One of us has a seat in first, the other is seated in business and waitlisted for ON.

Since 3/3, I'm just curious if people have seen these waitlists clearing or if this is something we need to babysit....i.e. check for ON availability regularly on our own.

How is it that you're both booked in first yet one is seated in business?

Might be a multi-segment itinerary, or they are in business on one leg only. I imagine two different PNRs.

Babysit. Sometimes w/l works, but completely inconsistent.

Yep.

I would watch it like a hawk and just call when something opens up. It seems like UA runs off a "survival of the fittest" approach with these things where you can call once availability opens up to snag a seat, even if someone with higher priority is technically "ahead" of you on the list. This is obviously not the case with complimentary upgrades.

This is a time where ExpertFlyer is well worth the cost ^ You can set an alert for ON, and get an email if it opens up.

Any idea how often ExpertFlyer "checks"? The website is pretty vague.

Our alerts check several times a day at least, increasing in frequency as the date of the departure gets closer. If you have any other questions feel free to email us.

"Mixed Cabin" 2 - separate itineraries!

BTW, I did this for next weeks flights BKK-NRT-SFO-LAS and the waitlists for SFO-LAS (F/C) cleared one at a time over a 2 week period (3 separate record locators). The waitlists for "ON & IN" from BKK-NRT didn't happen ( for 11 months) as there were only 5 open Bus seats, a month or so out, and F/C showed full. A couple of days ago SQ thing-a-majigg happened and I dumped UA for TG-SQ-UA for the 3 of us BUS class BKK-HKG-SFO & F/C SFO-LAS. Saved 10,000 X 3 to fly ALL THE WAY in BUS and did not need to do the stand-by shuffle in BKK for a waitlist that may or may not roll over @ T-24.

So again to answer Mike --- They were on a "Mixed Cabin" which costs the same as being booked all the way but one is waitlisted for certain segments, and yes we have cleared for immediately when available. Not to say one doesn't need to watch like a hawk as others have suggested.

Award Waitlisting Still Not Working Right
 

Waitlisted JFK-SFO and SFO-JFK for November for I Class.

This morning, get an EF alert on both legs. Go into the record. SFO-JFK had cleared. JFK-SFO: no dice.

Check EF - I6.

Check united.com - I6.

Call - I6.

Manual cleared, no issues.

But why, oh why, can't the system process a very simple waitlist??

SHARES?????

Dave

Hah, res ipsa loquitor.

But the claim was that this issue had been fixed.

I think it's related to PMUA employees not being trained well enough on SHARES

;)

This claim was made by WHOM??? Clearly it isn't fixed and CO management really doesn't care a whit whether it's fixed or not. Upgrades that don't clear simply give them MORE inventory to offer to Kettles for dimes on the dollar.

Dave