How does upgrade splitting work?
 

We have a four pax pnr -- two pax are Plats and the other two are our minor children - for a trip tomorrow.

We're not checked in yet but appear as #1 thru #4 on the upgrade list (flight booked 11/16).

At OLCI united asks me to select which passengers I would like to list for an upgrade, and lists 2 pax total:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fe32cdc12d.png


Any guesses what happens to the PNR if I accept? Are we gonna get 2 records with 2 people each and 4 upgrade list spots? Or something more exciting?

Right now the system is buggy (or was of recent check) and you're likely to end up with two pax in the Plat slot and 2 in a no-status slot.

What should happen is that you would pair each child with a Plat parent and end up 1-4 on the list still.

I would wait to check in at airport so that you maximize your chances of making sure you stay in the right place.

Or decline the upgrade entirely and save the headache. I don't know what route this is but if a short flight then may not be worth the hassle. If not a short flight then unlikely that will remain 11/16 and your party #1-4 up to time of departure.

Yeah I mean this is a 400 mile mainline sector (EWR-RDU) and I'm practically indifferent to Y vs F. It's just fun to put the toddler in a comically large F seat and she hasn't gotten to do very much of that due to our 2020-2021 travel cutbacks, so wouldn't want to miss the chance :).

As an update, instead of using OLCI, we checked in at a kiosk. There's a special kiosk checkin flow that allowed each of the two Plats to designate one companion to go on the upgrade standby list, and we ended up as #1-#4 on the upgrade list, checked in, all still on a single PNR. The flight is now booked 17/16 in First (?) so I guess it's academic.

Was likely always going to be academic for the situation you describe. Even as a 1K I don't recall a companion upgrade in several years. Personally in such situations I decline the upgrade unless a one way or last segment of itinerary as not worth it splitting the PNR, as may create unnecessary hassle downstream.

In the app, the next screen should give you the same flow as the kiosk (select companion for each traveler with a tick box in the screenshot).

My 3 year-old daughter got CPU'ed on LAX-HNL last week (as did my wife and I, both 1Ks), so it can happen. Too bad we were flying on a 753 and not a widebody! That said, it did split the PNR at check-in, and my wife got upgraded before my daughter did. Not sure why UA's IT decided it would be great to leave a (what it looks like in the system) an unaccompanied minor alone on the UL.

That's probably related to getting the CPU! :p

Actually, as Gold I had one companion upgrade just miss (TUS - ORD) and the second clear (ORD - BOS) on the 24th. I'd attribute this to the lack of business / status travel, as the boarding group 1 lines were pretty short as well.

UL = Upgrade Lottery

Cf. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/glos...tterSelected=U

#3 on my (delayed) and re-boarded flight 12-22 DEN-SAT hit the UL when I declined a single seat so as no to leave my wife in the back and she's pretty indifferent to F if she's going to be alone. 2 hour flight so no biggie and I got my snackle box and Buffalo Trace anyway. Of course, I shared (the box).

Ha ha ha.

(1) Booked a 4-passenger ticket for me (Plat), my wife (Plat), and my two kids (no status), CLE-IAD-BOS.
(2) Checked in online via the web app. This allows us to put all 4 pax on the upgrade waitlist! We say that all pax want to be upgraded and that my companion is my kid, my wife's companion is the other kid.
(3) Now we show up online as #1 (me), #2 (first kid), #3 (wife), #4 (second kid) on the upgrade waitlist.

Overnight:

(4) I clear into PZ on CLE-IAD. The PNR splits -- now the original PNR has my wife and two kids, and the new PNR has me.
(5) The upgrade list for CLE-IAD now has
#1 first kid
#2 second kid
(6) The upgrade list for IAD-BOS now has
#1 second kid
#2 me
#3 first kid

My wife has vanished from the upgrade list altogether. ?!.

So I think the lesson here is that with a complicated CPU-eligible multi-pax PNR you should not check in in advance, because the auto-splitting for advance clearance will randomly throw people off the waitlist.

As usual, I should know this, but it has been a while. I am trying UA again after a bit of a hiatus for domestic flights.

Booked LAX-BWI-LAX

• Two pax, both Gold (I'm MM, spouse is my designated gold)
• Outbound Q fare, return S
• Both flights showed us on the CPU list
• Figured WTH, just added us to the outbound miles upgrade waitlist (worth 15k miles each pax for a sucky redeye)

Questions:

1. Confirming the miles + $0 charge should put us above regular CPUs?
2. Either way, for two golds, should I request a split to increase the odds of one of us clearing on the outbound? Wait and split for return only?
3. As a rule, if we were just CPU and no miles pay, is the best strategy to split?
4. If we do split, we are both Gold, I'm MM, will I be above my spouse on the list or is it random? (The reservation is me as pax 1 and her as pax 2 if that matters, but now after submitting the miles pay upgrade request she is listed first, weird.

Thanks.

1. Yes
2. In theory, your odds are better if you split. In practice, I suspect your odds are nearly zero.
3. It matters less for CPU, but, I suppose. But your chances of CPU are even closer to zero.
4. No way to tell.