do you mean to say that you were forced to leave your GPU on the waitlist?

right now i am on a flight with R0, i want to later SDC to a flight with R>1, but in the meantime i want to waitlist an RPU on the current flight in the event that maybe it will clear before the SDC window opens.

i guess what i am asking of the community here is what is the latest you can remove an RPU request from the waitlist? is there a T-24 restriction or can you remove it right up to the time of departure?

Yes - the agents told me "the computer won't let me return it".

YMMV

I had used two GPU's to confirm a round trip. Plans changed and I had to cancel the flight three hours before departure. I had assumed that the GPU would get returned.

It should be returned automatically within a couple days. If it isn't redeposited automatically you may need to call. Normally the agent on the phone can take care of it pretty quickly.

One additional suggestion, when you call to get it returned, call the Mileage Plus service center rather than reservations.

My friend use his GPU upgrade my flight. If I want to change the date, does my friend
 

I mean, the GPU will go with the change, my friend do not need to re- apply GPU, right? Thanks

No it won't go with the change.

At best your friend's GPU will be automatically deposited. At worst he will have to call United to get it back.

Thanks

I see R inventory for a flight to europe I'd like to take next year: won't have GPUs to apply till the end of August.
Can I get the seats with miles/money to upgrade, since R is available, and then call United to switch the upgrade instrument to a GPU when I have them? And then get the miles/money refunded to my account?
(It is too bad that one has to check with FT before calling UA directly, since I don't know if I can rely on information given by a Agent who may or may not know the answer).

Change to upcoming SFO>IAD r/t, upgraded with RPU
 

I have a r/t SFO/IAD trip coming up in mid-September that I may need to take earlier. A dear friend of mine upgraded me using two of his about-to-expire RPUs. Since I had identified flights with ample R space, the upgrades cleared immediately.

What's the best way for me to handle the flight changes if I still want to sit in F? While my friend is 1K, I'm only Silver, so I know there'll be a change fee. I can see a few flights with R space on my new dates, so I seem to have two choices:

1. Change my flights online, releasing his RPUs, and they'll eventually land in his account again -- unless they've already "expired." :( Then text him and have him apply two more RPUs to my changed itinerary.

2. Call UA and ask if they can change my itinerary while applying the exact same RPUs as before. Is this even possible? I'm only a Silver, so I don't know if I'll get an agent willing to do this.

Thanks for any advice.

Either option works. RPUs couldn't have been applied if they expired before the flight - so no need to worry about that.

Whew, that's great to hear -- I didn't know if I was permitted to ask the agent to use the same RPUs, or if there was some kind of 24-hour churn process to redeposit them to his account.

Also good to know the expiration date is relative to the date of the flight, not the date they're applied. Many thanks.

I would not recommend option 1, as there is a decent chance they will not automatically redeposit and someone will have to call in eventually. A decent agent will be able to reapply immediately (although they may have to call the MPSC to do it).

Good to know. It feels so archaic to call, but I guess there are still some things best handled that way. And on the bright side, there are fares now even lower than when I booked weeks ago, so some of the change fee will be absorbed.

Quick questions (and now Answers) on processing RPUs and CPUs within <24 hours of departure:

(1) A friend is using RPUs to upgrade 2 people (not himself), ETD is 24 hours. Does it matter if they checkin before the RPUs are applied, or should they wait?

Answer: RPUs were manually processed with immediate confirmation prior to checkin. I gather this could still be done even if passengers had checked in.

(2) Myself +1 companion are currently on CPU list, ETD is 24 hours. Do we need to checkin for the flight in order to get on the CPU waitlist? Agent told me plenty of space is available. Reservation shows "CPU requested"

Answer: Checkin not required to process CPUs. They were automatically processed by SHARES within a few minutes after splitting reservation into party of 2.

Thankfully this ended well as the E+ seats immediately disappeared from inventory which would have made for some challenging (re)seating with young children.