This is kind of a unique case, I hope. Maybe this is one of those times you might want to try contact UAInsider. They seem to be able to clearly understand these type of problems in a way that other agents cant.

RPU usage
 

Hi,
yesterday, I took a flight with a collegue of mine .
Initially, we were both on the same PNR and RPU was applied for both of us on both the outbound and inbound legs.
Upon checkin, the PNR got split.
On the outbound flight yesterday, neither of us got upgraded.

Today, I see the the following on the website
1) My inbound flight still shows upgrade requested
2) on my collegue's PNR, then inbound flight no longer shows upgrade requested
3) 1 RPU has been deposited to my account

What I would like to figure out is where that deposited RPU comes from
1) is it from my collegue's reservation where it no longer shows upgrade requested ?
2) or is from mine or my collegue's outbound flight that we both failed to upgrade ? If so, why would only 1 be redeposited instead of the 2 ?

Is there any way to figure this out ?

Your (or your mom's) next recourse is the Department of Transportation consumer complaint form, http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint . This triggers an internal review process which will get a more thorough investigation and a fair response from UA.

You (or she) should include salient details like:

(*) Booked in coach in seat 17B. Her record locator is [xxx] and her e-ticket number is [yyy].
(*) Applied a confirmable upgrade instrument gifted from her child
(*) Upgrade apparently did not clear, she boarded in coach (17B boarding pass was scanned and she boarded the plane)
(*) Online, the united.com Web site shows that her upgrade was confirmed and she was assigned seat 1A, but this never happened.
(*) She was traveling with her spouse, in seat 17A with record locator [aaa] and e-ticket number [bbb], who can confirm that she was never notified of an upgrade for her seat.
(*) United, when contacted, says that they they cannot return the upgrade instrument because the traveler flew in business class.

If United in fact processed an upgrade her but left her in coach, she would like United to treat this as a downgrade situation and apply their internal policy documented under "GG OVS DOWNGRADE", providing a $1500 e-certificate plus refund of the upgrade instrument.

She should additionally ask United to review whether *someone else* flew in seat 1A. Did the seat go out non-empty, occupied perhaps by a friend of a gate agent or an employee? These sort of "shenanigans" are extremely rare but not unheard of and it should be concerning that the agents you've talked to aren't aware of the possibility or interested in investigating ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ty-ensues.html ).

You've made a reasonable effort to get UA to look into this (you called at least twice) and you've gotten nowhere. File the DOT complaint and your mom will get a follow-up call from UA corporate offices within a couple of weeks with a thorough investigation and correct explanation of what happened.

Ya, personally if I have a GPU pending and I board (which is rare…), I fully expect it will not clear and even if it does somehow clear I don't expect to get it.

The suggestions I outline above are (I think) the best possible strategy for the OP to get the best possible outcome for themselves. Whether UA made the correct choice here for operational efficiency or whatever other reason is up for them to determine and they may well decide that for some exogenous reason they made the "right" call that best maximized passenger happiness.

1. Since when do you forfeit an upgrade by boarding? Many many times I have seen passengers upgraded after boarding. You have to secure overhead space.
2. My understanding is the gate controls the upgrade process if they process it they have a obligation to find and upgrade the passengers. if they were in a hurry to push the flight they wouldn't have processed the upgrade list.

I agree downgrade compensation and a GPU refund is in order.

Yes. You have to call.

Suspect similiar to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...requested.html

searched for 'double' and got nothing relevant....

i have a IAH-IAD segment in late january on a 3-class 777. assuming i get CPU'd into to a BF seat, will i then be able to apply an RPU move up to GF?

i understand it's probably a "waste" of an RPU, but i want to do it simply for the novelty of GF before it's eliminated.

You will not experience Global First. Domestically, it's marketed as First with matching domestic service (nothing different vs the business that you'd be CPU'd into, except better seat). If it's a RPU that would expire anyway, why not? Otherwise, it would an utter waste of a potentially useful instrument.

I used a RPU only once to get into a GF seat domestically and that was on way to Europe from Hawaii. Wanted to sleep from SFO to IAD after red-eye flight from Maui.

A couple of weeks ago, I booked a SFO-ORD flight on a 767 for Dec 15. I upgraded at that time with a RPU. Recently, my CPU upgrades have been hit or miss (i.e. last ORD-SFO flight, I was #11). So, I decided it was worth a RPU to ensure a lie flat seat

This morning (27 hours before flight), I checked the flight and saw a lot of First Class seats still open (i.e. R=8). I called and asked to have my RPU re-deposited back into my account. The 1k agent understood, and placed me on hold (for about 5 minutes). She came back, told me it was completed, and said I should have a good chance for an upgrade via CPU. About 90 minutes later, I received notification that I was upgraded.

I was ambivalent about re-depositing the RPU as I expected a "hassle". However, it went very well, the 1k agent knew immediately what I was trying to do, and was very pleasant about the whole transaction.

IIRC, I believe the re-deposit of a RPU can only be achieved if the booking class was available. Example, if your original booking was T, there must be seats available in T in order to be placed back into coach.

Only a problem if you had cleared and need to downgrade. If you have not cleared, you can withdraw the request anytime. In the case of a mileage request, there is the possibility of a mileage redeposit fee for some.

Double upgrades are not allowed. If you want to upgrade into F, you need to pay for a J seat.

As noted by others, it's technically "United Business" and "United First" on domestic routes. BF and GF nomenclature and service apply only to international flights.

I have a GPU expiring 1/31/2015. Can I use it on a LH Y->J upgrade that I have already issued but will be departing in July 2015?

Nope, sorry - have to fly the segment you want to use it on by 1/31

Updating this...my second segment (of three initially waitlisted) cleared today, this time generating the eMail from United informing me of the upgrade. The previously cleared segment still was showing twice, however, so I called the TA who advised me they could not do anything and in fact the Amadeus reservation they set up now no longer does contain all flights.

So I called United and the agent fixed the problem while I was on the phone by manually attaching the GPU to the flight and removing the Economy segment, so now everything looks correct on ual.com.

Greetings - Dirk

What fare class needs to be open to use a GPU for C to F?
 

I had a position change recently and will be flying overseas on more UA metal than before... mainly IAD-DXB. I know that PN needs to be open for GS to go from Y to C, but what about a Biz fare to F?