Jun 28, 2019, 10:46 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
It appears at times, UA will release upgrade space, now labeled as PZ, but the upgrade waitlist is not processed until a later time. During this period of time, a new upgrade request will clear, ignoring the waitlist. This could be a new request or someone calling to request their waitlisted request to be clear (sometimes called -- "jumping the queue"). So as a defensive move, some may try to call to get their waitlisted request cleared if this situation occurs. Over the years agents, at times, have been reluctant or agreeable to doing this. More recently there are reports of agents needing supervisor approval to do this (this may be UA's attempt to prevent "queue jumping").
Another strategy in this situation is to remove a waitlisted request and then reapply. This does risk losing one's place on the waitlist if unsuccessful
At times, the waitlist process seems to be delayed for an extended period of time, it is speculated that this is a situation where the waitlist processing is "stuck" -- this may be due to a ticket out-of-sync issue with the passenger on top of the waitlist or other causes. A good agent will notice this if you call about clearing and fix the situation.
Releated thread
Difference of"Upgrade Requested","Segment has been Waitlisted","R/PZ class requested"
Changes to UA's Fare Classes (19-20 October 2018)
Archive thread: Upgrade still waitlisted even though R (now PZ) class is available {Archive}
Another strategy in this situation is to remove a waitlisted request and then reapply. This does risk losing one's place on the waitlist if unsuccessful
At times, the waitlist process seems to be delayed for an extended period of time, it is speculated that this is a situation where the waitlist processing is "stuck" -- this may be due to a ticket out-of-sync issue with the passenger on top of the waitlist or other causes. A good agent will notice this if you call about clearing and fix the situation.
Releated thread
Difference of"Upgrade Requested","Segment has been Waitlisted","R/PZ class requested"
Changes to UA's Fare Classes (19-20 October 2018)
Archive thread: Upgrade still waitlisted even though R (now PZ) class is available {Archive}
Upgrade still waitlisted even though PZ (previously R) class is available
Jan 19, 2016, 9:43 am
#1
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Upgrade still waitlisted even though PZ (previously R) class is available
This just happened to me on UA869 SFO-HKG. Changed onto this flight 7 days out at P2 PN0 PN0 R0 with BF booked 38/52. Agent did not do the re-ticketing cleanly, and I had the "R Class Requested" notation instead of "Upgrade Requested," and the GPU went back into my account. I've had the upgrade clear automatically in this circumstance before, so figured I'd wait it out at least until check-in.
This morning, the flight goes R3 but I'm still "R Class Requested." Called it in. Very nice agent, but she was skeptical. I had to give a long explanation. Which was followed by a lengthy hold. She finally returned and said "your upgrade is all set." Sure enough, confirmed into R.
This morning, the flight goes R3 but I'm still "R Class Requested." Called it in. Very nice agent, but she was skeptical. I had to give a long explanation. Which was followed by a lengthy hold. She finally returned and said "your upgrade is all set." Sure enough, confirmed into R.
Jan 19, 2016, 9:49 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2005
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I am really curious what the sweep schedule is for the upgrades. I am sure many times we are calling in just because the next sweep hasn't happened yet. Of course we have to in order to prevent being jumped in line, possibly jumping the line ourselves in the process.
Just increasing sweep frequency could be a big help but.... we know the story.
I assume that the root cause issue is that inventory releases are somewhat variable and its not possible to time the upgrade sweeps to them, at least that was my interpretation of UA Insider's (Shannon) explanation when this was (last) looked at soon after merger.
Doesn't cover the hosed reservation issues of course...
Just increasing sweep frequency could be a big help but.... we know the story.
I assume that the root cause issue is that inventory releases are somewhat variable and its not possible to time the upgrade sweeps to them, at least that was my interpretation of UA Insider's (Shannon) explanation when this was (last) looked at soon after merger.
Doesn't cover the hosed reservation issues of course...
Jan 19, 2016, 10:04 am
#3
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Yeah I think that was material here. If nothing else, the fact the GPU was sitting in my account and not applied to the reservation was I think critical to the agent's willingness to clear me. I got the sense she would not have done it otherwise. Seemed very "by the book." (Also knew exactly what she was doing and was very pleasant about the whole thing.)
And btw, UA869 is still R2 for Friday
Jan 19, 2016, 1:03 pm
#4
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And that's exactly when I used to get notifications back in the good ole days of EF. It was always a happy middle-of-the-night Buzz from my phone.
Jan 26, 2016, 1:01 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2011
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I have started setting EF to check for I availability on UA flights, and I got a ping about an hour or so ago that I had come up on an IAD-CDG flight I had also been monitoring pretty much daily on UA.com. I immediately checked and, sure enough, R had also gone from 0 to 9 at some point since yesterday. I called UA, withdrew my waitlist with miles and copay (which had not cleared, of course), waited 5 minutes and then went online and reapplied for a miles and copay which cleared immediately. I realize there may not be exact correlation between I and R, but they often seem to become available about the same time.
Jan 26, 2016, 3:27 pm
#6
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I have never seen I greater than R. The risk though is that there is very frequently R space when there is no I space, so you will miss a lot of R with this strategy.
Jan 27, 2016, 4:04 am
#7
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However, it is still an alert that could allow one to check to ensure one's upgrade went through, albeit limited to I-class space.
Jan 27, 2016, 8:45 am
#8
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I assume that the root cause issue is that inventory releases are somewhat variable and its not possible to time the upgrade sweeps to them, at least that was my interpretation of UA Insider's (Shannon) explanation when this was (last) looked at soon after merger.
Doesn't cover the hosed reservation issues of course...
Doesn't cover the hosed reservation issues of course...
Jan 27, 2016, 8:55 am
#9
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I was on a z fare waiting for ON to open (waitlisted).
As of this morning, still on waitlisted. But saw that ON = 1. So I called to have it processed.
Now confirmed in First.
As of this morning, still on waitlisted. But saw that ON = 1. So I called to have it processed.
Now confirmed in First.
Feb 13, 2016, 10:45 am
#10
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA 1K
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On a flight last week, I was #1 on the waitlist for a GPU and there were three seats open within about 2 hours of take off. I was watching it like a hawk, and then saw R1. Waited a minute or two, no email about my upgrade. So I wasn't going to take any chances, phoned in. First agent said "I can't do anything, it's under airport control". HUACA. Second agent took about 30 seconds to process the upgrade.
The weird thing is, she used a "new" GPU from my account to process it, not the GPU that was waitlisted. So I had basically used 2 GPUs for the upgrade. I waited a couple of days after the flight, no redeposit of the extra GPU. Emailed 1K, and within 4 hours got a nice email with 1 GPU redeposited.
In this situation I didn't "queue-jump" because I was #1 on the list. But someone else easily could have. Just encourages me to queue-jump again in the future... very annoying...
Meanwhile as others have commented, I am noticing fewer and fewer flights with R availability at booking time... it's a bait and switch game. Many other things about United have been really improving over the past several months but this issue remains a bone in the throat...
The weird thing is, she used a "new" GPU from my account to process it, not the GPU that was waitlisted. So I had basically used 2 GPUs for the upgrade. I waited a couple of days after the flight, no redeposit of the extra GPU. Emailed 1K, and within 4 hours got a nice email with 1 GPU redeposited.
In this situation I didn't "queue-jump" because I was #1 on the list. But someone else easily could have. Just encourages me to queue-jump again in the future... very annoying...
Meanwhile as others have commented, I am noticing fewer and fewer flights with R availability at booking time... it's a bait and switch game. Many other things about United have been really improving over the past several months but this issue remains a bone in the throat...
Feb 13, 2016, 11:17 am
#11
Join Date: Aug 2013
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On a flight last week, I was #1 on the waitlist for a GPU and there were three seats open within about 2 hours of take off. I was watching it like a hawk, and then saw R1. Waited a minute or two, no email about my upgrade. So I wasn't going to take any chances, phoned in. First agent said "I can't do anything, it's under airport control". HUACA. Second agent took about 30 seconds to process the upgrade.
The weird thing is, she used a "new" GPU from my account to process it, not the GPU that was waitlisted. So I had basically used 2 GPUs for the upgrade. I waited a couple of days after the flight, no redeposit of the extra GPU. Emailed 1K, and within 4 hours got a nice email with 1 GPU redeposited.
In this situation I didn't "queue-jump" because I was #1 on the list. But someone else easily could have. Just encourages me to queue-jump again in the future... very annoying...
Meanwhile as others have commented, I am noticing fewer and fewer flights with R availability at booking time... it's a bait and switch game. Many other things about United have been really improving over the past several months but this issue remains a bone in the throat...
The weird thing is, she used a "new" GPU from my account to process it, not the GPU that was waitlisted. So I had basically used 2 GPUs for the upgrade. I waited a couple of days after the flight, no redeposit of the extra GPU. Emailed 1K, and within 4 hours got a nice email with 1 GPU redeposited.
In this situation I didn't "queue-jump" because I was #1 on the list. But someone else easily could have. Just encourages me to queue-jump again in the future... very annoying...
Meanwhile as others have commented, I am noticing fewer and fewer flights with R availability at booking time... it's a bait and switch game. Many other things about United have been really improving over the past several months but this issue remains a bone in the throat...
But I want to pick the bone a little- if R=0 at booking, how is it "a bait and switch?" It would be so if R>1 at booking, and then someone at UA manually manipulated R to 0 as you ticketed. Otherwise, if R=0 at booking/ticketing or someone beat you to the R space before you could upgrade, I don't think this is "a bait and switch."
Feb 13, 2016, 11:21 am
#12
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Seems about the same to me. Available TPAC, difficult TATL unless you're willing to connect. The one thing I have noticed is a willingness by UA to open R within a week or two of departure even when the BF cabin is booked pretty full. I recently cleared into open R on SFO-HKG-SFO with both cabins booked over 40/52.
Feb 13, 2016, 11:44 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NorCal - 1K 2MM
Posts: 2,089
One suspects he meant that if R=0 for most flights until just before checkin opens, the published benefit that instruments like GPUs and RPUs can be used for upgrades prior to flight time is a bait and switch.
Feb 13, 2016, 3:22 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 362
. Called and got them cleared.