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Originally Posted by Red_Rob
(Post 19296076)
The upgrade waitlists are clearly still broken. As a GS flying on a full domestic 'Y' fare <72 hours from now, booked ~2 weeks ago I am waitlisted (presumably to last seat availability). A 1K colleague just purchased a first class seat on that flight today.
Originally Posted by mitchmu
(Post 19296407)
I don't understand your point. You said that you bought a Y seat. Your colleague purchased a seat in F. What's the problem? Did your colleague pay the fare for the F seat or did your colleague pay a cheap economy fare and get a TOD? If the latter, you have a valid complaint. But, you can't be complaining that they sold a seat in F at full price. Right?
Originally Posted by ivoryboi
(Post 19285601)
As a data point, today I tried to book a BKK-NRT roundtrip.
... Search for W-class 'sorry seats are not available'
Originally Posted by ivoryboi
(Post 19285601)
Shannon, we cannot even book a flight in a specific class anymore?
Originally Posted by ivoryboi
(Post 19285601)
Is my query paranoid? Ridiculous?
Even if you could see all the inventory details listed in "expert mode" you'd still be unable to book a W fare on this route because it doesn't exist. It would seem that this is a great example of the confused customer. |
Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
(Post 19296096)
This is an issue for a number of reasons.
The way UA has made this change unannounced is mind blogging (to me a message in FTer/MP is not an announcement). Additionally the change has been made with no announcement on the future "new capabilities" nor the timeline for those replacement capabilities. This was done like it was an emergency and even then there has been no proper communication to customer base. This particular situation is the basis for a case study in flawed customer communications. A broad communication stating Fare Class info was being removed (with a few days warning or a reason for immediate removal) for "(a better phrased reason)" and in the meantime please use "alternative method". A replacement capability (some description) will be in place by xx/xx/xx would have engendered a very different reaction. Part of the feeding frenzy (even with a reduced functionality workaround) is due to the accumulative number of issues / disappointments / loss of functionality experienced by many. All this recent issue has done is to continue to reenforce (correct or not) the new UA does not understand or is consciously dissing a portion of their customer base. It is remarkable to note the number of low count posters in this thread -- with a number stating this is the end of the rope -- this is not the gang of 11 or MR crowd, this is UA's everyday bread and butter folks. It is clear UA is having operational issues (they are readily admitting this). But UA is doing a terrible job of communicating to its customer base -- and every unexpected action / every change is going to be received by their battered customers in the most negative light unless UA steps up and stops serving platitudes about best network / 787s / ... and addresses the present hostile UA/customer situation. Communication is the key and what has been lacking through this entire merger process. It's as if they went into it with no PR plan whatsoever. In fact, some of the decisions seem to be knee-jerk reactions, meaning there might not have been a plan of any kind at all. |
Originally Posted by tom911
(Post 19295759)
Sort of like when AA matched UA and raised the minimum fare for systemwides to W 10 years ago. Or when AA matched UA and offered 50% bonus miles for midtier flyers. Or when AA matched UA and reduced lifetime status benefits.
Oh, wait, AA didn't do any of those. I don't expect them to follow UA this time, either. Sure you want to offer that guarantee?
Originally Posted by chinatraderjmr
(Post 19296282)
Everything you just mentioned was done very recently (since 3/3) w the exception of the W fare min & that cost was also very minimal before 3/3. I would not be so sure AA would not follow just because they haven't done anything immediately. I hope they're smart enough not to. If they are taken over by US you can't really expect anything different then what is happening to UA. Let's face it. US is to CO as UA was to AA
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
(Post 19296453)
Are you sure a W class fare exists on this route? You might need to check the next higher fare class if you don't have access to ExpertFlyer or a GDS to view fares.
I still have KVS for now and W is not in fact not offered on BKK-NRT. [KVS Availability Tool 7.0.5/Diamond - Sabre: Fares/DotRes/US] Code:
BKK Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Intl TH [VTBS] |
Originally Posted by ibuyyoufly
(Post 19296539)
In fact, some of the decisions seem to be knee-jerk reactions, meaning there might not have been a plan of any kind at all.
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
(Post 19296096)
UA is doing a terrible job of communicating to its customer base -- and every unexpected action / every change is going to be received by their battered customers in the most negative light unless UA steps up and stops serving platitudes about best network / 787s / ... and addresses the present hostile UA/customer situation. Until THAT changes, nothing else will. You're kidding yourself if you happen to believe otherwise. Sadly. :( Dave |
Originally Posted by sbm12
(Post 19296511)
Were there any F seats available when you booked? On that Y fare you should have been able to confirm without waitlisting at all. But if the F seats open up you have to proactively choose to upgrade; it doesn't happen automatically. There is no "list" for Y/B/M-Ups.
Well, Y fares for elites can upgrade to last seat F without inventory control other than there needing to be a seat on the plane. So either the F seat just opened up and the GS got jumped because there is no real-time waitlist or something else happened. But we don't have sufficient details to know what. Therefore, on this flight, it must have had P0. Or, is there another aspect of this that I'm not catching? |
Originally Posted by mitchmu
(Post 19296647)
I thought Y-UP booked into a special fare class (P)? So, it's possible to have F2P0 which means two F seats available for sale and zero inventory for instant upgrade.
Therefore, on this flight, it must have had P0. Or, is there another aspect of this that I'm not catching? Since there is last seat availability I could monitor (either manually or via an alert service) and call when inventory opened up. I was under the mistaken impression that it was wait listed (particularly within the upgrade window). An upgrade wait listed along with last seat availability means that whenever any F inventory opened up I could have had it (and thus someone else would not have been able to purchase it). From now on I will need to search for a new booking in F to search for inventory (rather than simply clicking the fare bucket icon on my reservation) |
Originally Posted by Red_Rob
(Post 19296935)
B/M ups go into PN. Y ups are not capacity controlled.
There's now no way to view PN or P. So, what's the point in buying up to a Y/B/M fare anymore if you can't see if there's PN>0 or P>0? Nobody in their right mind is going to buy up to Y/B/M if they're only going to be waitlisted... |
Originally Posted by Traveling2
(Post 19292624)
I guess I'm one of those people who "misused" fare class because:
1) I used it to search for R availability, so that I could buy a pricier W ticket, and actually use my GPU's (some of them). I control my own flight spending. Due to geographical location, I probably have to fly 50k miles on UA. Beyond that, it's up to me and I've been flying the additional 50k I fly each year on UA. But, make my upgrades and GPU's worthless, then I can look elsewhere. I'm not the only one saying this. Is anyone listening? I had a great AF experience (paying E+ equiv fare for PV) and I've finally seen that yes, there are other airlines where one can be a kettle yet still pay for a good service. I'm better off buying Main Cabin Select on Virgin in the future even if it costs a lot more... |
Originally Posted by warreng24
(Post 19296951)
Y/B/M upgrades go into PN (or is it P)?
There's now no way to view PN or P. So, what's the point in buying up to a Y/B/M fare anymore if you can't see if there's PN>0 or P>0? Nobody in their right mind is going to buy up to Y/B/M if they're only going to be waitlisted... So if you booked say a B fare that didn't clear at booking, and want to see availability, search for a new B ticket and see if it offers the instant upgrade. Otherwise since there isn't a true wait list you will lose out on potential upgrades (that you can legitimately have by calling at any time if available) |
Originally Posted by warreng24
(Post 19296951)
Nobody in their right mind is going to buy up to Y/B/M if they're only going to be waitlisted...
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So, B and M clear into PN. One can find PN by searching on BM fare and seeing if icon appears. Still not clear if Y clears into PN or Y-UP is guaranteed no matter what. Seems the last few messages are contradictory on that point, and that would be the key point for the GS member who posted the message that started this branch.
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Originally Posted by mitchmu
(Post 19297144)
So, B and M clear into PN. One can find PN by searching on BM fare and seeing if icon appears. Still not clear if Y clears into PN or Y-UP is guaranteed no matter what. Seems the last few messages are contradictory on that point, and that would be the key point for the GS member who posted the message that started this branch.
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
(Post 19296096)
This is an issue for a number of reasons.
The way UA has made this change unannounced is mind blogging (to me a message in FTer/MP is not an announcement). Additionally the change has been made with no announcement on the future "new capabilities" nor the timeline for those replacement capabilities. This was done like it was an emergency and even then there has been no proper communication to customer base. This particular situation is the basis for a case study in flawed customer communications. A broad communication stating Fare Class info was being removed (with a few days warning or a reason for immediate removal) for "(a better phrased reason)" and in the meantime please use "alternative method". A replacement capability (some description) will be in place by xx/xx/xx would have engendered a very different reaction. Part of the feeding frenzy (even with a reduced functionality workaround) is due to the accumulative number of issues / disappointments / loss of functionality experienced by many. All this recent issue has done is to continue to reenforce (correct or not) the new UA does not understand or is consciously dissing a portion of their customer base. I'd like to add that the removed functionality was very useful, in particular it allowed expert users to mitigate many problems with the UA system. I miss it every time I visit united.com. |
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