LHR Wannabee

There is a part of me that wonders whether my ticket is properly waitlisted to try and use 2 GPUs on flights from IAH-LHR on the 21st with a return on the 26th. My paranoia results from a flight last month with wrong information on the UA website vs. what was in the airport system regarding seat selection (as well as many of the earlier disappearing segment and seat problems I experienced post integration).

That being said, I am a 1K and purchased a B class ticket a month ago. When I bought the ticket (although I know not accurate) there were 22 seats showing on the outbound and 29 on the return, so I thought to try my luck. Now less than a week out, it is 7 seats and 12.

When I requested the use of the GPU's I was charged the additional amount for the UK air passenger duty and the website said that the 2 GPUs were deducted from my account. This charge has not yet hit my credit card in over a month. Does it only hit the statement if you get one of the segments upgraded? The reservation now has a blue arrow and says "upgrade requested." Does this have the same meaning as Upgrade waitlisted?

Although I know I might not be able to ultimately use these GPUs if no seats get releases, I would feel better knowing at least I was properly in the game. It would be extremely frustrating to find out too late that I might not have been properly waitlisted to try and use them.

rudling

The website is inconsistent about whether it appears to charge you the upgrade tax when you request the upgrade. I've had it show up some times but not others. When it has happened, the charges have not found their way to my credit card statement. So I wouldn't worry about that.

Unfortunately the only way you can really be sure you're on the list is to call reservations and ask them to confirm it, and that your status is correctly reflected (there have been reports of folks having been put on the list but at the wrong status level). There are mixed reports as to whether reservations can actually SEE the entire list (and even if they can, they may not be willing to tell you where on the list you currently fall), or whether they just see some kind of confirmation that you're on it.

You might also want to periodically check for confirmable upgrade inventory (R/RN) via united.com or something like ExpertFlyer. I believe the current thinking about upgrade clearance pre-gate is that:

(1) the R inventory that you want is released at random (or at least unpredictable) times by the underworld occultists of Inventory Management;

(2) the process which looks for R>0 inventory and clears upgrades according to the list runs on a certain interval (daily?); and

(3) these two things are unconnected, thus creating the possibility (likelihood) that R>0 for some number of hours while there are still people on the upgrade list. You might think of this as a window of vulnerability, which could occur as often as ever day, but is probably not that frequent.

Any new upgrade requests made within this window of vulnerability (e.g. for newly-booked tickets, or where someone has gone off the upgrade list and wants to get back on it) will clear immediately, since R>0, thus jumping the queue.

LHR Wannabee

Thanks. How about the "upgrade requested" arrow? Is that correct?

I tried calling to see if properly synched, but did not have a comfort level after 2 attempts today.

First CSR: Had no idea what I was talking about and did not appear to know what GPU's are and/or how used. Politely got off that call. So much for being a "Premier Line."

Had idea to see if online support would be able to assist since they would know their system right? Wrong. I was informed that I would be on the list for the potential upgrade "ahead of those receiving a complimentary upgrade." That would be great if this was not an international flight.

I wonder if my GPUs are returned to me they will have the new expiration date of 2014.

rudling

In my experience the "Upgrade Requested" indicator is correct. It's a relatively new addition to the website, they would certainly have been aware of the many issues around upgrades at the time they developed/added it, so one hopes they made an extra effort to ensure it's accurate. But who knows, it might just be some IT guys rolling 20-sided dice on the floor of a server room.

If your upgrade doesn't clear, the redeposited GPUs will have their original expiration date. There's no de facto extension, sorry.

Air Houston

Actually there has been an extension to GPU validity, which is discussed in detail in the thread started by UA Insider on Nov 8. If you booked the tickets a month ago then you may see a later expiration date than you saw before applying them.

rudling

You're right - a more complete answer would have been:

Generally speaking, GPUs which are redeposited as a result of failure to clear or a cancelled ticket will show up in your account with their original expiration date.

However, recently United has decided to return to the practice of giving GPUs that all expire on 1/31 of the year following their issue. In keeping with this, Mileage Plus has recently been extending the expiry dates for GPUs set to expire in 2012, to 1/31/13. So you may see this date for your newly redeposited GPUs.

Bear in mind, though, that this is a one-time change to get your current GPUs to conform to the new expiry scheme. Once they're reset to 1/31/13, you should not expect additional extensions.

iquitos

no stop over all UA itin IAD-BKK I applied two GPU's over the phone to waitlist. One segment has cleared so far. Agent could not get one segment to waitlist at all. Later online I was able to waitlist that segment. When I did it deducted another GPU. I had to call twice to get the third GPU redeposited. The firs agent promised to fix it but didn't. Second agent told me with complete and stubborn confidence that I needed one GPU per segment not per direction even though there were four segments waitlisted and only three GPUs were deducted. After a wait for a consultation with a supervisor she told me it was my fault for requesting online what the agent could not request when I initially called. She promised to get mileage plus to redeposit one GPU. Have not checked today to see if it happened.