Sad consequence of the modern corporate culture
 

Performance doesn't matter - it's all about talking smoothly and being 'nice' and friendly. I'll describe my recent call to the US CP line.

Me: OZ cannot see one the fifth segment of the itinerary ; can you please reissue the ticket?

Agent: What are you talking about? The ticket has already been issued.

Me (annoyed): I knows this! The partner cannot see a segment to be flown on their flight. So, you know, instead of calling them and spending lots of time on the phone, try to perhaps reissue the ticket?

Agent: Umm. . . Let me talk to a supervisor to figure out how to handle this. . .

If you're implying that I wasn't nice and friendly, you're wrong.

But at some point, enough is enough.

If we're to have these mega-threads, why can't we have a description in here of how to get a GPU printed?

And yes, it is 0 steps forward, 2 steps back. Couldn't have said it better.

The 1K desk and premier services have no idea what paper GPU is. They have never seen a paper GPU. Why would they?

At the start of this thread UA Insider provided links for the process to get a paper GPU. At no time did UA Insider tell us to call the 1K desk or premier services. You are to call the mileage plus service center.


http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...wupgrades.aspx

"Terms of use on Lufthansa-operated flights

Global Premier Upgrades may be used on Lufthansa-operated flights, on a day-of-departure basis. A printed certificate is necessary for this type of upgrade, and MileagePlus members should call the MileagePlus Service Center at least two weeks before their Lufthansa flight to request a certificate, which will be mailed to the member. The certificate must be presented to a Lufthansa representative at the airport on the day of departure and surrendered upon upgrade confirmation. Each certificate is valid for a one-way, one-segment upgrade on any multi-cabin international flight operated by Lufthansa. Global Premier Upgrades will not be issued for use on Lufthansa-operated flights for travel to U.S. embargoed travel destinations.* Upgrades are subject to availability."

The link above eventually takes you to,
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...0B9CE4F8648225 which has the phone number of the M+ service center.

Because UA Insider provided the link to the process.

I can understand the frustration with the original call, but you created your own misery by calling back the 1K reservation line time and time again. They are not trained to handle MP issues. A call to the MP service center would have allowed you to enter your MP number, which will then direct you a 1K agent.

I can now report back on my experience using the certificates for my SEA-FRA on 5/1 and ZRH-FRA-SEA on 5/15. Many thanks to those that provided advice on this and the predecessor thread.

Outbound on SEA-FRA, we arrived at the check-in counter 3 hours before the flight. I had presumed that's when the LH counter would open but I found it already very open and active and many C seats had been assigned. Nonetheless, the check-in agent knew how to process the certificates and we got our seats easily as I had booked wednesday flights since it appeared that was the least busiest day for this route. However, I should have gotten there earlier to have a better choice of seats. All seats did eventually get taken even though it was C9 on the morning of departure. However, economy went from Y9 to Y0 overnight so I presume they oversold Y, more likely an influx of reroutes?

On the return, I had stressed about being able to clear since we were connecting from Zurich on the earliest flight but only a 1h40min connection in FRA where the certs had to be processed. Previous advice here was to try and convince the LH ticket counter in ZRH to call ahead to FRA to put us on the grading list.

Unfortunately, the LH ticket counter at ZRH is now gone and replaced by the SWISS ticket counter. It is in check-in area 1 and opens at 5:45a. I did my best to convince the agent (who did not seem happy to be working at that hour) to call to FRA after initially getting brushed off rapidly that they could not do it in ZRH. She had to do some hunting on the computer to find the number to call but in a short conversation she had it done.

We got to FRA but were dropped off on the tarmac to a bus which then delivered us to some distant part of the B terminal and we hussled through it, across a very long tunnel and up a couple elevators to A/Z. Even though I was looking for a transfer desk, we ended up at passport control but luckily no line. I saw on the first screening agents computer screen the note on our reservation that we would be upgrading with the MP certs per ZRH. Yay! But were we added to the grading list? We proceeded to the gate (which of course for more convenience was way down at the end of Z). There was still plenty of C availability and we were able to clear just fine. She confirmed we were on the upgrade list when we got to the counter.

My wife wanted the window on row 10 but I refused because I wanted to sleep and worried about the galley and lav traffic/noise. I took an interior aisle seat. As it turned out, the flight had well over 10 open C seats and we each had the seat next to us free so I sat by her when awake and went towards the middle of the section to sleep. Although we stressed a lot about getting cleared it all worked out in the end, mainly because I chose off peak days for the flights.

So, the advice on ZRH still stands although a bit harder now that the desk is purely SWISS and feel less helpful. Just plead for the call and state that you know others have been successful with this before. I wish I knew the number so that it could be given to the agent to make it even easier.

Just observed a fellow FTer use the paper GPU on a LH flight ex-MUC (oversold in Y). The new format threw the agent off a bit, no field to enter the ticket # anymore. She basically checked and rechecked the validity date and booking class list and did the upgrade without blinking an eye lid. The GPU had the wrong flight number BTW, since the 1K agent had entered the UA codeshare number. So instead of UA 9255 (aka LH 412) the cert said LH 9255 :rolleyes:

Does Lufthansa require you to split the PNR if you try to upgrade only one of the passengers, similar to United?

So this whole calling ahead to alert them that you'll be trying for an upgrade - what benefit does this get you?

My first attempt at using this FRA-ORD to upgrade from C to F is coming up this Saturday. Is it worth asking when I checkin in for DEL-FRA if they can do anything to call ahead to FRA?

On my last flight with my +1 was only one C-seat available and LH upgraded my +1 without splitting the PNR. Flight was FRA-ORD.

Won't hurt, but IME won't make a difference because nothing will actually happen. If you get to an agent three hours before the flight to ORD, then your upgrade has a high chance of clearing. Under three hours it won't, because of "catering". I truly wonder what LH would do if a HON walked into the FCT 60 minutes prior to departure and asked to buy an F class ticket. :rolleyes:

I wish I had seen the phone number they called so I could advise to people to give it to the agent they get. It really seemed pretty easy once I convinced the agent to try - two minutes to look up the phone number and a 1 minute conversation - we got on the grading list and there was a note in our record. At the gate, they had not started processing the list but stated they saw us on the list. In fact, when I went back to change my seat with a different agent, she asked if we were planning to upgrade and where were our certs?! (was reading the note on our record which really does stand out on the screen) I pointed to the agent next to her.... already done :)

This really should be a standard operating procedure and would help a lot.

For now, beg, plead, cry, and mention you know others who did this successfully. Report your success or not...

I wonder under what circumstances would LH clear the upgrade at checkin, instead of at gate? It makes huge differences when the traveller is not *G member.

It has happened to me every time at check-in in Asia, C to F and M to C, respectively.

When connecting it happened in the MUC lounge.

The key is plenty of availability.
But I think the assumption is that the traveler is *G.

First of all, the grading list is not sorted and ranked by status, its just a chronological list of pax who have some need of the other (employee travel on standby, waitlisted pax, upgrades etc)
If the FM has kept the flight open for upgrades and the catering is enough (the screen has the expected loads and catered loads on display) then the checkin/gate/longe/transfer/ticket desk agent can upgrade you immediately. Otherwise s/he will just put you on the grading list. Outstations cannot process the upgrade for flights departing from places other than their station.

Is this 3 hours a hard cut? As of right now my layover in FRA (assuming on time) is supposed to be 3:20. There are 4 seats out of 8 full as of now. Would being on the grading list in advance help avoid a catering issue?

I will do my best in Delhi - I'll probably be checking in for my flight at around 7:30pm Frankfurt time (not sure if that matters at all in terms of who would get the call).

Is "grading list" the appropriate term?

Seems annoying to not let you take care of this at check-in, esp if you're checking in as part of one ticket for a different Long Haul flight on LH.