Often1

Unless a GA looks you in the eye and tells you that if you clear, s/he will come onboard and get you, I would not rely on this happening.

It's probably bad practice because it means that a pax is swimming upstream just as they are trying to prepare the cabin for the push, but it's nice when it happens to you.

Anything and everything can happen, including a paid F pax from the next flight walking up and asking for a seat or a misconnect from the prior flight doing the same. Fully changeable ticket means it's effectively a purchase.

JDS747

I too am legacy UA and I've received many upgrade emails. In fact every single time I've been upgraded I've received one. This includes CPUs, award ticket CPUs, GPU waitlist, and miles + copay waitlist upgrades.

swm61230

Recently I was waiting for an upgrade to clear and we were minutes from boarding. I was looking at the list on the phone and watching as they cleared the list to only find out that two people below me on the list all of the sudden were above me and alas my upgrade did not clear.

So if they ever say we never pass up people for an upgrade they are full of it!

flying for gold elite

This happened to me in IAD the other day with a twist. I did a SDC and upon inquiring about an upgrade since there were two remaining seats, the GA citing his own rule, explained that passengers originally booked on a flight are given upgrade priority over any new additions. When I responded that I was not aware of such a rule and pointed to the screen indicating I was the first one on the list I was told the order did not matter since I gave up any ranking by switching flights. I waited until 8 minutes before departure hoping they would just clear the list, but they did not and told me to get on board. I waited with my bags in my seat fully expecting the upgrade to clear minutes later. The GA came on, informed the FAs, the FA announced the names of the two upgraded passengers, and within seconds the GA disembarked and the door was closed. I refreshed the list to find #s 2 and 3 had been upgraded and I had disappeared from the list entirely!

I ran up to the FA and asked if I could take a quick glance at the F cabin to make sure there was not an open seat even though I knew ashe would not be allowed to move me up if there was a vacant seat. Puzzled, she came back to my seat and identified me by name. According to her, the manifest showed I was the only pax listed on the "final passenger flight list" for an u/g and she seemed baffled that I was not upgraded.

When I arrived, I enquired with an agent who I know well and upon further investigation he told me I had been KXed off of the list (a new term for me) right before the upgrades were processed. The best part is the two upgrades were off duty pilots! I am awaiting a reply from customer care.

LIH Prem

my mobile boarding pass updated from Y to F when I was sitting in the Y seat at the gate, door still open.

Checked with the GA on board or on the ramp, she said to take the F seat.

-David

BF263533

I stopped flying CO around 2004. Now flying UAL a bit. One of the final straws was when I upgraded on the computer and the gate agent gave the upgrade to someone else. The upsells were also wearing down on me. But for this crap, I would be at the 2 million mile level. Today I can confront the agent with my phone to get the upgrade. Still, I think crap goes on. The last time they gave the lst upgrade to a nun, which was OK with me. Jesus will look kindly on me at the gates of heaven because I did not complain.

130 fsw

I would be happier at #5. I've been #1 with 0 seats remaining 4 in a row this month. Painful.

#newworldproblems

aacharya

There are two lists. You don't understand how each work.....yet. Neither do we, but we're aware of it.

Not the point of this thread, however. It's gone OT, but the advice is still "take your seat" if you need to carry-on, though
not for ps. I've never seen completely full bins on that plane.

If you're carry-on free, I agree with waiting, so you get more face time with the GA, and you don't have to fight upstream. That's what I do, but because I choose aisles and I hate getting up after settling in.

RockinRon

Sounds similar to my experience I posted about in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...requested.html

That reminds me, I need to ping UAInsider and see what came of his research.

ibuyyoufly

I'm old MP and I have received an email for every UG over the last 3-4 months. What's sporadic is, whether they assign a seat. So when I get the email, I immediately check and if a seat has not been assigned I grab one.

Might be your Profile/Account settings. Under your Profile you will see EMail Subscriptions. Subscribe to the Premier Upgrade Notification.

FlyWorld

This is a great post. So much to respond to here.

1. There seems no limit to the "rule making on the fly"

2. What does KX mean? Did they give you any more info?

Overall, this thread makes my blood boil. It encapsulates all of what, for me, are the most important things wrong with this pathetic airline and further encourages me to avoid flying them as much as possible.

SFOFastAir

KX'd is GA jargon. To remove someone from the standby list (the UG list is just the upper part of the standby list) you type 6:KX-(lastname/firstname) or the shorter entry 6:KX-(line number).

Also SHARES can refuse to UG the fist person on the list. Sometimes KXing and adding them back on the list works but the problem here is they may end up further down the list and since GA can't skip people we'd have KX people to get down the that person. I had to go as far as un-checking-in someone and then re-checking them in to get SHARES to process the UG correctly. Fighting SHARES when doing UG is extremely stressfull

GoAmtrak

Intriguing stuff here. Is it fair to say that SHARES could both hinder legitimate upgrades at the gate and allow rogue GAs to subvert the process with shenanigans?

SFOFastAir

I wouldn't be so judgmental as to say "rouge GA" it is more like frustrated GA at door closing time who sees two choices 1) leave the seat open or 2) upgrade whom ever SHARES decides is worthy even if technically SHARES is not picking the correct person.

Now one could KX people off the list to get to particular person but the vast (>99%) majority of GAs know that would be unethical and would do it. There is an audit trail.

flying for gold elite

Unfortunately that is how I am left to interpret the situation since the information was falsely conveyed to me and I was never added back onto the list.

It seems like everything is GG MAKEITUP these days. When the agent noticed the KXing his eyes bulged out and he called a colleague over to show her on the list that someone had done this. The colleague asserted that a GA is really only supposed to KX someone if the passenger requests to not be upgraded. SFOFastAir's explanation makes sense too though. The agent stated the list is the list and should be followed. I understand there are glitches but this was sloppy manipulation and something still seems fishy.