I just got skipped on the upgrade list
May 10, 2013, 12:37 pm
#17
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAD
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Rewards - LTPP
Posts: 4,241
Pretty sure my wife just got skipped over on ORD-LGA this week...#1 out of 25 on the list, 1 empty that looked to be a misconnect. About to shut the door, and instead of upgrading her, they call the name of some guy who's in the back (and who wasn't on the UG list). He apparently came up and knew to put his things behind row 3 (on the A320, aka the FA spot)...sounds like a nonrev.
Elite Upgrade Automation, the pre-merger CO term for the upgrade system.
May 10, 2013, 12:50 pm
#18
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On this, I completely disagree. Expert mode is a special mode that needs to be enabled and gives you ample warning before you enable it. The upgrade list is shown publicly with no warning, and precious few flyers (other than on here) know that there are two lists. I think it is asking way too much for people to come onto FT and dig into this stuff in order to be able to interpret something that is prominently displayed by UA in various venues. Indeed, even FT-ers (myself included) thought that the pre-clearing method stopped at T-3.
I don't agree that the list is worthless, and the issue of #7 to #1 was not proven conclusively (#7 could've bought up, been added later as a companion to a 1K, etc). But one can be skipped, and UA should note the difference between the battlefield list and the EUA list.
May 10, 2013, 12:53 pm
#19
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The flight went out full (was the final GA action before closing the door), UG list didn't change before or after, guy they pulled up into F wasn't on the UG list, and knew the sneaky place to put his bags (the seat was 1E so no floor space)...dodgy.
May 10, 2013, 12:54 pm
#20
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: COS
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I'll give a very recent example of where I think this sort of thing can be valid. Traveling to KWI the earlier in the week when a maintenance paperwork snafu caused my originating aircraft ex-COS to return to the gate. This results in a misconnect in DEN to IAD. So no problem, I accounted for such a possibility in my layovers, as I absolutely needed to be in KWI on time. Catch the next DEN->IAD flight but only middle seats in E+ remain open. I am #1 for the "upgrade" until boarding begins, then suddenly #2. I inquire with the GA and politely slip into the conversation that I am flying a nearly 24-hr itinerary on a $9500 fare.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
May 10, 2013, 12:56 pm
#21
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350 Safari/8536.25)
Elite Upgrade Automation. The upgrade priority list that gets followed prior to flight going under airport control
Originally Posted by mmack
What is EUA?
May 10, 2013, 12:58 pm
#22
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I am #1 for the "upgrade" until boarding begins, then suddenly #2. I inquire with the GA and politely slip into the conversation that I am flying a nearly 24-hr itinerary on a $9500 fare.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
Personally? I'm okay with a little bit of freedom for the GAs. This hyper-focus on black and white decisions hurts the GA's job sometimes. Of course, this then results in UA-NYC's example. Hence the crackdown.
May 10, 2013, 1:21 pm
#23
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 981
I'll give a very recent example of where I think this sort of thing can be valid. Traveling to KWI the earlier in the week when a maintenance paperwork snafu caused my originating aircraft ex-COS to return to the gate. This results in a misconnect in DEN to IAD. So no problem, I accounted for such a possibility in my layovers, as I absolutely needed to be in KWI on time. Catch the next DEN->IAD flight but only middle seats in E+ remain open. I am #1 for the "upgrade" until boarding begins, then suddenly #2. I inquire with the GA and politely slip into the conversation that I am flying a nearly 24-hr itinerary on a $9500 fare.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
Very near departure and no available UG seats, #1 is already onboard. I board. Someone who shouldn't have or wasn't expected to misconnects. GA walks onboard and hands me the F boarding pass. UA's fault I misconnected in the first place. Extremely long itinerary and a very high fare paid. Obviously I'm biased, but I believe the GA did the right thing both for me and for his employer. #1 was probably never the wiser.
May 10, 2013, 1:32 pm
#24
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Just like in the CO world, there was a different name for what the Elite perk was called (e.g., free, unlimited upgrades or something like that) and COdbaUA calls them Complimentary Premier Upgrades, EUA is still the system on the back end doing the processing (when it works!).
May 10, 2013, 1:34 pm
#25
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
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All of sudden went to full about an hour before the flight with me still #1 on u/g list
Finally a few minutes later went back to 1 open F seat with me still #1
Finally got the call to the podium about 35 minutes before push to get my 1B BP
Oddly enough, no GS at this Silicone Valley airport. Guess they all fly in private planes ....
EmailKid
May 10, 2013, 2:26 pm
#26
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: COS
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In my view, F ought first and foremost be for people who paid for it and then for everyone else according to the established hierarchy. And in this case I paid for it.
May 10, 2013, 2:41 pm
#27
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K MM, Marriott Life Plat, various others of little note
Posts: 2,763
I've never seen this/seen this being talked about here. This morning I was taking a red eye from SFO to IAH and was 2nd on the upgrade waitlist. After we boarded the first and the third was invited to First and I wasn't. Intrigued I asked the agent and showed her the upgrade list on my phone she rudely said "we take whatever the machine spits out". Has this ever happened to anyone?
I was P Gold in Y class, I was standby at first but then the system gave me a seat. By the time we boarded I was well placed in 2nd place on upgrade list though.
I was P Gold in Y class, I was standby at first but then the system gave me a seat. By the time we boarded I was well placed in 2nd place on upgrade list though.
May 10, 2013, 2:45 pm
#28
Original Poster
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so in conclusion, the fact that the gate agent said "we cannot override it" to me is a lie? Seems like we have more than enough examples that they CAN indeed override it and do shenanigans.
May 10, 2013, 2:52 pm
#29
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: IAD
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