andywine

Good Morning,

Never tried to do this before. I am flying with my wife and daughter (I'm Premier Platinum) the weekend on a route that I am fairly certain I will get a CPU (20 F seats available, usually get upgrade w/ companion when I fly it). I have the option of upgrading my wife w/ miles, and would then assume that my daughter and I will get upgraded together. My question is this - if I upgrade my wife, would that count in CPU-world as my companion upgrade, or would my daughter and I still be upgrade-eligible? Thank you!

edcho

Assuming everyone is on one reservation, You need to split your wife off into a separate reservation (different PNR number) which any reservation agent should be able to do. Then upgrade your wife via miles. When you split your wife off, you and your daughter should become CPU eligible (assuming that it is a CPU eligible flight).

aacharya

Another, somewhat riskier option if you want to save the miles, and don't mind sitting in Y in case it doesn't work:

1. Split off the wife (give her the best seat in the plane)
2. Get upgraded before check-in (both you and companion).
3. Add the wife at check-in as your companion.

If it doesn't work, you take your wife's seat.

PV_Premier

in fact i believe OP could do this himself using the "separate traveler(s)" command on the reservation page on UA.bomb......correct?

edcho

IME -- it's not always there. I have several reservations with companions and only see that option on a select few.

valor155

I'll delete in case I'm missing the obvious, as that happens, but . . .

I thought the OP wanted to upgrade all 3. How would this achieve that (without miles)?

The husband and daughter received CPUs. If you swap out the companion, that won't get you a 3rd CPU, right? You still have the original 2.

You can for sure get 2 CPUs by splitting out the reservation into 2 & 1. The remaining 1 keeps a seat in Y, and you can upgrade it with miles.

sbm12

Betting that one companion gets added at the counter and another at the gate and they sneak both through.

valor155

Dirty pool . . . I like it!

I would be surprised if it works, but if the OP goes this route . . . I would definitely ask that he post it up to FT. ^

aacharya

Not quite that dirty. I 'm betting on one companion upgrade at the sweep, and adding the next at counter, to be upgraded at the gate.

valor155

Sure. Might as well try it out.

As the devil's advocate . . . the terms are pretty clear that you are allowed yourself plus 1 companion. If you are "being creative", and doing something that allows you circumvent that, then more power to you. UA's systems need to do the check.

However, just realize that by doing this, someone else is basically hoodwinked out of their own upgrade, whose only crime was potentially not being in a position to be as creative (and I realize fare class, status, etc, are also determining factors).

That person could be you, or me. Someone got +1 upgrades and someone moved to #1 on the waitlist with FC checked in FULL.

Regardless, if the OP chooses to try this route, I would love to hear if it worked (or not).

QBK

My experience is that this doesn't work. I tried to do it once, and the counter agent told me (fairly politely) that I couldn't add a companion because my companion had already been CPUed with me in advance.

I suppose it's possible, but I don't think this is even a case where the agent could miss it -- I suspect SHARES would complain. I'm more than happy to find out that I'm wrong about this, though (I fly with 2 companions fairly often).

nnn

Given the intent, it seems to me that this is equivalent to lying to an agent that you already had a companion upgraded and hoping that they take your word for it.

andywine

So I ended up using miles to upgrade my wife, which immediately split her into a separate reservation. I called and confirmed that both my daughter and I are CPU eligible. Ill let you know after Friday what really happens. Thank you to everyone!

ctroadwarrior

I run into this situation often as well, being a party of 3. I normally do as you do, upgrading my wife with miles in advance, and then playing the CPU lottery for myself and my son. The only other thing to watch out for is that if it is a round trip booking and you only upgraded your wife with miles on one leg (OB), then she will lose the benefit of your status on the return if she is not elite in her own right. That means, no free baggage allowance and no chance of CPU, etc., on the return. If you upgraded her with miles in both directions or it is a OW ticket (or you don't need these benefits) then you are fine.

mduell

Does the stated policy allow for multiple complimentary companion upgrades? No.

Does the actual systems/process allow for multiple complimentary companion upgrades? Sure, worked for me last year.