Downgraded by US Air. United refuses to Reupgrade me
 

A few months ago, I flew to Europe using my United miles and had the opportunity to experience some awesome European Airlines hard and soft business class product. Despite this, on my return, I flew Lufthansa’s’ 747-8i to Washington DC and was supposed to connect to US Airways to Charlotte and then onto Seattle. Yet, due to irregular options (IRROPS), US Air rerouted on United from DC to Phoenix and then on to Seattle on US Airways. My entire flight was originally booked in business, but due to the IRROPS, I was rebooked in Economy because there was no business class space available between DC and Seattle.

Long story short, minutes before boarding, a domestic first class seat opened up on the United flight from IAD to PHX and I asked the gate agent if I could be rebooked upfront and explained to him that due to the IRRPOS I was downgraded. The agent looked at my reservation and told me he couldn’t upgrade me because my ticket was not upgrade eligible since US Air had rebooked me in the economy class cabin with a fare code that could not be upgraded. I explained the situation to the gate agent but he refused to listen, handed me the phone and told me to call the rebooking line.

30 minutes later the plane was ready to depart and the first class seat was still open. The agents on the phone could not book me in the first class because the seat was under the gate agent control. The gate agent also refused to speak to the agent on the phone because, as he claimed, he was too busy preparing the flight for departure. The agent on the phone was empathetic and understood the situation and apologized profusely but there was nothing she could do to secure the seat for me. Finally, I had to let her go and boarded, otherwise I was going to miss my flight. The first class seat flew empty and I ended up in the economy class cabin.

The lead flight attendant had witnessed a bit of the exchange between myself and the premerger United gate agent and was dismayed by the handling of the situation. Her warm smile and apology was more than welcome, I was fustrated but would rather get home then be stuck in an airport. Then, once at 30,000 feet, herself and another FA came by to apologize and wanted to get the full story on what happened (this exchange was made easy because I had the exit row to myself). Before I knew it, the Premerger Continental employees were bringing me drinks and snacks from the front of the plane. One FA looked at me and said, “I’m sorry man, they treat us the same way” and basically told me that the two companies are STILL not playing nice together.

The flight turned out to be quite enjoyable and honestly, I would take an economy seat with a row to myself over a domestic first class seat any day, so in the end, it all turned out for the best. Despite this, the attitude presented by the gate agent was uncalled for and extremely rude. Due to his lack of professionalism, I decided to write United a letter about the situation. Within 3 days, United called me to profusely apologize. Hector, the customer service representative who called me, was genuine and actually seemed embarrassed by the situation that took place at IAD. He was even more confused on why the agent would let a first class seat fly empty instead of upgrading an elite passenger or a passenger who was clearly downgraded; a quick search of my itinerary showed the history and the downgrade due to IRROPS. After a short and pleasant phone call with Hector, he informed me he was going to see what he could do to resolve this issue and would be in contact with me by the end of the week.

A few more days passed and on Friday morning, I woke up to an e-mail from Hector apologizing for the customer service fall out I experienced at IAD. Included in the personalized letter was an e-certificate for $200 off my next United flight.

I think stories like this are important to share because it proves that the corporate offices are listening. Despite having a bad experience with the gate agent, United recognizes there was a falling out. But here's the question. Who is really at fault? US Air or United?

Originally posted on upgrd.com

US Air initially for coding the ticket in a different manner.

The UA gate agent for not seeing the bigger picture.

One can't blame the phone agents when the flight is under airport control.

US Airways clearly didn't help by incorrectly coding the ticket. Gate agents are graded based on on-time departures (if I'm not mistaken), so they have more of an incentive to get flights out on time than to deal with customer service issues unfortunately, especially during IRROPS. Really irrelevant who is to blame at this point though - the system isn't perfect but it could have been worse. At least the long segments were in C.

No elites were on the upgrade list?
I can't think of any flight out IAD that didn't have plenty of elites standing by for upgrades.

That's what I was thinking as well. I can't remember the last time I saw a gate monitor without a large number of people waiting for an upgrade.

I'm sure the list was a mile long. The OP solely saw that is was available - and technically, as a displaced F customer, was entitled to it before the elites.

If it flew empty, then the GA has another issue. But how the OP is absolutely sure it flew empty is hard for me to understand - unless he physically walked up during the flight and looked.

US made a mistake in coding the ticket to economy. Should have been coded to F.

GA appeared brusque (inappropriate), but maybe there genuinely was nothing he could do without spending time on the phone with US to "fix" the ticket, which he didn't have at the time.

Nice that the FA's treated you well, but completely inappropriate for them to be bad-mouthing the company to a customer. They should have apologized, maybe brought you snacks and drinks, and kept their other thoughts to themselves. Maybe offered a skykit (or whatever they do these days).

There may be another upside - check your account, as you likely got miles for the UA leg, despite being on a reward ticket.

Was there never any availability FRA-SEA direct? I would have been checking for this daily, rather than doing two domestic connections.

Did you try to get US to reissue the ticket? Also, might be worthwhile to write them for downgrade compensation.

There were Elites on the upgrade list, but the Gate Agent didnt' upgrade them either!

I wanted to fly the 747-8i :) I love to fly and wanted to review the new product vs the older A330 product!

That happened to me in a similar situation. I was happier getting the EQMs and RDMs for the 1 segment from CLT-MUC than I would have for a difference in miles for the segment so I kept quiet.

And that greatly increased the risk of possible irrops and all sorts of excitement - since you love to fly I am sure reviewing a couple coach products wouldnt deter you... ;)
And as noted you probably got the miles for your rebooked segment.

Check out my blog, there are quite a few coach product reviews :)

And NO, the miles do not post.

UA was under no obligation to upgrade you since US rebooked you in Y (or X) on the award. Yeah, that sucks. but it is in line with the actual rules. You got a TCV out of it. I'd call that a win and move on.