zombietooth

I listened to a few of her videos and am shocked at her vacuous behavior in other areas. I believe that she just might be susceptible to the Nigerian Inheritance scam.

Lux Flyer

Where has anyone said she was the first one approached? We have no idea how many or if any premier members were even left in PP, how many op-ups needed to occur, if other passengers were willing to split their party, etc.

Just a little bit ago we had people saying this was clear cut shenanigans because Y wasn't even oversold so no op-up need could have possibly existed, when we didn't have enough information to realize she was booked in PP and that cabin likely was oversold. I think it is a stretch to then jump to the gate agent definitely didn't follow the right order (with what I read as an undertone of: because she's an influencer they recognized....) when again we don't have anywhere near enough information to say that.

While I do agree GA's might not follow premier status at time for OP-ups, I think it is more likely when that does occur they're just processing the customers without a seat assignment for the upgrades as opposed to scanning the list for someone specific (how would they even know the passenger is the specific victoriaparis when they're initially deciding who to op-up from looking at the list on the computer?). Doing the "need seat" customers is the easier/faster route then trying to call someone up who may or may not be in the gate area yet and may or may not accept it depending on the specific party they're travelling with (which IMO is likely what happened here, as given that ticketing time of March 3rd and what she said on TikTok it seems likely she was a "see GA for seat assignment"). Given the amount of "influencers" out there, it was only a matter of time until one got an op-up on some airline in a situation like this and posted about it. But all that being said, there's nothing that has been out there to suggest that the GA didn't actually follow the proper procedure.

jsloan

A no-status member on an R fare is pretty near last on the list for op-ups. I suppose it’s possible she was the only solo passenger out of 25, but that’s just not likely.

Presumably you’d have noticed such-and-such a person first. I don’t know; there are probably six celebrities in the world I’d recognize on sight, and none of them are likely to fly commercial. Not my ball of wax.

Agreed, but that doesn’t make it right.

And, as I already said, I’m not that worked up about it given that it seems that all instrument upgrades were already cleared. The gate agent should have upgraded by status, and hopefully you will agree that it’s very unlikely she did. But each person who didn’t get upgraded had the opportunity to put an instrument on it and chose not to do so, so they really don’t have a leg to stand on.

I agree this is mostly a nothingburger (except, as I said, this will likely inspire copycats to waste agents’ time) but I do think if UA defines a policy for op-ups — which we know they do — that agents should follow it. I’d actually be less upset about it if no op-up had been necessary, because then there’s no policy to follow — it’d just be somebody getting a nicer seat when nobody had a claim to it except a non-rev.

ani90

That assumes they all had access to an upgrade instrument (miles±cash or PP) - not all premier members do.

jsloan

Every Premier member has access to miles + cash. If they've used their miles on something else, and don't choose to buy more miles, so be it, but that's a choice. Or, if they were on an award ticket, they had the choice to waitlist for a higher cabin (or use the miles for a JN award directly).

DELee

Well, given her social media posts, it doesn't hurt. And, had we only to go on the one TikTok photo, we could also ascertain which type shoes she had on, her pullover, and other details.

David

AirborneLocksmith

Which seat(s) did you choose for her return flight(s)?

Lux Flyer

It was a one-way with an onward connection on OA, so no seat assignments to change

Unrelated, I've actually been pleasantly surprised how US-Asia one way fares have been faring with only a small premium over the fares that require construction on a half-round trip basis.

narvik

delete

asya999

I thought I was recently a victim of upgrade shenanigans but having read (ok skimmed) this thread plus a few other "I was skipped for my upgrade" threads now I wonder if there is a more reasonable explanation for what happened.

EWR-BCN (UA120 8/30) Mr 999 is in PP, I'm in E+, both are on the UL him with no status but with my PP, me, 1K with miles for PE and miles and copay for Polaris. There are two open/unbooked seats in Polaris, PE is full. At "boarding is about to be called because it's 58m before departure time the waitlists go from:
Polaris:
1. Mr1
2. Mr2
3. Mr999
4. Me
5. MrShananigan1
6. MrShananigan2

Premium Economy WL:
1. Me
2. MrShananigan1
3. MrShananigan2

to
Mr1 11A
Mr2 6A
1. Mr999
2. Me
3. MrShananigan1
4. MrShananigan2

In the lounge the agent I'm chatting with says "oh, now you'll clear to PE, let me see if I can move Mr 999 to one of freed up seats so we can sit together" but the seats are under gate control. She calls the gate but apparently is rebuffed and we're told to just go to the gate and ask them to put us in adjacent seats there.

in the two minutes it takes us to get to the gate which is right next to the lounge the PE list has changed to the following:
MrShananigan1 20L
MrShananigan2.20J
1. Me
etc.

I get to the GA before I see this refresh and ask about the seats and she tells me I'm still first on the list and when I refresh and see 2&3 upgraded she shrugs and says the upgrades are done in order by computer. When I came up she was talking to a couple, and after boarding I see the couple she was talking to are in fact in 20L and 20J.

Btw after they were upgraded the Polaris waitlist changed to:
1. MrShananigan1
2. MrShananigan2
3. Mr999
4. me

So what could have happened in the system that changed their status to skip over me into PP (I would guess they then skipped past Mr999 because they were all PE now, but they had more status, since he has none of his own, that would be likely I guess?)

I don't want to bother to write to 1Kvoice to complain if this is a normal sort of occurrence but I'm not sure I can come up with convincing scenario other than "shenanigans"...

Btw this was particularly painful not because I didn't get to sit in PE seat next to Mr999 for this overnight flight but because the 675 PQP I didn't get may very well be nearly exactly what I'll be short to re-qualify for 1K come December :/

P.P.S my PQP summary showed me getting 200 points for "day of flight upgrade award" but then the next day it showed them as roll back, if that makes a difference ...

UA_Flyer

I was fine sitting in exit row aisle seat last week ready for take-off on a domestic flight.
All the sudden I got an alert that I have been upgraded with a new seat assignment.
As I walked to the front cabin, i heard the door was closed and a person just sat down on my assigned seat in F.
I asked the person in my seat to check his boarding pass, and he told me he was the last one on the waitlist for Y, and the GA asked him to take the last remaining seat in the F cabin. He did not have a seat assignment on the boarding pass. I went back to my previous seat and did not want to make a fuss as the door was closed and we are ready to push back. It was only a 2-hour flight.

I wrote in and got a $100 travel voucher for it.

jsloan

Most likely scenario is that the person you're accusing realized he wasn't going to clear into PE and did a buy-up. That would explain why you got leapt on the Polaris list.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

That was my guess, too. The GA did say "upgrades are done by computer", which is not untrue, but did not clarify situation. If "shenanigan1/2" did buy-ups, not sure why GA just couldn't have told the OP so..

bocastephen

Wow, I never would have stood for that - you're too nice. I would have told him he is in my seat and made sure I had my new boarding pass up and with a screenshot taken (in case of shenanigans by the GA after getting back to the podium). I'm sure the FA would have fixed the issue for you.

goodeats21

I've noticed a couple times lately that looking at the upgrade list I was resigned to to sitting in the back, but then unexpectedly cleared into First prior to the 24 hour mark.
Something like 4th on the list with 1 seat remaining...then I clear with it showing 3 seats left.

First time I chalked it up to flight waiver causing numerous people bailing on flights or something, but now with it happening 2 times...not so sure.

Curious how you are finding the upgrade list not as helpful as before?