WineCountryUA

I would

HNLbasedFlyer

It doesn't hurt - but if #1 declined the upgrade, would the gate agent have to go back to the computer to get another boarding pass for #2 and potentially delay things? What if #2 declines?

It seems trying to upgrade #1 was a good faith effort.

WineCountryUA

A good agent comes prepared with #2 and #3 and handles the BP afterwards.

IMissThe747

Thanks WineCountryUA and HNLbasedFlyer. When I contact 1kvoice, what might I expect? Some sort of compensation? A form letter apologizing but offering nothing?

I realize an upgrade is a privilege. I'm not trying to rock the boat. But the way things went down seemed a little uncaring from the customer perspective.

Kacee

I would as well. There will be a record how this was handled. My guess is the GA never recorded the gifted upgrade, and that it will show that seat flying empty.
I wouldn't expect anything. I'd be happy with a genuine apology. A travel credit would be a bonus.

lincolnjkc

You'll probably get something about how upgrades are processed automatically and blah blah blah which was the result I got a 2-3 back when I saw something similar. Even if you're remarkably clear about how it went down chances that the agent (especially in the current environment) will do any research are slim. An apology would be nice but I'm not even sure I'd hold my breath for that.

I would guess it's more likely the GA never "downgraded" the declined-upgradee particularly if it was close to door close so the records would show that the passenger who "should have" been upgraded (as #1 on the list) was actually upgraded and there was no seat for #2 to be offered -- if I am remembering correctly that was what happened with my shenanigan -- and of course UA isn't going to contact that passenger to confirm whether or not they took the upgrade ("our records show you were in seat 4B. WERE YOU? TELL US NOW WERE YOU?")

IMissThe747

Pretty wild coincidence, but it actually was 4B that I would have had if they processed the upgrade correctly. I'm sure the UA pilot enjoyed 4B, and was more rested for his next flight. Good for him. I'll email 1kvoice and see what happens.

threeoh

Out of the many dozens of reports of shenanigans I've read on FT, this sounds the most like an actual shenanigan.

But it sounds like the GA was just in a hurry to get the flight out on time and hadn't prepared for the upgrade to be declined so didn't have name/seat of 2nd on the list -- so just a minor mistake with no time to recover, rather than maliciously violating policy to help their friend or whatever.

bocastephen

Absolutely you should file a complaint! This is unacceptable

Miles Ahead

Is that a word? I don't think that's a word.

Many, many years ago, when upgrades were mostly electronic but paper coupons were still around, this happened to me. I was told I was #1 on the upgrade list, C went out full, and when I wrote UA, to get my SWU back, they told me "our records show you were in that seat". I pushed back, they said they'd look into this, and without any admission of wrongdoing on UA's part got two paper SWUs in the mail a few weeks later.

runner450

I think I see what happened here and it's not shenanigans.

The official policy is: "If first class or business class was not available at time of booking, deadheading United pilots will be eligible to be placed on the upgrade list ahead of revenue, NRPS and NRSA customers"

looks like the name you saw on the list ahead of you was the placeholder name for deadheading pilots. that booking was cancelled and replaced with the DH pilot about 25 seconds later.

I don't know anything about who declined the upgrade offer, but the upgrade correctly went to the person that it was always intended for. just a late name-swap.

shenanigan debunked, sorry!



please see above

HNLbasedFlyer

The pilot was probably commuting - not deadheading.

Anyway, I've always thought of shenanigan's and the spirit of this thread to be deliberate actions to upgrade friends/employees purposely. I see a good faith effort by the gate agent to go #1 - he/she declined. I doubt that happens very often -sure, the Gate Agent could have come armed with names #2, #3 as backup but that seems like overkill to me.

I think what could have done is #2 say something like and loudly - hey, I'm #2 I'll take it.

runner450

The pilot was DH and I'm still unclear who mystery person #1 was, since no one else was issued 4B

HNLbasedFlyer

And you know that how?

fumje

Access to audit trail, I believe.

Is it possible the first person the GA talked to wasn't actually declining an upgrade? I have seen GA's offer farther-back aisles to SBY assigned middle seats after the no-shows are removed, for example, and sometimes they take it by sometimes not.