nm03

Hi all,
question for all the helpful posters here - I've browsed and used the site a lot.

I have some global premier upgrades expiring on 1/31/14. I was 1K throughout 2013, but have not requalified for 2014.

Is there any chance United will extend my upgrades? I have international travel in March and June.

I tried calling the helpline, but they first said they could only extend 2 of the upgrades, and them said they couldn't extend at all as I have not requalified as 1K for 2014.

Do I have a shot if I call again and try with a different agent, or is there no chance?

Thanks!

WineCountryUA

Welcome to FT, nm03
others have reported the same refusal if not re-qualified as 1K. Extension is defined as a re-qualified 1K benefit.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...an-2014-a.html

You can always keep trying and hope an agent will break policy.

mahasamatman

Or (as has been reported elsewhere) have your account noted as an "undesirable" if you call back too often. You need to pick your battles, and you have practically no chance to win this one.

Boraxo

Wish I had known this - I gave away 4 of them to friends and family, who were most appreciative. Happy for my friends but if UA is granting exceptions for rules it should let all the 1Ks know and not just the lucky few who call when the moon is full.

username

at UA or yourself? How can they make you feel special if it was not an exception

By your logic, the moon has been full since mid-December That is when members started to report success on this subject. This comes up every year so don't miss it this coming year if you choose to remain 1K.

mahasamatman

But would anyone outside of FT or MilePoint know about this? United should just automatically do this like Starwood did with unused SNAs.

username

I think UA wants to make this an exception rather than the rule. So, that's that. Boraxo has been a member here for a long time and posted a lot. So, it was a little strange why this is new to Boraxo.

circitmage

Yeah ... I'm a former GS (shame shame) and had a few upgrades expiring at the end of the month ... I called the desk to see if they could have them extended by a few days so I could sponsor both the OB and IB legs of a friend's flight ... the M+ CSR told me that since I didn't make GS again this year (can't imagine how I missed it but I honestly don't see that much of a benefit from being GS vs. 1K) they would not extend the upgrades ... period ... she closed with "Thank you for your loyalty" ;-)

cesco.g

In case you have not done so, you can extend 2 GPUs thru the end of April.
But you have to call the MP desk for that.
Otherwise, I guess UA has to draw the line somewhere.

jchiguy1

As long as you're still 1K try emailing 1KVoice with the same request. I had two GPUs extended until 4/30.

mahasamatman

Only for people who requalified.

The OP did not requalify.

cesco.g

The way I read it the OP did not requal for GS, but still for 1K.

Boraxo

I called several times at the end of 2012, no dice. As reported above it was very hit or miss for extending Dec 2011 GPUs beyond Jan 2013. With that track record it did not occur to me (nor to any of my colleagues who don't read FT) to call UA and beg for extensions.

It is nice that you have time to monitor FT so that you don't miss every relevant thread. But many of us have day jobs and families. So we don't catch every mistake fare, or every update to an old thread.

Do you seriously disagree with the proposition that UA should just automatically extend GPUs for all 1Ks who requalify rather than the special few who happen to reach a knowledgeable call center rep?

In the end it's not a big deal, I have made a couple of people happy and likely would just have used them to upgrade myself on a midcon. But that being said I won't be feeling favorably disposed towards UA when I'm sitting in an E+ middle seat next week on my return from IAH.

username

Right, so you win some and lose some.

We think they should do a lot of things for us but that is not the trend, unfortunately. I think "call and have 2 extended to 4/30" is one of the undocumented exceptions they are doing for us. So, it is outside the offiicial rules and communications.

Our responsibility (and probably purpose of reading FT) is to find these exceptions and undocumented perks. I don't think "...if UA is granting exceptions for rules it should let all the 1Ks know and not just the lucky few who call when the moon is full" is the thinking that is productive for a member under this kind of environment.

Again, in the ideal world, what you said are all true. Here, with UA, we do have some responsibilities to find these things. Or, live with the standard rules.

GimmeLegRoom

Glad I saw this thread - one was about to go to waste. Just sent an email to the 1K Voice. Of course, if I had cleared more than 7 out of 15+ times, I wouldn't have had to....

I had already qualified last August.