cesco.g

Cool!
Which flight are you booked on: the afternoon (UA944) or evening one (UA907)?
While I find the earlier one to be easier to clear, UA 907 shows R1 right now.

IADFlyer123

Why are you trying to pull an upgrade if your 40 minute flight hasn't cleared? Your 6 hour flight has cleared correct? Are we missing something?

compwhiz

Sorry, forgot to mention, 944

boss315

I'm not sure if I sold my soul to the devil somewhere along the way, but something was strange. LHR-LAS on 23 March, K class; called on 03/22 to inquire about changing fare to W and using my GPU. The far change was 200 cheaper(100 instead of 300) than using my online "Change your flight" option BUT my GPU was granted as I spoke to the agent. Figured I had an ice cube's chance of that happening...must have just hit at the right time.

alex_b

If you were about 25hrs out then R space regularly opens up around that point, which would mean you could confirm a GPU immediately.

PV_Premier

i'm pretty sure the fare change is calculated by a chimp using a random number generator. lately i just call until i get a satisfactory number because it's never the same thing twice.

DWooderson

3/16, HKG-EWR, W fare and waitlisted for months, called at T-20 and nabbed the last BF seat.

boss315

great image...at least a chimp aims to please the keeper!

ecosse3

Here's a good one (sorry if lengthy, but hope it helps others):

1K
U class
IAD-FRA (3 class cabin)
Booked 3 weeks ago-flight 2 weeks from now
Waitlisted with GPU

Business looked wide open, so I wasn't too concerned, but obviously check for R class twice a day since even as a 1K on Y fares booked months ahead of time, I never seem to clear automatically. (?)

Woke up this morning and R=2. So I call to manually upgrade and the agent "seems" to understand. She asks for my PIN and I remind her that my GPU has already been deducted, as I was on waitlist. She says no problem-just needs the PIN. Within a few seconds she says that it's done and would I like seat 1K? I can clearly see that this is a 3 cabin plane and ask why I'd be upgraded from economy to First (skipping over business). She says it's likely just a change of aircraft to the 2 class-happens all the time, etc. None of this seemed right, but she sounded pretty confident despite my protests. I hung up with her and checked online and sure enough, I have a seat assignment in the front and everything online looks good.

I was still feeling uneasy about this and about 5 minutes later I refreshed my screen and:

1-an additional GPU is gone
2-I still have the seat assignment up front, but now on the main reservation page, it's showing me as "R class requested" but upgrade to first confirmed (I think it said "ON" class-don't quote me on that). When you click on seat assignments, it also listed that flight twice, which only happens if you're on the waitlist. (once you've cleared, it's only listed once on the tabs)

I take a timeout for a few minutes and come back and it's still the same, so I call back. The agent I get (who was wonderful) was horrified. She has no idea what the previous agent did, but despite what it was saying online, I didn't have a seat up front, had lost an additional GPU and no longer had my seat assignment in economy. And to make matters worse, R was now = 0 (confirmed by myself and her).

I was on hold for a LONG time and she had to speak to managers, but was able to get me the upgrade into Biz. She was super nice, and VERY apologetic for the mess her colleague had created.

Long story short-SO, SO, SO glad I called back when I wasn't sure. Even a screen shot of my "confirmed" upgrade wouldn't have saved me from an overnight trip in a middle economy seat next to the bathroom. When in doubt, confirm and then re-confirm.

HKChicago

No, but it would have gotten you a $1500 electronic travel cert (better if you ask me) under the downgrade rules, which United actually follows if you follow up .

sb3

SFO-TPE, TPE-SFO
09 Apr, 14 Apr
W
Cleared at booking (mid-Mar)

Kacee

Probably not, because UA would have correctly responded that OP was never ticketed in either BF or GF.

anc-ord772

KWI-IAD-LAX - 28/29JUN
Booked - 27MAR
H -> R
Cleared @ booking

KWI-IAD was R9 at booking.

kmrau

SFO-NRT 853 on 4/22 and NRT-SFO 852 on 5/1
V -> R cleared at booking on 3/20

MCLC

LHR-IAH, 4/20/14
Booked 2/23/14
Q
Cleared 3/30/14