drowelf

I was in a similar situation and via monitoring the MyStatus website I found, at least for me, that my current totals were swept up once a week. For about 4 weeks I would log on every day and check the totals. I found that I there would be updated totals every Thursday morning. Once I passed 25K spend it took about 2 days for my status to change to Platinum. Of course, once I was granted that status, the site no long shows my PQD Waiver Spend, as it can not be used to get 1K Status.

jmd001

Thanks! Exactly the insight I was looking for. Will check tomorrow AM, and see what it says.

JBord

Ignore the title - typo. Mods, can it be changed to "Help me with this PQD scenario" or similar?

I need some thoughts from the experts on this scenario. I'm cutting it close with PQD this year because I've flown a lot on non-016 tickets. Here's the situation:

Currently, with my two booked trips, I should clear my PQD requirement by only about $8. The problem is that I want to change my last flight of the year for an earlier return home. I'd prefer to pay the change fee and lock something in rather than wait for SDC because I'm trying to make plans for the evening of my return and don't want to leave it to chance. In the most unlikely scenario (for me anyway!), the cost of the fight I want to change to is significantly less than the one I have booked...about $150. If I try to change it to a biz fare on the new flight, it's still $18 cheaper.

As I understand it, change fees don't apply toward PQD, so in either case I'd drop below my PQD requirement.

The only options I can think of:
1. Wait. It's probably likely the fare increases at some point and the problem goes away. But I'd prefer not to wait or find that the fare goes up by $300 instead.
2. Upfare to a higher price than the P fare. I can't seem to force the web site to show anything other than lowest fare by cabin class, even when I input specific fare classes. (ex: I put in Y, B and it still shows my an L fare). I believe the add-on fare cost would count as PQD. Maybe I can call UA to do this?
3. Upgrade my earlier trip. This is available but it's expensive, and then I'd have to pay two $200 change fees. Overall, not worth the expense.

Any flaws in my logic around PQD? Any other options that I'm not thinking of? Any other way, besides booking another flight, to get ~$10-$20 of PQD to offset the $18 loss?

Thanks for your suggestions!

getagb

You don’t typically need to pay a change fee to upfare an existing trip. You definitely don’t when going from economy to business/first. Just call and the agent will waive the fee under GG BUYUP.

If you want to buy up to a higher fare class while changing your flight, you can definitely do that on the phone too.

QBK

That really is an oddball problem. Interesting, though!

I think in this scenario I'd call in and ask about upfaring to a higher fare class. Get a good agent, explain the situation, and make it clear that (odd though it sounds) you want to change flights and make absolutely sure that the fare doesn't go down. And then have the agent do it if -- and only if -- they can confirm that they understand the situation and your fare will not go down with the change. And document the change thoroughly so that you have recourse if something goes wonky with your PQD.

The big irony here would be that you'd probably end up in economy on a Q fare or something, because the front cabin P fare is too cheap. You could ask about Z, but usually the jump from P to Z is pretty big.

jsloan

What are the cities and dates of travel -- preferably outbound and return, in case it's fared as a round trip, and current and preferred dates -- and what fare are you booked on now? It is possible that the same fare is available on the other date, but that it's not the cheapest fare so UA is showing you other options. It's also possible that there's a day-of-week component or peak travel day surcharge that's driving the fare, in which case you will likely need a more expensive fare.

It should be possible to do on the phone with a competent agent, but it's much better to have a specific plan in place when calling -- "I want to change to the 'Q' class fare on Tuesday" or whatever. If you're not asked for the change fee plus the fare difference, you know something's wrong.

findark

You can definitely call UA to do something like this. The most straightforward approach would be to keep your original fare, as it's likely to still be valid on your new travel date. A more desirable approach would be to change to the forward cabin, but this leads to the problem that, depending on the actual basis involved, it can be difficult to get an agent to ticket "a higher P fare". You can see what a fare in Z class would cost, but otherwise I'm not sure that you can request a specific fare basis as opposed to booking code.

JBord

That's kind of what I'm thinking is the best course of action. Although I may wait until Monday to see if the fare just goes up a little first. I don't have a lot of faith in an agent getting this right.

I did look at booking the new flight as a new one, just to get some of that information. I need to dig more into specific fare codes though I think. I agree it's best to have a plan before calling and that's kind of what I'm struggling with, since I've never really had a situation like this before where UA just wants to refund me.

12/28: ORD-PTY (via IAH) - D fare class
12/31: PTY-ORD (via IAH) - W fare class

I tried selecting a few higher fares (W, V, Q, etc.) in the search and it still just returns the lowest fare class, which is annoying. Does that functionality not work or am I using it wrong?

I want to switch the return to the 1:50 am departure (followed by a nap ), still on 12/31, since I've been offered a very nice NYE opportunity here in Chicago, and my original flight gets in too late on the 31st. I appreciate any additional thoughts you have on this!

JBord

Ok, thanks.

One other question just to confirm. My other option is to upgrade a segment on DEN-ORD, my other trip to cover the lost PQD. That would allow me to change to a P fare on the PTY-ORD flight and get the $18 refund. From what I've read here, it seems like the online upgrade option will count toward PQD. Correct? It looks like that cost is about $180, so I'd net about +160 PQD using that option which isn't bad considering I get into F/J on both trips for those segments. This may actually be the best option if I understand it correctly.

WineCountryUA

It is my understanding that GG BUYUP only applies if you are not changing flights. I have tried upfaring to a different flight and have been refused.

JBord

My experience as well. However, I could do that on my other trip DEN-ORD (not the one I want to change the flight). That would allow me to only pay the change fee on the PTY-ORD and still cover my PQD.

fumje

The search typically returns the lowest-priced fare (from any bucket) in one column, the lowest-priced of the 'requested' buckets in another, and Business / F in a third.

edit: screenshots—

JBord

I think that's how it works for booking new flights, but when I do a change, I don't get the different columns like in a new search.

WineCountryUA

The change flight process does not work that way. You select the cabin before searching and there is no option to set a preferred fare class.

fumje

Ah, misinterpeted your question. Yes requesting the fare class while changing flights doesn't work well.

edit: I suspect as you originally said that it is just ignored.

When first trying to change flights it shows a box for fare preference, but after searching and getting nonsensical results, going 'back' to the search all of that disappears.