mapu

UA944 ORD - FRA in Y
#1 on the BF upgrade list (GPU, 1k)
BF fully booked, GF 1 seat available (out of 8, 3 are reserved for crew rest!)
1 pax on GF upgrade list
5 minutes before boarding a non-rev (not a pilot) shows and goes on the stand-by list, the BF upgrade list as #2 and the GF upgrade list as #2
At boarding he is assigned a seat in GF and me and the 1k gentlemen on the GF upgrade list take our assigned seats in the original booking class.

Is that normal at UA?

CALMSP

you were standing by for BF or were you standing by for GF while booked in business?

SEA1K4EVR

From what I recall from reading on FT..and it's been awhile on this subject.. positive space UA employees (NRPS) traveling on company business are allowed confirmed business class seats on 3 class planes..and yes they take priority over upgraders but can be ousted by full fare biz passengers. Perhaps this person was switching from another flight to yours. That's my theory. However I don't know why they would show up on the list below you...that part doesn't make sense.

LilAbner

A GPU doesn't get you a double upgrade to GF. There is also no rule that a g/a has to move a BF pax to GF and then accommodate a Y pax one section north.

If there is no-one standing by for GF from BF the non-rev gets the front of the plane. That is why they call GF, "Employee Class"! UAL sets these rules and not the g/a. Nope, nothing fishy here!

WineCountryUA

did you misss?
did you miss?
If the third person was a standard non-rev and not a dis-serviced individual or employee on travel, then something is odd about this situation. But there are insufficient facts to figure this one out.

CALMSP

if this is for today, i see nothing funny going on.

zeus2120

As a non-rev passenger, revenues can only upgrade one class at a time - thus from coach to business, and then another upgrade from business to first. However, I see the concern in what you're saying.

LilAbner

No --- What the OP states is that he was standing-by for a BF seat and a 1K was standing by for a GF seat. The 1K didn't get upgraded to GF and a non-rev got that seat. I'm sure that the OP and the 1K had it all figured out how this was going to go down, if done correctly, but somehow the non-rev ended up having more clout, it appears. Good luck getting UA to investigate this matter, as g/a's are professionals at making notations as to what occurred (at the last minute) and WHY!

The main complaint that I would have, if something fishy happened, is that the OP and the 1K paid higher fares to be able to apply the GPU's and possibly got screwed.

Kacee

Hello, Shena!

Boo_Radley

My interpretation is this:

-OP is #1 on the BF UG list
-There is only one person on the GF UG list
-There is one GF seat available
-A non-rev shows up and ends up in the one available GF seat


In other words, OP feels he lost his BF seat due to the non-rev's existence. I agree with this, assuming the facts above are correct. Since the non-rev showing up meant the one person on the GF UG list didn't clear, it meant OP couldn't clear the BF UG list.

iker

On occasion non-rev passengers can travel positive space in GF or BF, for company business. If this is the case, the employee would trump the person trying to upgrade (unless a traveler actually purchases a GF ticket). If this were a case where the employee was on space available travel, e.g. leisure travel, then something went awry. You'd need more details before jumping to conclusions. Gate agents aren't there to screw passengers over. I remember I had ordered a vegetarian meal once on United on a CDG-IAD trip. The gate agent was about to process an operational upgrade when she realized I had had a special meal request. I kept my seat in business. There are a host of reasons for why one would not be upgraded. A special meal is just one of them.

CALMSP

It appears OP was standing by for J class, not for F class. Therefore, the nonrev would be standing by for F class and would get it first.

mgcsinc

But there was someone else on the GF list.

Often1

We have a third-hand report of an UG that someone who hasn't posted here told OP he didn't get and a seat that went to an employee of the carrier of some sort who may or may not have been traveling positive space and may or may not have been contarctually entitled to positive F.

mgcsinc

This is a good summary. This is not the best shenanigan thread.