halls120

Many years ago I had a confirmed upgrade on a 747 LHR-IAD. Thanks to a late connection into LHR and a flat tire on the interterminal bus, I arrived to find that my upgrade had been given away. It reminded me that the most consistent thing about United was its inconsistency.

sannmann

United should offer you a downgrade comp voucher.

Kmxu

Did OP preserve the evidence of upgrade? He/she should write to UA with boarding pass or a screen shot of the upgrade standby list with an assigned seat.

gmt4

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything you can do. You say it was the FA that moved you, and it was after the door closed. They might have recognized your status from their device and moved you as a way to be nice. Doesn't sound like it was an official, cleared upgrade from the details given.

But If the door was closed, that means the flight was closed. So the GA opened the flight back up to board a late pax that just happen to get lucky his flight didn't depart yet?

garykung

In light of potentially lack of record that you have been upgraded, it is impossible to get the downgrade compensation.

JimInOhio

Were you given a new boarding pass in F? If not, you weren't really "upgraded" but simply reseated by an FA.

weezl

Correct, it may not have been a "formal" upgrade, as it was the FA that came back to E+ for the move. I did not bother to check the upgrade list/seating chart at that point. No new BP
After the walk of shame, the FA told me that it was the GA that effected the change, and asked me if I wanted to disembark and ask her, or I could just call UA after the flight. I should have done the former, at least to get the GA name for proof that this happened. But I didn't want to be "that guy" that delayed re-boarding for my own benefit.
I have nothing now, and based on the comments here, will expect nothing. But hopefully UA Insider is lurking and sees how poorly I was treated so that maybe the next pax won't be so shamed.
Thx for all of your input.

lincolnjkc

If the flight was in the recent-ish past (last 24 hours or so) you should still be able to view the electronic BP in the app and/or pull the ETIR to confirm.

Regardless of if it was an official upgrade or not, it's still worth writing in -- just state the facts and don't go compensation hunting: I was seated, I was upgraded, I don't understand why after I was upgraded and had gone through the hassle of relocating my bags I had to re-relocate my bags and had to do the walk of shame. They might offer something for the irritation or it will at least go to the appropriate management teams where it could be a learning opportunity.

MTan

Question for the more experienced than me in these situations. On a discount Y ticket, waitlisted 80 PP for Polaris. Day of departure I get an email saying I’ve been upgraded to Polaris and 80 PP has been deducted, unassigned seat. I go into my account and it shows a premium plus seat, though 80 PP was deducted from my account anyway. I’m going to have to write in to get 60 points refunded, but my question is does this count as an involuntary downgrade? Thanks for the insights! In case it matters, I was #1 on the Polaris upgrade list with two seats open, then later was still #1 when it showed booked full.

Kacee

Likely someone made a mistake and quickly reversed it. Sounds like you were downgraded and are technically entitled to comp, though UA may not recognize that. Worth writing in though. Curious, what fare class did you book into - PZ or RN? And what ultimately was reported as flown? RN?

MTan

Thanks Kacee, always appreciate your knowledge! I’m not sure how to check what I was booked into, but it was reported flown as O.

legalalien

O is a full-fare PPlus bucket, not an upgrade. I imagine someone has manually "fixed" your downgrade and put you in O. Without a Polaris boarding pass, it might be an uphill battle to get a downgrade compensation, but as Kacee mentioned, it won't hurt to write.

Kacee

Yeah that definitely indicates somebody manually "fixed" the reservation after you were upgraded (presumably to PZ).

I would send in a print of the email saying you were upgraded to Polaris, along with a copy of your BP showing you flew in PP, and request downgrade compensation, plus a refund of PP.

Flying Machine

OK here’s an example from today what do you think? A buddy of mine was flying PTY-IAH-LAX his flight from PTY was delayed over three hours and 20 minutes due to crew issues. He was upgraded on that flight two days prior. Yesterday Houston to LAX flight cleared as well. He lands in Houston 40 minutes before departure of his Los Angeles flight. Runs through global entry heads through pre-check waits for the train to go to the C gates and he gets to the gate five minutes before departure. I noticed that under the flight status they extended the departure by in approximately five minutes stating that they’re waiting for connecting passengers and their luggage. He gets to the gate they gave him a E+ middle and denies his business class seat. He is a 1K though not that much of a FT savvy person. He was extremely upset and asked the gate agent to call the 1K desk. I said in hindsight with a quick text to him that he should’ve mentioned that he’s entitled to downgrade compensation and ask them to restore his business class seating. What are your thoughts on this and what compensation should be granted.

jsloan

This is the important detail. He was a no-show. His seat was forfeit at T-15.

Incorrect.

He would have been welcome to fly business class in an available seat on the next available flight. They weren't going to move someone else for him, nor should they have.

He should write a kind letter to 1K Voice, thanking them for the fantastic service he received, wherein they held a plane full of passengers to prevent him from having a much longer delay.