JC5280

That is likely because if the agent has to explain a policy to a customer that they believe will HUCA, they will often notate the passenger's record. So each agent receiving the calls will see it.

LaserSailor

And the HUCA box in CRM is checked ...

alexperi

Is this a real thing? Do agents really do this?

anandrag

Did same day change and wanted to transfer RPUs and GPUs to new flight. Was told not possible since less than 24 hours before flight. Sounds fishy...
Case of HUCA??

blueman2

OK, here is a strange one. I applied an upgrade (RPU) for my son about 2 weeks before flight. At t-24, he had not cleared. Checked him in, and he was about #6 on waitlist for upgrade according to United app. Then, about T-23, he magically was upgraded to the last F seat. I looked, and the names of the people that were ahead of him remained on the list. How is this possible? I thought the list on the App was correctly prioritized, including putting instrument people ahead of non-instrument people.

I am very happy with this result, but it confuses me.

WineCountryUA

The visible list is the gate list and it is not used until the gate.

Your son was upgraded from the invisible pre-gate list. The main difference is time of request if status and fare class are the same. The Gate list uses order (seq number) of checking in.

The short answer is the two list are not prioritized the same way and occasionally this can lead to weird outcomes.

qwicker

Hi Folks,
Yesterday I tried to sponsor an RPU for a colleague who was flying on a PS flight which, to my great surprise, I noticed had R2 available about 2.5 hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. I thought it would be a nice gesture to sponsor him an upgrade since my RPUs never seem to clear I wanted to see them used!

So, I called the 1K desk but told me they could not do so within 3 hours of flight time even with R open. I was told that the only way I could apply an RPU was to physically go to the airport with my colleague and apply it at the check-in counter. I wasn't flying so this wasn't going to happen. So, I was unable to upgrade him.

Should I have HUCA or is this a case where I was out of luck? Any ideas how to do that in the future if it occurs again?

Hipplewm

99% sure you can only apply them >24hrs from departure

You may find an agent willing, but YMMV

Kmxu

I did upfare from K to W and applied a GPU after my friend flew the first segment. So, it was T-1h or less before the second segment in my case.
Yes, you should do HUCA in your situation.

FL390

I was called in and upgraded with a GPU into open R space at T-1.05. I was worried that the flight would go under gate control before the agent could clear it. If the space is open always HUCA.

mherdeg

How recently did you do that? In March, I had several experiences where open R inventory could not be confirmed via GPU because "sorry it's within 3 hours of travel and we can't do that any more". I think the success rate was zero out of about 20 phone calls.

GBadger

Did you try doing it online? Or has that functionality disappeared as well?

fumje

That's mysterious. I thought the only reason for being blocked from applying a certificate with open R would be gate control. Did the agents explain further, or just quote '3 hours'?

mherdeg

When I tried this in March, it did not work online. I tried while not checked in (no sequence number / no BP) and also while checked in; no dice.

Some discussion of this at https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...in-24-hrs.html -- see the last few pages for 2017-era discussion.

Various conversations I had over the phone when I tried to apply confirmable upgrades to flights with R inventory within 3 hours of travel included:

(1) Sure! I can do that. Um, it isn't working. Let me try another way. No, that isn't working. Please hold. (5 minutes later) Well, my supervisor showed me a memo and says that we can't do that within 3 hours and the systems won't let us do it either.

(2) Looks like the flight you want to confirm departs within 3 hours. Sorry, we can't do that any more. No, this isn't a new rule, this has always been the rule, it's just ... um ... it's a new memo that we got that clarified the rule.

(3) I can try. Hmm, it isn't working. Let me try something else. Hmm. (5-10 minutes on hold) Well, I think I found a supervisor who says they could do it, but there isn't confirmable space any more. Sorry about that.

If this system has changed once again, or if a new group of agents has figured out a way to do it, that would be great.

Kacee

That's wrong. You can only waitlist outside 24 hours. You can still clear into open R.

That disappeared a couple years ago inside of T-24.

They're trying to stop queue jumping. Due to system limitations (can't clear upgrades dynamically, as inventory opens), they have to use this very clumsy methodology.