Was the phone agent at UAL uable to process your companion u/g over the phone due to the system being messed up? I just spoke to the 1k desk and they said the u/g stuff is not working right now.,

The first agent said companions only get upgraded at te gate which is def not the case and not what it says on the site. Called again and the ICC actually was able to get her upgraded and said sorry for having to call on something that should of been done automatically.

UA really has screwed up this alot and will lose alot of elites over this. Guess this is a change I'll like, ha

The Companion Policy is a really important benefit to me and Mrs. Monkey. As I understood it the "new" policy would be the same as the PMUA policy. After reading all the posts I'm confused.

Are there just system/implementation issues at this point or is the new policy actually different? Does the new policy actually split PNRs at T-24? As someone else said, lately most upgrades don't clear until within the 24 hours. If the PNRs are split it is a worthless companion upgrade policy.

Well, I can't get a straight answer from UAL 1K desk. I have a similar situation that is all messed up with my companion that should have been upgraded with me and now the two records are all messed up. The UAL 1k phone agent said they are aware that the u/g system for companions is broken right now but they are unable to "manually" do any u/g's for companions that should be upgraded but which the computer is not processing it. You were told something different?

Mhnate, they did manually upgrade her when I called, do noone really knows what's going on

Same problem here. 1k with a companion. We were both seated in E+ at time it was ticketed 1 month ago. 48 hours before departure, companion moved to the BACK (literally last row) of the plane. Call 1k desks. They don't have any answers why this happened. Placed on hold for 1 hour. They said "as a courtesy, we can waive the fee to place my companion in E+", but would not sit next to me.

"COURTESY"!!!! I screamed back and said "don't even insult me" I am entitiled to have a companion next to me. So don't give me this "courtesy" talk when United messed up.

1P traveling with a 2P this weekend PDX-IAH returning IAH-DEN-PDX on Monday.

Reservation split on the outbound but neither upgrade cleared. On the return IAH-DEN cleared for the 1P but not the 2P, which I wasn't terribly surprised about, however at T-48 DEN-PDX cleared for both of us. So it is clearly working some of the time.

Question is whether the 2P will still be in the list as a gold companion for IAH-DEN now that I'm in a different cabin or will have to wait for the window to open

I have a similar situation: Me (1P) flying with non-status companion on reservation booked before 3/3.

I did not clear the upgrade at T-72 hours on the outbound flight, so at OLCI the computer asked us if we wanted to split the reservation for upgrade purposes. I said yes. Neither of us ultimately made the cut. No big loss.

However, it is now T-72 on the return flight, we are still on our split PNRs, and only -I- am upgraded. Companion is not. Remember, we had to split on the outbound to be eligible for a possible at-the-gate upgrade.

The stateside 1P agent I spoke with (after just 25 minutes in the queue!) was very nice and sounded experienced but seemed utterly baffled by the PNR being split at T-24 for upgrade purposes. Did not compute. She put me on hold for a couple minutes, came back, and said she had upgraded my companion. She didn't act like she was doing me a big favor, just taking care of business.

Slightly OT: neither of us were automatically assigned F seats or initially shown on the mobile.united.com upgrade list, though the accompanying number of seats booked/total went from 3/16 to 13/16. To learn that I was upgraded, I had to log in with my MP number and call up the seat map on my PNR. Once I selected a seat, my name appeared on the mobile app upgrade list.

(Now, with the 1Ps presumably cleared, we shall see if Junior Flavorflav -- a 2P on his own PNR -- clears tomorrow. If so, everyone is happy. If not, Mrs. Flavorflav flies up front and I forego my upgrade to enjoy E+ with my kid.)

United's CPU policies are straightforward and, frankly, generous to +1 companions. But dealing with all this PNR madness is a colossal pain. Three people on three reservations. Nuts.

1K with 2 silver companions - told to wait for CPU?
 

The 1K desk just told me - when I called to see why we aren't at least waitlisted for CPUs for April 3 EWR-SAN within the 96-hour window - that "the new policy is that the lowest status in the PRN determines the upgrade priority." I don't read that in what the website says, but I do see ambiguity for a three-pax PNR of one 1K and 2 silvers. Because the website seems to describe only a situation for a three-or-more PNR where one pax is not elite at all, not a situation where all three are elites, but two are lower:

"Companion policy

One companion traveling on a paid ticket on the same reservation as a Premier member is eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades on select flights, and may be confirmed with the same priority as the Premier member, even on the day of departure. If the companion is a Premier member, the upgrade will be processed according to the highest Premier status level in the reservation.

If a reservation includes three or more travelers, and only one is not a Premier member, the Complimentary Premier Upgrades will be processed according to the lowest Premier status level in the reservation. If two or more travelers on the reservation are not Premier members, it will not be processed automatically. In these cases, Premier members should call the Premier Priority Desk to request a separate reservation for themselves and the eligible companion."

Should I try the time-honored "call back and speak to a different agent"?

I would've split off yourself and one traveler. It tells you in the part you didn't bold that it will process as a Silver, so that's what
is happening. I think it didn't imagine if everyone was a Premier.

I did this myself and got myself and the companion upgraded right around the 2-day Gold window.

And you know of course you won't see yourself on the waitlist till check-in?

I'm 1K and my wife is silver; I'm curious as to whether or not it would be better to take wife's MP# out of the reservation or leave it. Upgrade should clear at the 1K window but just wondered if anyone has any experience one way or another.

Thoughts?

You shouldn't have to do this. The whole point of the new companion policy is that 2 people are upgraded together by the highest member's status.

You may be correct, by the way, but it's SO frustrating, if so.

This companion policy is insane and I'm not sure what to believe. I checked in for a flight this morning where I'm flying with my 5 year old son on the same confirmation number. At check in, it said it would put us on the upgrade list. Fine.

I then get an email a few minutes later saying I've been upgraded. When I look, my son has a new confirmation number -- so the system upgraded me, split the reservation, and left him behind in Economy.

I called and the agent wasn't sure why I was the only one upgraded. So I'll have to try to fix this at the airport in the morning. Sigh...

My wife and I (She has zero status) got the EUA four days out for IAD-PVD this weekend, which was a complete shock. Not that F on a CRJ700 for a 45 minute flight really means crap, but...

Well, not only were The Spouse and I split into separate PNRs when I checked in this AM, but it was for a ps flight where - if I'm not mistaken - UDU isn't applicable. :mad:

My spouse (1P, er Gold) and child (GM) were successfully upgraded at T-48 for their upcoming flight this weekend. Just one data point that it could work as advertised.

We two, as a 1P and 2P got upgraded at about the 50 hour mark on the outbound but then the system split the PNR and I as IP got upgraded as a 1P and 2P was 18th on list on the return. Clearly some bug. Reservation agent said it happens to alot of people and to write United. Ha! Good luck with that

Has something changed with companion upgrades as pertaining to those companions which are originally booked under different PNRs?

We were all originally told that this was one area where the new CO [sic] was going to take the best of both worlds:

Same PNR, may clear at windows using the higher status of the two on the reservation.

Different PNR, can be done the old CO way--2 hours before flight at the airport only.

However, had 2 very different experiences last week with a co-worker on a different PNR.

Out of ORD, went to the RCC, handed the agent both of our boarding passes. I was already upgraded, and said I wanted to add my friend as my companion. While she did have to make a phone call (wasn't sure how to do it yet), a few minutes later, my friend, as a 1K's companion, was 3rd on the UG list.

Returning home, stopped at the gate...Was greeted by a PMCO agent. Did the same thing as I did at ORD. She cut me off right away, "You can't do that anymore". I said, "Really? Is this something new?" She said "Yep...As of March 3rd..." I told her what I did above, and she said (typical airline response), "They're not supposed to do that anymore...Someone's going to get in a lot of trouble for doing that". :rolleyes: She said that all companions on different PNRs have to be added BEFORE the 24-hour mark, and she invited (that's me putting it nicely--she wasn't) me to call the 1K desk. (With it being 20 minutes before boarding and knowing the wait times on even the 1K line, I just let it go...)

So, what's the deal? Clueless agent at ORD or clueless agent at the outpost?

Companion Upgrade Confusion
 

I'm Premier Gold and was just upgraded for my flight 48 hours out. I'm traveling with a non-Premier member. I split them off my reservation back in the Continental days. Per United's new rules, aren't I allowed to call and get this person upgraded to the open seats since the policy states they upgrade companions with the same priority as the premier member?

I just called and they told me all companion upgrades for non elites can only be done at the gate. Does anyone have experience recently with the new policy?

Thanks.

The new companion policy is a hybrid for the previous UA (before the airport) & CO (at the airport) policies
If you split the PNR you will not be eligible for the pre-day of travel companion upgrade fo this requires the same PNR.

Unfortunately information from agents is unreliable with all the changes.
Equally unfortunate is the process for implementation of policies is still influx.

It is really disturbing to learn that my PNR can be split without my consent. I just made a reservation for my family of 4, and the last thing I want is for my upgrade to clear and be split off from my family (and then be unable to get back into my original seat when it gets re-assigned). This will create all kinds of headaches for UA when they start splitting 3-year olds and non-lap infants off from the parents.

Elites should not have to choose between remaining on the upgrade list and risking a family split when the non-elites fail to clear (as has always been my experience at SFO).

So I guess my SOP will now be to remove all upgrade requests on a multi-person PNR prior to T-24.

Do we know if this new policy apply to CPU (fka UDU)? That would be truly horrific - to split my PNR and give away my seat even if I hadn't requested an upgrade.

Finally I note that this basically will reduce to zero the chance that a non-elite will clear at the gate at SFO, IAD etc. as they will inevitably end up on the list behind 50+ elites. I can't imagine this will go over well with UGS flying with their spouses.

This is not entirely true. If you have an upgrade instrument (CR1, SWU or whatever they are called now) your companion can be upgraded well in advance of the flight even on a separate PNR (in fact you can designate the upgrade to anyone on any flight). However IME from SFO a non-status traveler rarely clears anymore - the inventory simply is not released to non-elites on popular routes until the RPU window, and at that point the status passenger will trump. YMMV.

I think Continentalsilver11's question specifically related to CPUs.

The wording of the companion upgrade policy suggests that (non-status) companion upgrades can occur before the 24 hours mark, if on the same PNR. Also Mhnate's post says an agent confirmed this over the phone. This policy is also supported by my own recent personal experience.

Obviously this needs to be spelled out on the united website.

Happy to report that the companion upgrade worked. My partner and I are flying EWR-FLL this week. I am a 1K, he has no status. We were on the same PNR. At T-96, both upgrades cleared and I got an e-mail saying same. Maybe they have fixed this issue. I had to go and select seats but I was happy that they cleared together and did not split the PNR. We were the only 2 upgraded. I looked earlier in the day and it was F7, R7, etc. After our upgrade cleared, it went to F5, R0. There are still 5 seats showing open on the seatmap (I know not the best indication). First time in a while that I'm happy with something that UA has done.

Still some issues and a bunch of uncertainty here.

Flew DEN to LAS with my wife this past weekend, I'm Premier Silver she has no status.

Got the upgrade notice 24 hours prior for the first segment and it upgraded us both no problem. However it then split our PNR, so at 24 hours prior to the return segment I was upgraded and she was not. That's pretty jacked up if you ask me.

I called the premier line and they told me the policy is to upgrade us only if we both could be upgraded, but the system did this all on its own.

I have other trips with the wife and kids planned, how do we avoid this happening again? Is there a way to escalate the issue so the system handles things according to the stated policies?

I wouldn't call this a jacked up, it seems to be working as it should, you should be happy that you got upgraded on the return flight especially if they had one seat left and they still gave it to you. Getting CPU cleared as a Silver member isn't happening that often. :)

At OLCI or T-24 or at airport check in, make sure you do not answer YES when asked to check the passengers "would you want to be upgraded" or else your PNR will be split despite you have already been upgraded before checking in. At least that was what happened to me last week.

Only slightly OT, but I just did the Gold status match from Delta, and am curious if the procedure is similar. Do I have to request the upgrade for myself and my companion, as I have to do on Delta? Thanks.

It is jacked because when I called the Premier line they had 11 F seats left, but we had to wait until getting to the gate for her to get upgraded because the reservation got split. I don't think that should ever happen. Saying I'm lucky to get upgraded at all doesn't contribute anything positive to the discussion...

Perhaps it should work as expected and specified in their terms and conditions versus doing something unusual at check-in to prevent the legacy CO system from doing things the pmUA system never did.

I just read this whole thread, and while there seems to be room for confusion all around, what is especially confusing to me is why I keep seeing posts like the ones above which seem to suggest the process is working as it should, or at least not acknowledging that what is happening is in direct contradiction of the policy, and thus confusing to travelers.

Specifically, the website says, "One companion traveling on a paid ticket on the same reservation as a Premier member is eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades on select flights, and may be confirmed with the same priority as the Premier member, even on the day of departure." (bolding added)

Now, if two passengers, one premier and the other a non-premier member, are on the same PNR, the words in the policy couldn't be clearer that even on the day of departure, both passengers should be on the airport upgrade list at the level of the premier passenger. But that doesn't seem to be happening at all. How is that "things working as it should", when the website expressly says "even on the day of departure"?

If the only way to avoid the PNR split (and thus losing or lowering the upgrade chances for the non-status passenger) is to check "no" when asking if you want to be upgraded, then aren't both passengers foregoing their upgrades possibilities on the day of departure? That cannot be the system working as planned, or at least as advertised. (Or are some other folks saying that even if you check "no" to that box, you will somehow nonetheless be put on the upgrade list? That would be even more confusing.)

And all of this is not to mention the fact that splitting reservations on the outbound leg -- even if that's what the pasengers want for that leg --completely kills any chance of an upgrade of a non-status companion for the return leg, even during the advance upgrade windows.

I may be dense here (wouldn't be the first time!), but I just don't understand how anyone can square the policy on the website with what seems to be happening in practice?

IME, the companion upgrade policy on day of travel is nice but was not implement because the UA agent at the gate and UA club were not trained to do their jobs!

should I separate my reservation?
 

I have an upcoming roundtrip from AUS-EWR-ORF in a few weeks, returning ORF-IAD-AUS. There are three of us on the reservation. I know that United's system can upgrade me and one companion when the window opens, so do I need to separate me and one companion into a new reservation or does the system decide which companion gets upgraded? Or is it best to just separate myself alone into a reservation by myself?

Thanks for the advice!

If you remain all 3 on the res, nobody gets upgraded.

If you split 1 person off, you and the remaining person will get upgraded if there are 2 seats available when the upgrade rules (and the sweeps are working, which is never a given).

If there's only 1 upgrade when it runs, it will pass over your pair and upgrade the next singleton.

Thanks for the quick response!

So what happens when my wife (1K), me (1K) and our son (nuttin") are ALL 3 on the same res?

Just was on a UA flight where a wife and husband were split up. I was sitting by the wife, and she said they were on the same res. They were coming back from a trip to Europe.
She was sitting in economy, but he was sitting in 1st. I say, let's just not upgrade a pair of folks . . . either do them both, or skip it . . . don't split them up.

What happens is you would be asked why you did not split the reservation so that either you or your wife is paired with your son, and the other alone, so you could get all three people upgraded.

So after some odd upgrade results last winter, it is with some trepidation that I approach my next "family flight" on UA next week.

There are 5 of us travelling together: 2 1Ks and 3 silvers. We are currently on 1 reservation. If I'm understanding the rules correctly, and I want to maximize everyone's upgrade chances, do I want to divide this record into 3 PNRs? Two reservations each containing a 1K and a silver, and one reservation with just a silver?

If we don't get upgraded before the 24-hour online check-in window opens, is there any change I need to make to the PNRs? Anything I should look for on the upgrade list and -- if it's not correct -- can I really do anything about it?

Is the system now working reliably, in the sense that there are discernable rules that are actually consistently applied?

Thanks!

AFAIK, you cannot split an existing PNR into two (or more) PNRs. At least that's how it was in the old UA system. Conversely, you cannot combine two (or more) existing PNRs into one PNR.

You can definitely split a PNR, quite easy now for a 2 person one to do it online.

Splitting 5 into 3, may want to call that one in .

incorrect on both counts

correct

So is the right thing to do put a silver with each 1K, and then leave the remaining silver by themselves?

A while ago, I was hearing of UA elites upgrading multiple pax on their PNRs, but I assume that glitch has been fixed.