Feb 22, 2017, 12:57 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Active thread Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues"
Waitilisting for awards
Click for the current rules from United
Member experiences:
At the airport if you have not yet cleared:
Note: The correct priority term here may in fact be a code that is one of WAI, WBI, WCI, or WDI depending on status. The is per GG ONESTANDBY lines 32-55.
Note: PR-1 status is given to those who "paid" the requisite miles for an upgraded seat (i.e. biz) when only the non-upgraded space (i.e. coach) was available. The PR-1 status is to clue the system (and agents) in so that it is clear that you have been "displaced." (NOTE: once you have obtained PR-1 status, should there be any change to your ticket, e.g., an involuntary reroute by UA due to missing a connection, the PR-1 status will most likely get dropped and you must have it reattached (esp. before any UGs are given to others).
Unfortunately at T-24, many GAs do not get this concept. Use the above to plead your case but be prepared to be unsatisfied. One method that can get you to a higher level of understanding is the UC. Their staff seem to not only have a better understanding of the issues, but they can contact the gate and exert some influence on the less informed GAs, AND they seem to have more of an interest in helping PAX. If you can get into the UC, it will be worth your while.
**Note: If you get the UG on the long haul, the higher level of award miles you are using (like with the GPU) are considered used up regardless of the short haul. You will not be charged the lower level # of miles (i.e. refunded the diff between the lower level and the higher level you paid in advance), rather the higher level award miles will be considered spent. That is the risk you take when you do Plan B.
Waitilisting for awards
Click for the current rules from United
From the above link:You may redeem miles for travel in United Global First, United First, United Business or United BusinessFirst, even if the space is not available. In these cases, United Economy in the same award type must be confirmed, and the front cabin will be waitlisted. If the courtesy waitlist does not clear, it will expire 24 hours before itinerary departure, and you will automatically be added to the airport upgrade standby list upon check-in. In these cases, you will be confirmed on a space-available basis by a United airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in. For United BusinessFirst and United Business travel awards, the difference in miles will be refunded when the United BusinessFirst or United Business class segment of the trip could not be confirmed. Waitlist requests may only be made over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center.
- You must have a confirmed segment to wait list for different cabin and/or a different flight.
- Can only waitlist for UA/UX operated flight, cannot waitlist for partner flights. Can waitlist for UA/UX flights on a mixed itin.
- Maximum number of WL segments in a PNR is 2.
- When confirmed segment is on a partner, you can waitlist for UA operated alternative.A report of being refused waitlisting for Economy{mixed reports - need further confirmation/clarification}.
At the airport if you have not yet cleared:
Note: The correct priority term here may in fact be a code that is one of WAI, WBI, WCI, or WDI depending on status. The is per GG ONESTANDBY lines 32-55.
The agent should give you “PR-1 status” which gives you top-priority status and moves you to the very top of the upgrade standby list, ahead of employees and everyone else trying to upgrade with miles+cash. If one agent won’t put you on the list as a displaced Business class passenger with PR-1 status then find another one who will. With this status the odds of you getting a business class are very high if there are still open seats (or if anybody no-shows).
If the agents in the airport are all clueless you should direct them to look
up “gg onestandby” in their system (they’ll know exactly what this is)
and look around lines 85-89 which spell out the details of the procedure for
this award.
If the agents in the airport are all clueless you should direct them to look
up “gg onestandby” in their system (they’ll know exactly what this is)
and look around lines 85-89 which spell out the details of the procedure for
this award.
Unfortunately at T-24, many GAs do not get this concept. Use the above to plead your case but be prepared to be unsatisfied. One method that can get you to a higher level of understanding is the UC. Their staff seem to not only have a better understanding of the issues, but they can contact the gate and exert some influence on the less informed GAs, AND they seem to have more of an interest in helping PAX. If you can get into the UC, it will be worth your while.
**Note: If you get the UG on the long haul, the higher level of award miles you are using (like with the GPU) are considered used up regardless of the short haul. You will not be charged the lower level # of miles (i.e. refunded the diff between the lower level and the higher level you paid in advance), rather the higher level award miles will be considered spent. That is the risk you take when you do Plan B.
Consolidated "Waitlist for Award Seats Questions/Issues [ARCHIVE]
Sep 26, 2015, 12:40 am
#781
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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Posts: 56,451
Sep 26, 2015, 7:51 am
#782
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
Non-elites need HN space, elites book into YN for standard economy. For First on a 2-class flight, Non-elites need ZN and elites book into FN.
Sep 28, 2015, 1:26 pm
#783
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: LAX
Programs: UA:1k; MR: PLT; Hilton: Gold
Posts: 1,324
What happens when the waitlist itinerary is completely different routing (and carrier) within 24 hours? Does it still go to the airport waitlist even if the confirmed segments aren't on UA?
I.e. I'm ticketed and confirmed on LH J AAA-FRA-CCC but wait listed AAA-ORD-CCC on UA F. Does the waitlist ever "expire"? For certain reasons, I'd rather not call in and raise attention to my booking, but I also don't want a segent to clear and completely break my trip. If, for example only AAA-ORD clears while I'm in the air on AAA-FRA.
I'm happy with my confirmed itinerary and also chances of clearing the wait listed itinerary look slim to none.
I.e. I'm ticketed and confirmed on LH J AAA-FRA-CCC but wait listed AAA-ORD-CCC on UA F. Does the waitlist ever "expire"? For certain reasons, I'd rather not call in and raise attention to my booking, but I also don't want a segent to clear and completely break my trip. If, for example only AAA-ORD clears while I'm in the air on AAA-FRA.
I'm happy with my confirmed itinerary and also chances of clearing the wait listed itinerary look slim to none.
Sep 29, 2015, 2:29 am
#784
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
.... I'm ticketed and confirmed on LH J AAA-FRA-CCC but wait listed AAA-ORD-CCC on UA F. Does the waitlist ever "expire"? For certain reasons, I'd rather not call in and raise attention to my booking, but I also don't want a segent to clear and completely break my trip. If, for example only AAA-ORD clears while I'm in the air on AAA-FRA. ....
Sep 29, 2015, 3:09 am
#785
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: LAX
Programs: UA:1k; MR: PLT; Hilton: Gold
Posts: 1,324
Sep 29, 2015, 3:13 am
#786
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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They should never have waitlisted that for you. You are supposed to have at least one confirmed segment on UA in order to waitlist. Since you are outside the rules, who knows how it will be handled. Although I agree, if you never check in with UA, I don't see how you can be added to a standby list.
Sep 29, 2015, 4:24 am
#787
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: LAX
Programs: UA:1k; MR: PLT; Hilton: Gold
Posts: 1,324
They should never have waitlisted that for you. You are supposed to have at least one confirmed segment on UA in order to waitlist. Since you are outside the rules, who knows how it will be handled. Although I agree, if you never check in with UA, I don't see how you can be added to a standby list.
Thanks.
Sep 30, 2015, 5:53 pm
#788
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 155
Would United let BF go empty before selling Saver Business (I/IN)?
Hi Folks,
Just curious, would United ever let (or prefer) a flight to go out with C seats empty as opposed to filling them with saver business awards (I/IN)? I ask because I have a saver economy award (XN) with IN weight listed in a few weeks from EWR-PEK. I've been monitoring random dates and notice that even though BF is not sold out, they are not selling saver awards for the same flight even with just a couple of days left.
For example, UA89 tomorrow, 10/1 has 29 BF seats booked with 50 capacity yet I/IN is 0. Seems strange I wouldn't be able to buy a BF saver now. Also, there's no one waiting to upgrade and there is plenty of Y available too.
Just curious, would United ever let (or prefer) a flight to go out with C seats empty as opposed to filling them with saver business awards (I/IN)? I ask because I have a saver economy award (XN) with IN weight listed in a few weeks from EWR-PEK. I've been monitoring random dates and notice that even though BF is not sold out, they are not selling saver awards for the same flight even with just a couple of days left.
For example, UA89 tomorrow, 10/1 has 29 BF seats booked with 50 capacity yet I/IN is 0. Seems strange I wouldn't be able to buy a BF saver now. Also, there's no one waiting to upgrade and there is plenty of Y available too.
Sep 30, 2015, 5:58 pm
#789
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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Posts: 56,451
The good news is that UA need not ever open I/IN in order for you to clear off the gate standby list. All you need is an empty BF seat. The hard part is getting your name (properly) on the gate standby list.
Oct 2, 2015, 10:09 am
#791
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriot (via SPG) Lifetime Gold
Posts: 632
First time with wait list: CDG-ORD-LAX
I booked two saver economy tix CDG-ORD-LAX for the end of this month and wait listed for business. I did the initial booking online and called to request the wait list--took them over an hour to do it, but I *think* they did it right--it says wait listed for IN and they took out biz class mileage. Here are my questions:
1) We are wait listed for "IN" for both legs, but wife and I are only Gold. Should it be "I" instead?
2) I presume that if we clear for the ORD-LAX leg, but not CDG-ORD that they will take out the biz class miles. If we don't clear the first leg (and I may not know until the airport) is there a practical way to remove the wait list at the last minute on the domestic leg?
3) Can I presume that the GA in CDG will be totally clueless about the PR-1 waiting list? I'm guessing if we don't clear in advance, we won't clear at all.
And a bonus question unrelated to the wait list...is there an additional tax/fee I have to pay in France if I clear the waiting list for CDG-ORD?
Thanks in advance...used to fly a lot, but rarely fly anymore so I'm very out of it when it comes to the mechanics involved nowadays.
1) We are wait listed for "IN" for both legs, but wife and I are only Gold. Should it be "I" instead?
2) I presume that if we clear for the ORD-LAX leg, but not CDG-ORD that they will take out the biz class miles. If we don't clear the first leg (and I may not know until the airport) is there a practical way to remove the wait list at the last minute on the domestic leg?
3) Can I presume that the GA in CDG will be totally clueless about the PR-1 waiting list? I'm guessing if we don't clear in advance, we won't clear at all.
And a bonus question unrelated to the wait list...is there an additional tax/fee I have to pay in France if I clear the waiting list for CDG-ORD?
Thanks in advance...used to fly a lot, but rarely fly anymore so I'm very out of it when it comes to the mechanics involved nowadays.
Oct 2, 2015, 10:55 am
#792
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
...2) I presume that if we clear for the ORD-LAX leg, but not CDG-ORD that they will take out the biz class miles. If we don't clear the first leg (and I may not know until the airport) is there a practical way to remove the wait list at the last minute on the domestic leg? ...
yes -- the Chirac tax is a departure tax.
Oct 2, 2015, 12:09 pm
#793
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: UA 1MM, Marriot (via SPG) Lifetime Gold
Posts: 632
Thanks WineCountry for the detailed reply! Sounds like I may need to pull the wait list off the domestic leg, or I will be using 27,500 miles to upgrade a 4-hour flight. (Although after being in economy from Europe for 9 hours, that might be worth it...)
Re the Chirac tax, how is that collected? I presume they can't just automatically charge the credit card I used for the taxes for the additional payment. Is there a process to do that if we clear?
Re the Chirac tax, how is that collected? I presume they can't just automatically charge the credit card I used for the taxes for the additional payment. Is there a process to do that if we clear?
Oct 5, 2015, 5:23 pm
#794
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: near to SFO and LHR
Programs: BA Gold, B6 Mosiac, VS, AA, DL (and a legacy UA 2MM)
Posts: 2,274
GF TATL, but not avail for domestic portion - Can I waitlist?
Hello all
Am traveling on a Mileage (saver) Award in a couple weeks, LHR->SFO, with a change in ORD.
I spent the miles and got GF for LHR->ORD, but ORD->SFO could only clear in economy when I booked.
(1) Can I waitlist for an F upgrade for the last leg should it become available?
(2) Also, if I do a SDC, would I be able to get LHR->SFO in GF non-stop that day if available?
Thanks!
Am traveling on a Mileage (saver) Award in a couple weeks, LHR->SFO, with a change in ORD.
I spent the miles and got GF for LHR->ORD, but ORD->SFO could only clear in economy when I booked.
(1) Can I waitlist for an F upgrade for the last leg should it become available?
(2) Also, if I do a SDC, would I be able to get LHR->SFO in GF non-stop that day if available?
Thanks!
Oct 5, 2015, 5:31 pm
#795
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern Calif./Eastern Ida.
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Posts: 20,640
Hello all
Am traveling on a Mileage (saver) Award in a couple weeks, LHR->SFO, with a change in ORD.
I spent the miles and got GF for LHR->ORD, but ORD->SFO could only clear in economy when I booked.
(1) Can I waitlist for an F upgrade for the last leg should it become available?
(2) Also, if I do a SDC, would I be able to get LHR->SFO in GF non-stop that day if available?
Thanks!
Am traveling on a Mileage (saver) Award in a couple weeks, LHR->SFO, with a change in ORD.
I spent the miles and got GF for LHR->ORD, but ORD->SFO could only clear in economy when I booked.
(1) Can I waitlist for an F upgrade for the last leg should it become available?
(2) Also, if I do a SDC, would I be able to get LHR->SFO in GF non-stop that day if available?
Thanks!
2) yes, provided it is open in the necessary booking class (probably "O"). you don't even have to wait for SDC, you can waitlist for the nonstop now, and/or change as soon as it becomes open. hint: this often happens on short notice, inside 3 days to dep.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Oct 5, 2015 at 5:49 pm Reason: cleanup after merge -- thanks for the link.