thanks-it was the fare difference i was trying to avoid!

:) After re-reading my message, I realize it was a bit ambiguous. It’s possible — but not promised — that an agent may waive any fare difference for both you and your companion, assuming that there’s at least two seats in your inventory bucket.

It is not possible to buy tickets on the same PNR that have different flights in either direction.

If you’re daring, you could buy the flights with the same return date, and then wait to change the return of one of them until after the outbound is completed. If there’s still space available in your original booking class, it should cost the same as booking it that way originally would have — but if there’s not, you may end up paying quite a bit to make that change.

And hope that UA's algorithms for detecting overlapping/duplicate flights doesn't catch on.

David

Oh, I wasn’t suggesting having duplicate reservations. I was suggesting, book two passengers on one PNR with the desired return date for one of the two passengers. Then, after completing the outbound, split the PNR and change the return date for the second passenger.

thanks all!

Standby priority for non-status companions on same PNR
 

If I (with status) am on the same reservation with people who have no status, and we're all standing by for a flight, do the non-status people inherit my status for priority on the standby list? Or are they on the bottom of the list with no status?

This is a seemingly simple question, but I have bee unsuccessful in finding an answer anywhere (united.com, here, and everywhere else). Need to know as we brace for our flights out of EWR this weekend.

On the same reservation, they will inherit your status.

Thank you so much for the quick response. Amazing I couldn't find the answer anywhere. Hopefully we won't need it tomorrow...

I know changing a segment on the same leg as a PP upgraded segment will cause one to lose the upgrade. I forget, is this the same for SDC?

I've got an intl leg on friday, domestic to intl from EWR. Depending how well UA is recovering, I might want to keep an eye on it and perhaps take an earlier flight

If I'm follwing, you're flying xxx-EWR-yyy with EWR-yyy already upgraded via PPs? Doesn't matter if xxx-EWR is upgraded or not any phone agent can preserve your EWR-yyy upgrade while SDC'ing the first flight. You'll need your original coach class open for the domestic segment. Or hope for IROPS or weather waivers at which point you can change the xxx-EWR flight more easily without any concern for fare class.

-RM

Yes I know it can be done over the phone with little risk. I meant doing the SDC (or IROPS change) via the app/website. Typically anything using "change" will cause the upgrade to go away. I forget if using the SDC or IROPS change option preserves the upgrade.

You want to call in such cases ... even if the website offers 'what looks right' as an SDC, it can lead to problems IME

No. The app will almost definitely break this. A human has to override what you're trying to do to preserve EWR-yyy as I mentioned.
-RM

I've got a peculiar but maybe not uncommon situation here. I am flying xxx-SFO-SAN on UA both legs this Saturday. And on the following Friday, I will be flying SAN-NRT-xxx but on JL. This was booked by my corporate TA. The UA PNR I received shows all inbound and outbound segments. The TA also gave me an 8hr layover in SFO when there are other UA alternatives with much shorter connections. TA is insisting that there is no availability in B for flights with shorter connections but a search in United expert mode shows plenty. Anyway, suppose I do an SDC (or standby even) on the inbound to get a saner and shorter connection to SAN, will it mess up or affect my outbound, because the outbound is not on UA-operated metal?

I think inbound and outbound are swapped here — outbound refers to “from your origin,” i.e., your first set of flights. :)

You may not be allowed to SDC SFO-SAN because there appear to be non-UA segments remaining on your ticket — assuming your TA actually booked this as a single ticket rather than two. (Does the ticket number on your JL flight start with 016?). Standby should be allowed, however, and would not pose any problems boarding your return (inbound) flight.