EWRMAN

Poor wifi ewr - iah. Refunded the 11.99 cost. Woukd rather just have wifi which works

YoungBubbie

If nothing else, at least UA and AA seem to be consistent with me.

Flew down in AA and entertainment not working each got 2500 one had status.

Flew home one on US entertainment not working, each got 2500 and one had status.

ryman554

Has anyone done this?

TL;DR: upgraded w/o seat assignment on 787. Ended up being offered "seat without power", but to my (and the GA) horror, actually means completely nonfunctional seat (no recline), AVOD (video only), no power for PDA... so at that point it was either that or middle E+. Not a great choice.
This was known issue on the inbound flight, so I am surprised it was not blocked off on the outbound
Kept with the seat in C. Had a nice pork chop, but found the next 13 hours kind of dull.

I upgraded with GPU. I asked for that to be returned (first time I asked for anything, and given $200 fare differential thought was fair) ended up with $500 ecert. Is that fair? I personally value the GPU at $1k, given the W-P differential on flights I take. If it is not fair, what is the response?

Kacee

$500 is top of the chart for a nonfunctional seat, especially on a GPU upgrade.

I'm not saying it's fair; this is one area where UA's comp is (IMO) lower than that it ought to be.

mahasamatman

You could have gotten your GPU back by taking the E+ seat, but you chose to keep the J seat. I think you made out well.

Often1

You made a specific choice to stay in the premium cabin. I am certain that this was all documented by the GA and the FA would have made notes too. You can ask for anything, but there really isn't anything you can do when UA says no.

ryman554

OK, thanks all.

HNLbasedFlyer

I recently paid roughly $1,000 roundtrip HNL-NRT, upgraded with GPU on the spot. $500 cert means, at least in my case, I essentially flew free on that leg. To me, that seems very generous. I'd be happy with that deal 100% of the time.

Kacee

As previously noted $500 for a broken seat is top of the chart in terms of what UA typically provides for a broken J seat. But I would not find it sufficient. Not when they routinely give out $150 ETCs for broken entertainment systems or nonfunctional wifi.

HNLbasedFlyer

They regularly dish out $200 certs to me on the SF-HNL flights without asking which is ridiculous to me since I often just pay $450 roundtrip - I just conceptually find it wrong to not only be made whole but actually paid more than my ticket and I flew in a premium cabin, ate the food, drank the booze, and sat in a comfortable seat even if it didn't recline.

Now, if I actually paid a J or discounted biz fare I'd ask for more

Personally, I think the compensation thing has gotten out of hand

sexykitten7

To answer OP's question, yes you can negotiate. Either by writing back or even going to Oscar if the situation warrants. I've only done it once or twice (well definitely twice since I listed 2 methods lol). Often you will get pushback since the comp rates are published but I've always gotten what I think I'm owed (and as others note, many other times UA offers more than I expected to begin with!). One trick is to initially ask for double what you want.

joe_miami

The OP was given a choice. Asking for comp after the fact is absurd.

pushmyredbutton

EWR-SFO: PTV wasn't working in the bulkhead (E+) despite many resets. I asked the FA to put it in their device, and was given the choice of $400 or 20k miles. Took the $400 and was quite happy.

mr8

transportprof

In my experience, the only time you get a GPU back is when your upgrade doesn't clear. And even then, you sometimes have to chase it down. If you're in the front cabin (J), you're not going to get a GPU back, nor should you. Compensation for a broken seat is a separate matter - the GPU is the price of admission.