Kacee

This has been the norm for many years.
GS GPUs clearing into PN is not the same thing. It has nothing to do with status of the traveler.
If you were GS (or friends and family who receives gifted GPUs), you would undoubtedly feel differently. Personally I don't see much point in getting worked up about this, and certainly not now, since it's been this way for years and years.
I'm not sure there's a fix given the limitations of SHARES. The can code to clear based on status of traveler, but the instrument will still clear into PN.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Well, being able to upgrade family member into PN is a benefit first and foremost for the GS customer. Last thing UA wants to hear is symphony of howls from the entire GS customer base. And their family members who benefit. The argument of inherited status has good points on both sides, but UA does what it thinks is best for UA. Inherited status permeates UA - from size of boarding groups to availability of E+ seats. Inherited status benefits we dole out to others are there - free bags, E+ seats, BG priority, even (rarely) upgrades. Going to benefits strictly for Premiers would affect a far higher number (by several magnitudes?) of travelers than the number of GS benefiting from PN.

If you're travelling with your family, do you want to be in BG1 and have them back in BG4 because they're not the frequent flyer? Having them board with you is a form of inherited status.

Xerinax

Agree, so the issue here is finite inventory and PN seats being poached, such that R may never become available.

Companions can still use their miles to the same end so it's not really about certs alone. I fly GS heavy routes with BIS > 150K this year so I assume I have flown with more than one person this year, but you might also be right. The mystery is always there - we mostly don't know who our fellow travelers are, or why we ended up #1 on the WL instead of cleared. All I can say is it's very frustrating and would like to see for it to be managed more systematically.

There are plenty of 1K members who spend close to or more than GS depending on market who hit the hard ceiling of R instead of PN. I imagine that is fairly frustrating to them.

And it really didn't drive a lot of 1K members away, based on current prevalence levels. Everyone knows how UA feels about GS, it still doesn't mean they can re-evaluate what may not make sense. Maybe it takes more members giving feedback about how it affects them...

You make a lot of good points. Some things are of more of an impact to travelers than others. To clarify, the last one, if I am traveling with family then we are or were on the same PNR and on the same flight. That inherited status in my opinion is fundamentally different from when the primary member is NOT traveling.

That isn't actually true. I didn't disagree with the change to sponsorship years ago because it was fair to other travelers. I see this the same way. I've seen GS left on the WL for upgrades and it makes me wonder. Nothing to get worked up about I agree; this is simply my opinion. If time were ever an issue that impacted whether something was changed, we would have a very different world.

jsloan

Again, nothing has changed here. That's always been true. It is no more or no less likely to be true than it was a week or a year ago.

A 1MM GS companion could use miles+copay to access PN inventory, sure. I doubt that's prevalent -- there aren't many situations when it would make sense -- but it could be. But, on any given flight, the vast majority of GS'es are likely to have earned it, simply because somebody who gets GS only as a companion almost certainly doesn't fly as often (or they'd have GS on their own).

It is managed systematically. You simply don't like the system.

If that is the case, then I imagine UA sees this as an incentive to spend a little bit more.

I don't think it affects me at all. My upgrade rate is fine; I've used every GPU I've ever earned by clearing into open R (now PZ) at booking. Would I prefer to be able to clear into PN instead? Sure, as that would give me more flight options. (Of course, if I could clear into PN, my upcoming trip would have been on a 77W.. meaning I wouldn't have been able to move into the old Global First seat on the 772 I actually booked. )

That's the thing. Most of these certificates likely are used when the GS member is traveling (in which case, this whole thing is much ado about nothing). Others are used when the GS member is traveling but can't be on the same PNR: perhaps the GS member is on paid J -- to retain GS status -- but wants to bring the kids along on X+GPU or W+GPU. Or, perhaps the GS member is traveling for work and is paying out of pocket for a spouse to travel on W+GPU.

So, now the GS desk is busy taking care of these one-off requests that are within the spirit of the policy, but not the letter, instead of doing something more useful.

I personally think that the primary reason that upgrades are getting scarcer is that UA has cut the cost of the J product and more people are buying it, especially domestically.

warrenw

SAME thing (almost) happened to me last year. UA P IRROPS, I was put on OZ same day on their a380 in OZ P, which is discount first. It. Was. Awesome. Best IRROPS of my life. I was so confused at first though, so I called OZ to see what class I was in and the phone agent said "you're in first class.... which is what you booked right?" Yes of course......

cfischer

This ALMOST happened to me 2 years ago ... too bad the agent caught it the last second ... oh wait ... this is First ... I can't do that

GeP

Yes, but if you're a GS (or even just 1K) and fly in paid business, what value are GPUs for yourself? Having a friend/partner sit in the same cabin on a business-related trip with a fair chance when buying coach is one of those.

Or, as in my case, we tend to fly together, though from different cities of origin for the first, short leg, which implies different itinaries, so having the partner on your itinary (and with your priority through that) is not an option.

TomA

Update: I booked it and the upgrade cleared overnight. ^

cyclogenesis

Ok new strange thing I am seeing, every Business cabin for my four upcoming international trips went from 2/3 full to completely full this morning. (ORD-LAX-MEL-LAX-ORD and ORD-LHR-ORD)

1P

Does anyone know if Seth (Wandering Aramean) has updated UA Expert Mode+ for the new fare classes configuration yet? I see no sign of it on his website.

UA1KFlyer

Yep, I spoke w/ 1K web support last night and they confirmed the same thing.

cyclogenesis

Ok I just checked by using UA.com and yes, when I go to book the Polaris cabin shows seats available... Seat map on current bookings does not (all blocked?)

EWR764

I hope so. I thought it was an extremely useful tool and I for one appreciated the work he put in to developing that utility (and others, too).

Sykes

Most of my GS travelers are exactly the same way--if they didn't use their miles or instruments on other travelers, they wouldn't use them at all.

In fairness, though, that's not really what we're talking about. When the GS member is flying in paid business then GS agents can force the traveling companion's upgrade to clear by manually opening up PN inventory (provided that there are enough open seats), so PN inventory in the sense we're discussing here isn't really relevant. PN inventory is relevant when the GS member is being upgraded, the GS member is not present on the flight, or the GS member has multiple traveling companions and already used the forced upgrade benefit on someone else. IMO, this is one of the most valuable benefits of GS, and I think it would be a huge mistake for United to devalue it.

PanAmWT