Upgrade bait and switch {refund processed}
 

Last week I flew United non-stop from SFO to LHR. I booked a seat in Economy Plus) I am a Platinum member) but requested an upgrade to business with miles + copay. This did not clear the waitlist, which is not unusual for such a busy route. Upon boarding I found myself seated in row 20, which is apparently "Premium Plus". I thought this was not available until March next year so just assumed it was a stroke of luck while they are fitting the planes out. However, I've now realized that United pocketed the copay and miles for the business class upgrade and provided an inferior product.

OK, the seat is a bit better than Econ Plus, but otherwise the service was absolutely identical. The possibility of being placed in Premium Plus was not mentioned when I requested the upgrade. As far as I'm concerned this is an outright bait-and-switch. Would anyone seriously pay the same for an upgrade to Premium Plus as to Business ?

I'm curious if anyone else has had the same experience. I have asked UA to refund the fee, but I would be surprised if they do given past interactions with customer service.

United is not yet selling Premium Plus. So, forget that you sat in it when you write to United to request a refund of the miles and copay for your unsuccessful upgrade.

How did you determine this? Did you ask UA and this was the response you received? Did you request a refund and it was denied? More info is needed.

May seem like a bait and switch but United announced, some time ago, that they would begin selling their Premium Plus product on Dec 3rd. That said, the T&Cs for miles/copay is listed online. Details here: Miles & Copay T&Cs. Appears that you are eligible for a full refund. I would contact UA and ask about the status. It can take a few days to get that refund.

It would be helpful if OP explained the measures he has taken and whether UA has denied the refund he is due.

I flew SFO-LHR earlier this month (mid December). Requested Miles+co-pay to upgrade but miles never deducted and co-pay was in pending state. Credit card charge eventually dropped after the flight as upgrade was not successful.

I thought UA changed the process as all my previous Miles+Co-pay upgrade requests were always miles deducted/credit card charged and refund afterwards if upgrade did not happen.

I don't like them at all and certainly wouldn't pay anything for an upgrade from E+.

You're sort of correct. UA will gladly let you sit in P+ and keep your miles/money. If you ask for the miles/money persistently enough, they'll give it back.

Some call it broken IT, but it seems intentional enough to me, even if it doesn't match their written claims in marketing materials.

This is incorrect. The refund process is automatically triggered if you fly all of the segments without an upgrade clearing. It is definitely possible that the refund can be held up or not triggered for some reason though. As others have said, this just sounds like a case of the refund taking a few days. There is technically no Premium Plus flying until March (even if the seats are out there) so there is no possibility of using an MUA into it until then.

LOL, nope, been flying UACO too long to believe that.

Yeah, a convenient IT problem combined with a confusing new UG scheme will allow for abuse. I am skeptical of the new language allowing you to to waitlist for either P+ or biz. It seems to me that UA is actively devaluing GPUs.

Given that nobody has flown in P+ yet, it is a little early.

However, I have no question but that one of the long-term purposes of PE on all three legacy carriers is to have it be an upgrade vehicle to protect the premium products whatever carriers want to call them, e.g. Polaris, D1, F or J).

Thanks for the comments. I talked to Mileage Plus customer service today. They confirmed that this was done in error and that I should not have been charged miles or copay. They redeposited the miles and put in a request for the copay to be refunded.

Possibly of more interest; my opinion of PP is that it's an improvement over EP but would have to be priced right to make it worthwhile. I would rate PP is to EP as EP is to regular economy, which is similar to my previous experience on Singapore Airlines PP equivalent. It's not a radical improvement for a long haul flight. YMMV.