ralphch

I'm a Premier Platinum member traveling with my wife tomorrow FRA-ORD-LAX. I already have Economy Plus seats due to status at the time of reservation, and my ORD-LAX flight says "Complementary Premier Upgrade Requested" on the website, since that's a domestic leg.

However, now I'm going to do online check in and I see this:
Then when I'm about to confirm, there's this warning:
This is my first time going through this process, and it's quite confusing...

Does this mean I can get an upgrade on my international FRA-ORD leg? Or is this referring to the domestic ORD-LAX leg where I'm already automatically on the upgrade standby list?

How does this work? And what are the consequences of accepting this?

My wife does not have any Premier status, so I'd like to make sure in the case that neither of us get upgraded, she still retains my benefits (i.e. priority baggage handling, check-in, lounge access), and that we keep our existing Economy Plus seats.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, I'm struggling to find any definitive information on how this works.

Thanks

Kacee

The stupid PNR auto-splitting at T-24 needs to stop

It’s referring to the domestic segment. If you choose to split the PNR, one of you could (at least in theory) get upgraded and the other left in.Y. It won’t impact the other benefits you list. If you don’t split, an upgrade is not possible (and it may not be possible on ORD-LAX regardless).

ralphch

Thanks Kacee.

Does this mean that even if I split, I would never get upgraded on the international FRA-ORD leg?

Update: I’m looking at the Upgrade list for my ORD-LAX flight and we are listed at #6 and 7, with 14 seats available in Business.

So if I check in online without splitting, will I lose our spot in the upgrade list. Or am I forced to split in order to stay on the upgrade list?

Should I just wait to do the check in at the airport, as the other thread seems to suggest, and just see what the options are there? Not sure how much agents at FRA will know though...

Thanks again

jsloan

There are no complimentary upgrades on transoceanic flight. The only way that you’d get upgraded is if Economy is oversold and they need to move people to Business to make room for everyone; if that happened, they’d perform operational upgrades in order of status. That is quite rare and doesn’t look likely on your flight.

You cannot stay on the list for a gate upgrade unless you allow the reservation to be split. UA’s systems are not capable of having multiple-person PNRs waitlisted for an upgrade on the upgrade list that’s used at the gate.

The reason that people wait isn’t to get more information from the gate agent; it’s to give the background (automatic) upgrade process more time to kick in. If you haven’t been upgraded by the time you get to the airport, you’ll be faced with the same choices: split the record and preserve upgrade possibility, or don’t split, and give up on an upgrade.

UA may process upgrades when the ORD-LAX flight gets to T-24,so it’s probably worthwhile to wait to check-in.

If you read the linked thread, you’ll find that UA is getting better about preserving most of the benefits automatically for a split-off companion. As for the specific benefits you listed — you won’t have an issue with lounge access, because as a *G, you can admit one guest traveling on any *A flight. There’s no requirement to be on the same record. Neither priority baggage handling nor priority check-in should be an issue if you’re checking in at the same time.

The benefits that sometimes get messed up are upgrade priority on the return flight and baggage allowance.

Kacee

Correct. No complimentary premier upgrades on that route.
Yes, it is recommended you wait as long as possible to check-in, in the hope they will clear you both prior to check-in. If you’re worried about the agents at FRA, just check in using the app once you get to the airport. If you haven’t cleared, the question will be whether you’re willing to take the risk of sitting separately in exchange for the possibility of an upgrade.

ralphch

Thanks again, your answers are super helpful

Just one last question: assuming I wait until the airport to check in and United hasn’t cleared upgrades automatically before then: if I choose to split, and neither of us is upgraded or only one of us is upgraded, do we at least get to keep our existing Economy Plus seats? Or do I lose everything the minute I decide to split and take a gamble on this? So, for example, if only one is upgraded, I lose my ability to decide to sit together in our original Econ Plus seats.

Thanks again

narvik

There's a decent chance that the E+ seat will be assigned to another passenger, yes.
What happens sometimes in such cases when you'd still want to sit together, and not take advantage of only one upgrade, is to switch with the person who got your E+ seat. They don't usually say no to switch their seat to the front of the cabin, especially after explaining your situation.

ralphch

Thanks, I guess it’s better to just take one upgrade over none.

I’ll wait then until the airport to check in.

Thanks everyone for your help

emcampbe

something not specifically mentioned in any responses so far is the impact of IRROPS. If, for example, ORD-LAX gets cancelled and you are split, the computer will auto-rebook no matter what, but if the reservation is split, could very well be on different flights. A Platinum has higher priority for rebooking - not sure if the computer keeps that priority to a split non-premier traveler. But either way, could end up booking separately - ie, maybe there’s one seat left on the next flight that goes to the plat, and then not until the next morning for the non-premier.

Its not an issue for an agent to put you together where theres room, so it’s not the be all and end all, and not necessarily a reason not to split, but something to be aware of.