use miles+copay to upgrade my Dad's flight without telling him.. so he sat in coach
 

I used mile+copay to upgrade my Dad's TATL flight. I didn't tell him about it because it didn't clear at the time I request the upgrade.

I monitored the reservation and the upgrade finally cleared about 2 and half hours before the flight. However, I was not able to reach him by phon because his Google Fi phone didn't work. I just figured that UA would page him at the gate or get him the new boarding pass.(he checked in online the night before from his hotel and printed the boarding pass on the hotel printer) He had no checked bags.

Well... when he landed, he called me and I found out that he was never issued a new boarding pass. He sat in coach(E+) on the flight.

What do I do now? Was it my fault for not telling him? Is there any chance that UA will refund the miles and money? The only "proof" that I have is the pics that he took while sitting in the exit row window seat during the flight and the boarding pass.

Thanks!

That's what I thought would happen, but apparently it didnt...

I'm trying to think from UA's angle... how am I supposed to prove to them that my Dad sat in coach? The reservation showed him as upgraded in the new seat. :(

The scanner would certainly have beeped, but it makes the same beep for any number of reasons (boarding out of order, exit row assignment, etc.) so it's not implausible that the agent ignored it. Unfortunately, I agree that you're going to have an uphill battle with UA on this, but asking politely might be enough.

If you dad still has a paper boarding pass (showing coach seating) that should be sufficient, since it would have had to be swapped with a new boarding pass.

I frequently end up with both a coach and first class boarding pass after travel. It certainly doesn't have to be swapped, and even if it did, I sometimes have multiple copies anyway -- one printed at home, one at the kiosk with a different seat assignment, etc.

I'm surprised UA didn't notice it when they did the final passenger count, especially for an international flight (that no one was sitting in the 1st class seat and where was that person).

Especially possible given that the OP stated that he was sitting in the exit row.

Also if there's a problem with scanning the BP then they will normally just enter the sequence number printed on it, which will not trigger the beep as it's the same even after an upgrade.

wouldnt pax count be off in this case? empty business seat instead of occupied in manifest?

I personally would contact United. They should refund the miles and copay, else they are going to have bigger issues than you merely wanting your miles and copay back.

Either no one sat in the upgraded seat - so the count for J was wrong, or the person who had been assigned your father's seat in Y sat in his J seat.

The flight manifest was wrong (seating/assigned seats, etc.)

I would hope that if you write in and explain, United wouldn't challenge you as a liar and would refund you in full, at the least.

Sometimes when my seat has changed by I scan the old BP, the machine automatically prints a new one, but that doesn't always happen. So I agree with others that the most likely explanation is the agent misinterpreted the beep as stemming from exit row assignment.

And on a trans Atlantic flight what are the chances they wouldn't assign the exit row to another person or another person snag it once the upgrade went through. Something doesn't sound right. OP, are you really sure the upgrade actually cleared?

OP, did you check the seat map for your father's flight after he told you that he sat in his Exit Row seat? Was his seat supposed to be empty?

...or the person who got his father's seat saw him in his Y seat and took the J seat....

You can see the names on the Flight Status for who got the upgrades so believe he saw the upgrade came through for his dad.