ChrisInDC

I recently flew from EWR to TLV and requested an upgrade to business class using a GPU. At the gate, I was number 11 (of 19) on the upgrade list. I went to the desk agent and asked where I was in that line since I am a United 1K. She said she didn't know but if I wanted to guarantee business class she could sell me a business class seat for $1,600. I paid and got my business class seat. Then, when I got on the flight, business class was not full! No one got upgraded to the seat right next to me; it was empty the entire trip. This in spite of the upgrade list (on the screen at the gate) having 19 people on it. Is this a common practice? I feel like I was cheated.

mahasamatman

Poor customer service is always common at EWR.

You definitely were.

GBadger

While I don't disagree that you should be angry about this, the agent technically *was* correct in saying that paying was your only guarantee. Why they didn't upgrade anyone is a question that should be answered by United -- but at #11 on the list, I'm guessing you probably didn't have a shot (meaning you would have been in coach if you didn't pay).

I'll be honest and say that I don't understand your comment about "asking where you were in that line" since you already knew that you were at #11 based on the screen. Why did you think that the agent would tell you a number other than 11?

jsloan

I don't understand. You said you were #11 on the list. What was your question for the gate agent? If you're asking, is it normal to be 11th on the list as a 1K, the answer is yes.

You didn't get cheated, but whoever finished first on the list may have. It's possible that the seat next to you was inoperative or a crew rest seat; barring either of those two scenarios, whoever was first on the list should have gotten it.

EWR764

Selling upgrades or fare-ups at the gate is a common practice.

Not clearing upgrades into empty seats is pretty uncommon. Do you know if there were other empty seats in the cabin? Was the seat blocked as a broken seat? Were you on a non-Polaris 777-200ER, where one business class seat is contractually blocked for pilot rest and unavailable for passenger assignment, regardless of whether pilots actually use it in flight?

As far as being cheated, nope, unless the flight went out with at least 10 other empty, saleable seats in J. You were more than halfway down the upgrade list on an economy class fare, and paid the fare difference for a business class seat, which you received. That's not being cheated under any reasonable definition of the word.

tanglin

With that heading I thought you'd actually paid for the upgrade with some green stuff (which again might be done in EWR?)

docbert

Why? If you were #1 1 on the list, then unless you're claiming there were 10 other seats free in business then you weren't going to get your upgrade any other way that paying for it.

Someone likely got cheated, being the person that was #1 on the upgrade list (and #2 etc depending on how many empty seats there were), but it wasn't you (again, unless there were 10 seats free?)

Collierkr

jhayes_1780

Are you saying NO ONE was upgraded, or that just the seat next to you was empty? If just one empty seat, an outlier could be that it was inoperative.

Often1

OP has not provided anywhere close to sufficient detail to provide him an answer. We still do not know how many empty J seats went out. But, more to the point, OP knew he was #11 on the list, so not sure what he thought he would achieve by asking a GA.

xzh445

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanglin

With that heading I thought you'd actually paid for the upgrade with some green stuff (which again might be done in EWR?)

I suspect that tanglin was injecting some humor and referring to an individual Gate Agent..not UA

tryathlete

ryan182

Whomever was #1 on the upgrade list was cheated, you essentially jumped the queue by paying $ - and $1600 isn't a small amount so not like a TOD upgrade here and could be close to fare difference. Unless of course in addition to the seat next to you there was 10 other empty seats in J you would not have been upgraded had they processed the list so I don't think its accurate to say you were cheated in this case. In fact you got an empty seat next to you which is always nice so you ended up better off than you would have been had the processed the list after your buyup!

StuckinITH

I think that more than that, we don't know how many Polaris seats were sold at time of check-in. And we don't know if TODs were offered at check-in and at what price.

The OP should have monitored the number of Polaris seats sold on the Cablepick site from the time of booking the ticket until 3 days before the flight, then switch to monitoring the number of Polaris seats sold on the United flight status page.

After the facts, after landing at the destination, the OP should have checked the United flight status page to see how many passengers got upgraded on the flight

If the OP would have been more active on FlyerTalk (7 Posts in 9 years), the OP would have realized that once you apply a GPU you need to actively monitor the situation. However, at #11 , I would have paid for the upgrade but not regretted the expense.

Lomapaseo

The OP proved United was correct, that the seat was worth the $$$ and that he proved the other folks on the waitlist either had to pay or sit it out.

I bet that if he didn't pay then all the seats would have been filled by upgrades,

Nice move by United in proving that $$ trumps freebies on international flights

now just where the $$ decision point is on United's side is the question