dmodemd

I have heard the loose explanations from them as to why this is complicated to fix, but really all they need to do is set the timing on the instrument upgrade sweeps and the CPU sweeps in a way that align closely with the inventory release action and with each other.

e.g.
T -24:30: inventory releases R=F or some other value
T -24:25: Y/B/M/instrument sweep
T -24:15: CPU sweep
T -24:00: Check ins begin...

This by no means solves the problem but will catch everything up at this critical time and prevent some line jumping until they fix it for good.

I have been noticing my CPUs clearing right around T -24 over the past year or so down to about F-2. In fact, last time I did not clear and was #1 on the list with 2 seats open and overnight I cleared and still showed 2 seats open. Presumably a seat opened up and a periodic CPU sweep caught me and cleared me in.

cesco.g

Interesting observation - yet I have been on the upgrade cleared list, with my upgrade clearing several days out, before any CPU window opened up.

Kacee

I have had similar experiences. The CPU sweeps seem to run reasonably efficiently from T-24 in. UA's inability to do that with instruments suggests there's a different process at work.

timbre

Experiences never cease to amaze me. I am connecting at ORD tomorrow on way to DCA. I upgraded using miles any could only confirm the first segment at time of upgrade. Today after the T-24 hour mark, R opened up to 2 available.

I called. The first agent put my on hold for a while, came back and I believe she was about to tell me that she could not do it ... but the line went dead.

Called back ... line went dead again before I even got to an agent.

Third time, got yet another nice agent. She looked and said, yes, I see availability. Asked if she could put me on hold. She was gone for a very short period. Came back, thanked me for waiting and said something to the effect of wanting to let someone know something was not working so it did not happen again (I have no idea what that meant). She then asked me what kind of seat I want.

Imagine the cost of 2 calls just to provide something that should work automatically.

Go figure.

dmodemd

...and this has continued for a couple years now...
Looking for cost savings, United?? hmm... maybe a little IT investment could pay off here?... but that's a different department... :P.

UA-NYC

So I see R space has opened up for my PS flight on Thursday. Still waitlisted. So glad United's junk systems continue to fail, and instead of getting timely alerts or having easy ways to see if said space opens (thank you, third party services!), we have to monitor ourselves and go through the charade of making mock bookings to see if there is space on a daily basis

Kacee

While the failure to fix the IT bug is curious, it works in our favor virtually all of the time, since we are able to snag open R regardless of waitlist position while those less knowledgable wonder why their upgrade didn't clear.

kb1992

I love this bug.

UA-NYC

Agree it can be a good thing at times - but since it's still not fixed, and UA's made it much more difficult to be easily aware of available R space (due to putting the hammer on KVS/EF), it requires a lot more babysitting which IMO shouldn't be the case.

escapefromphl

I would prefer it was fair and we didn't have to waste endless hours checking for R space and calling back until we get an agent OK with pushing through the upgrade. As I have noted before, they obviously have a good reason for not fixing this.

kb1992

I don't think they have incentive to fix this. Wide open R availability while people are on waitlist encourages last minute purchases with GPU/Miles to upgrade.

channa

Why is this curious? CO hasn't fixed a ton of stuff with their systems for years.

This bug has been around on the CO side for as long as I can remember -- at least a decade.

They either don't have the resources, competence, or desire to fix stuff.

Kacee

There was a post from UA Insider in 2012 committing UA to fixing this bug. And some bugs do get fixed. So yes I find it curious this one has not been.

channa

And perhaps they've fixed this bug if the failure rate is within their acceptance level.

Remember, this is the airline that doesn't want to be the best on time, they say 80% is good enough, and more than 80% costs too much. So, if waitlists get hung only 20% of the time, maybe it's fixed in their mind.

I was talking to a rep the other day, and TripAlert came up, and I started laughing. I said old UA's EasyUpdate worked 100% of the time, TripAlert never works. She asked about the new one they just released, I said it worked better than the old TripAlert, but it's still delayed, so not as good as EasyUpdate, that was solid.

She said that the new one is supposed to be 80% reliable, and TripAlert was some like 20% reliable. Of course that's nowhere near EasyUpdate which was more like 99% reliable, but it shows you that CO has this "close enough" mentality with its technology.

goalie

Being the good f/t'er regarding checking my itineraries (aka OCD , I looked at one itinerary yesterday around 4pm and noticed my flight (UA1662 DCA-SFO on 5/3) was R1 and I was still waitlisted (RPU applied at booking in March*). I called and the agent confirmed me but my questions are-was this a sweep not happening/hadn't happened yet, the queue being stalled due to an out of sync reservation somewhere or did the agent do a non-no (and to add, was it that I'm traveling with an in cabin pet and that's what hung it up)?


*note: this reservation showed "R Class Requested" vs "Upgrade Requested" if that matters