jlivengo

Aloha, I've been browsing this board for years. Never had to post because of the depth of knowledge & experience here. I've got one now that I haven't been able to find an answer for. I'll be flying HNL-NRT then NRT-SIN. Looking at the upgrades + co-pay. HNL-NRT is open but the NRT-SIN segment is waitlisted, looks full. My question is, if I don't get the upgrade on the last segment, do I get a full refund for the mile & co-pay?

I know UA policy states "In most cases, the MileagePlus Upgrade Award will be considered used if any segment of an itinerary is upgraded. However, for travel which includes segments in United BusinessFirst or United Global First, miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst or United Global First segments could not be upgraded. When applicable, these refunds will occur automatically 7 to 10 days after the trip."

I guess my answer is the statement "miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst..." with all being the key word. Just seems too good. Basically a free upgrade on the HNL-NRT segment with the other leg already booked up. Won't break the bank if the other segment goes through but seems like a good gamble. Thoughts?

jackk

I think you're misreading that "all."

It says "[We'll refund you] if all the [intl] segments could not be upgraded." Thus, you get a refund only if each one (and hence all) of the intl segments were not upgraded. If one was upgraded, then you don't get a refund because it is not true that "ALL of the [intl] segments could not be upgraded"--one of them was upgraded.

I think you're reading it as if it said "[We'll refund you] if not all of the [intl] segments could be upgraded" and I don't think that's what they mean.

Hmm... I better be careful about using miles and money to waitlist upgrades out of or to MEL. If MEL-SYD clears (as it almost certainly would) and nothing else does, you're probably SOL. Maybe they'd do a refund anyways.

bsmnsr

My guess is if any segments upgrade, no refund will be applied.

jlivengo

I'm guessing someone here had to experience this before. The language sounds pretty straight forward to me. Taking only part of this sentence seems pretty clear that I would be entitled a refund "...miles and co-pay will be re-deposited if all the United BusinessFirst or United Global First segments could not be upgraded".

Maybe it's out of context but I'd think I'd have a solid argument.

penner42

I think you're reading it right, or at least the way any English speaker would. Especially given the preceding sentence, "In most cases, the MileagePlus Upgrade Award will be considered used if any segment of an itinerary is upgraded." To me, that implies that this is different... an upgrade is not considered used if only some of the segments are upgraded.

I have no experience with it, though. Someone who does might be able to give you more information.

Long Zhiren

PMCO used to be kind to me. For a scenario of SJC-IAH-LHR, IAH-LHR upgrade was waitlisted. The PMCO agent simply upgraded me gratis in SJC-IAH regardless of whether the international upgrade was going to happen. In other words, if IAH-LHR didn't get upgraded, I made no co-pay and kept the SJC-IAH upgrade.
Apparently, that's not standard practice, or no longer standard practice?

DGellman

I'd love to know the answer to this one, too. I have SFO-ORD-CDG coming up in July; SFO-ORD upgrade has cleared, but ORD-CDG is still waitlisted.

Dave

jlivengo

I have a flight in 2 weeks. Will respond back to see what happens.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Too funny. I'm SFO-ORD-FRA-TLS... in July... with SFO-ORD upgrade cleared, but not the overwater. Returning CDG-ORD-SFO, again with overweater not cleared but domestic has.

And you, like me, have probably noticed C9s and wide-open seat maps on those overwater segments too! But did you go through my recent angst when I realized that for not much more than the copay I could have bought Z fares in biz a couple months back? And gotten the 150% EQM bonus?

donnmein

I have a question that's a variation -- I'm flying RT with family DCA-IAH-EZE. I used miles and copay to upgrade the outbound trip. The upgrade cleared for IAH-EZE, but DCA-IAH is waitlisted. Trip is not until August, and first class for DCA-IAH is almost completely empty at this point. Seems to me I already "bought" the upgrade seats since UA took my money and miles. Can UA really "sell" the first class seats to someone else now?

Always Flyin

Yep. Or upgrade someone ahead of you who has higher status, paid for a higher fare category, or paid a fee that might be offered for an immediate upgrade.

fragment54

Any answer to the original question? I have the same question.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Best way to look at it is that he bought an option. Unfortunately, it's United that gets to determine whether to exercise it or not.

Except that you do get your money back if it doesn't clear. At least for now. Who knows, in the New World Order, Jeff might decide that unused upgrade $$$ go into your travel bank, where they can only be used on flights, not refunded. Yikes! Should I be giving him ideas?

fragment54

jilvengo, have you already flown and if so, what was the result. I think I am going to encounter a flight soon where one of two legs will be upgraded from BF to GF but the other leg will not be.

Mike Jacoubowsky

I had previously thought the "refund" applies only if a domestic segment cleared and not international. If any international segments clears, no refund. I think. But the language used... "all"... does imply otherwise. I too will be interested in how this turns out.