Pat89339

I have used none of the 14 SWUs I earned last year. I have offered them for free to family, friends, coworkers and have given away 4 for free on CC so far this year rather than see them expire; one as recent as this morning. I have had absolutely no paid international travel this year.

There's a certain amount of joy I get from giving them away.

UPDATE 10/27: Since my original post I have received PMs and emails from people asking me to give them SWUs. As stated above, I give them to family, friends and coworkers first and only if I cannot find someone I know who can use them, I offer them on CC to other FTers. I do not give them to perfect strangers who solicit them via PM or email.

This update is not directed to the FTer who asked to be waitlisted should something happen to the sponsored trip.

sim510

I could not agree more about giving the SWUs away rather than letting them just expire. It's a very nice gift IMO.

I tried to give SWUs to friends who were flying HNL-BOS, but they had not purchased a high enough fare code ticket! I felt a little silly about making the offer to them, and then finding out that they did not pay enough for their economy tickets to be able to use the SWUs!! A bit embarrassing.... but I had certainly TRIED!!! The UA agent with whom I spoke (at the 1K #) did put my friends on a 'priority' list for upgrades though. They are 2Ps. When I saw them in BOS, they did get upgraded for the trip over... but not for the flt back to HNL.

So a word of caution.... the person(s) you want to gift with SWUs need(s) to have purchased a ticket of at least certain fare code.

TechnoPagan

Huh? That is a domestic flight, any fare should be eligible.

(Well except award tickets).

Maybe there just wasn't any NF space available???

mahasamatman

No such thing. SWUs work on all paid fares in Region 1.

zrs70

A friend of mine (not a FTer) has an SWU that expires this month. He called MP support and they offered to exchange them for Regionals. (I believe two of them) that will expire this December.

ff100

In past years UA has allowed extension of 1 SWU into the next year. As I recall they typically start this in November and you have to re-qualify for 1K before they will do it.

I wish they would do more but even 1 is appreciated.

MMProfessor

With all the difficulties getting upgrades on international flights this year (see other threads), no wonder people are left with tons of SWU that will be wasted. I am sure there are people who will appreciate a Thanksgiving or Christmas gift of this type.

LAX

Are they now doing this instead of the extension in years past?

LAX

nihaoa

Maybe there are many SWU related sponsorship and his fare is too low?

Antipode

That might make the SWU not clear but it sure as heck wouldn't stop it from being applied and waitlisted. Something weird is going on, the agent was wrong, and/or sim510 misunderstood.

mahasamatman

I expect it's more like a "one-time exception".

1kBill

And except for Z fares.

See above.

sim510

Thanks for the interesting replies. My friends were on 's' fare tickets. The agent (clearly) said that they had paid for a fare code that was 'too low' for my SWU gift. Now I'm really wondering what went on!!!!!

I'm glad they did eventually get upgraded. Perhaps the agent realized his error (when he told me the 's' fare would not qualify...) and then opted to put them on a 'priority waitlist' for upgrades. Hmmmmm (scratching my head)

I still have my SWUs. My friends flew to BOS in first. All turned out well, but I'm disappointed with the 1k agent giving me the answer he gave me. Obviously he was in the wrong!

schley

Anything is possible but I haven't seen of heard of any problems people have had with UA and CC. If there are maybe they aren't reported who knows. Theoretically there could be but again I haven't heard of them. Please give us some examples on here if there are any.

What? I have never heard of this either.

The agent was wrong and now you have the knowledge to correct them when faced with a similar situation in the future.

TJQuill

Don't let all the "be careful" talk about gifting or trading them concern you too much. There are a few anecdotes floating around about people being questioned about the source of their SWUs, but the group that I work in have traded/gifted many dozens of upgrades and it has never been an issue of any kind. It is an automated process that UA has put into place so that we can upgrade other people and there typically is no human involvement in the transaction at all. I don't believe for a second that UA has someone lurking in CC trying to divine the true identities of users.