I am flying PWM-ORD-LAX tomorrow. I applied to use my e500s on the ORD-LAX flight (to upgrade from economy to First class). My upgrade is showing waitlisted. Should I still check in for the flight today on United.com or should I check-in at the airport? I do not want to lose my chance for an upgrade. Thanks

Yes, you will still be waitlisted after you check in. Check in as early as you can, use on-line checkin. The checkin order will determine where you stand on the waitlist if you are going to clear at the airport. If you check in early, keep an eye on your reservation - there is a well known problem where your upgrade clears (you get an EasyUpdate) but is not seen by the gate agents. Ask them to check for it in the reservation system or have them to unload you and check you in again for the upgrade to show up.

Thanks milski! I just checked in for my flight. Now, I just hope the upgrade goes through on 531.

Sorry I'm new to FT so bear with me -- I read this post and just had a similar experience.

I just had an experience with this yesterday. My routing was BUR-SFO-JFK and I had been waitlisted for an upgrade on the SFO-JFK sector. The upgrade came from one of my dad's friends, but when I was checking in at BUR I couldn't use the kiosk, and the agent proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions, such as who gave me the upgrade, and where the person lived. I gave them the name but didn't know where they lived. Is this normal? I had also been waitlisted on the flight for over two weeks, and I think the agent in BUR did something because when I got to the gate in SFO I was the last person (#15) on the upgrade waitlist. Needless to say I didn't get it. Is this normal? I flew JFK-LAX on Friday and used the kiosk to check in. That flight too was a waitlist for Business, and the kiosk asked if I wanted to use the confirmed regional upgrade for it..and printed me out a economy boarding pass and an upgrade waitlist pass.

In all honesty, I love United's FIDS but Continental clearly takes the cake for information available on their website, including standby list, upgrade list, etc.

I'm just curious about the upgrade if it was something on their end or what the deal was...

Upgrades that have not cleared by the time the flight moves to the DM are prioritized by the elite status of the person traveling...since your upgrade was sponsored, one presumes you have no elite status with UA, hence your relatively low position on the waitlist in SFO.

Even if the person who sponsored it was a 1K flyer? Is there anyway to check upgrade status before traveling like on the Continental website?

Does United upgrade people from Business to First to accommodate Upgrade waitlists?

Also, is there any way to check if an upgrade can be automatically cleared on a flight before purchasing or requesting the upgrade?

Thanks for the help...really appreciate it!

Welcome to FT, weirdlyndon!

The sponsor is irrelevant at the gate.

Sorry, no. It changes all the time, because it's continuously resorted by status.

Rarely, though it's been known to happen.

The online method (using an Expert Mode Standard Award search) is often wrong, so the only sure way is to call.

You were trying to upgrade on an elite heavy route and when you went to Departure Management, you had no status and were at the bottom of the list. I would have been surprised if you had cleared. No way to check upgrade status like on CO. No, UA usually does not move people up to clear upgrade waitlists. Yes, you can check if an upgrade will instantly clear.

Do a dummy award booking, for a standard award, for your flight. You must be logged in, and have your settings in your MP profile set to "expert". Click on "flight info" for your flight and look at availability. If you are looking for upgrade availability to C, you must see NC>0.

Call to ask for the most accuracy.

Wow, great advice..thank you all for the welcome and for the help.

6rugrats - I just tried what you said. Set my setting to expert and just checked the route I have for a trip in November. EWR-ORD-SFO-BFL. Now availability has all these other statuses -- none of which is the NC>0 that you mentioned above. i.e. F8, A6, Y9, B6 etc... any clarification on these codes. Are these booking classes?

Yes they are. Take a look at the UA FAQ thread sticky at the top of this forum and you will see it in there listing all UA booking classes. NF/NC is what you want domestically to upgrade from Y, which is coach.

If you don't see NF or NC, try logging out and logging back in. Also make sure you are searching for awards and not on the regular flight booking page.

You're welcome. Agree, I don't think you are looking at standard award booking, but at purchasing a ticket on the same flights. Go to "book with miles", use standard awards, and then look for your flights.

Perfect...so if it says NC0 that means there's no upgrades instantly available right? it would have to say NC>0?

That's right.

It sounds as if the agent was verifying you knew the member who was trying to upgrade you - that you did not just buy the upgrade on ebay type of thing. This is not too rare.