Nice try
 

Feeling good after my first ever ops upgrade a few weeks ago on a CDG-SFO. I decided to try to get one on my SFO-CDG flight last week due to the fact that the flight was not full. I approached the gate agent and very politely asked her if she had any better seats for me (I was initially seating on 30A). I even offered to use miles to upgrade but she declined due to the fact I was travelling on a V fare. She kept my boarding pass and say she would try to do something. After the boarding began, she finally called a laundry list of people, including me. Needless to say that I really thought that I scored my second ops upgrade on the row !! Not so lucky, I was given 21C and was told that 21D would be empty next to me. I was really bumped to have lost my window seat but didn't say anything to her. I gambled, I lost !!! Overheard her ask her supervisor if it was Ok for United Express employee plus one guest to be seated in first class and it was, lucky them... I'm just a lowly 1P

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif I am on your side couscous. IMHO, you should have been offered an Op. We can choose to secure our upgrades with miles or certs (yes, I know your fare was V). If we gamble and F or C space is available then I see no reason to let FFers, expecially UGS, 1K MM, 1K, 1P then 2P ride in coach. I say that UAL can query based on fare then status and fill the premium cabins. Sorry to hear about your bad luck. UAL just http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif the heck out of me.

I'm sorry but I disagree. An operational upgrade is an upgrade given due to operational reasons such as an oversold flight. Your flight was not oversold thus no need to operationally upgrade passengers. The elusive "double upgrade" almost never happens, especially on an international flight. UA provided what you paid for- a coach seat to Paris. I do not understand why passengers get upset when they want something for nothing and the request is not honored. If you had wanted a C or F class seat then buy it or use the miles to upgrade into it. The fact that 2 employees were lucky and got FC is irrelevant. Employees at all companies have perks and benefits; flying in First Class on a space available basis happens to be one of them. This topic has been discussed at great length here before and everyone has their own opinion. However, I can't fault the agent who tried to help you out- atleast the seat next to you was empty.

-Just my 2 cents....

-IFLYUA

Took the words right out of my mouth. . . http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

<yawn>

Completely agree with IFLYUA.

Now you know just how much United values your business.

QL

Indeed you do-a nice employee got him a better seat with an empty next to it-pretty good deal these days!

Exactly; an operational upgrade is given on a full, or nearly full flight when UAL needs your seat, not when you want to sit in a bigger seat. UAL is a business; you bought a cheap,non-upgradeable ticket, and got more than you paid for - an empty seat next to you - they did you a favor.

Besides, the UAX employee was paying (albeit NRSA rates) for the F seat, and paying more than they would for a C or Y seat.

You noted you offered to use miles couscous. Was that the truth, or was it hoping that the agent would say "Oh, that's ok. We have space and you're a 1P."?

Because if you did have the miles, why not secure it when you booked?

I'm a Premiere Executive and I was op-upped into First on a Saver Award Ticket (with an empty seat next to me, no less) during the huge thunderstorms that snarled ORD a few weekends back. All I asked was if I could gate-check my rollaboard because I was one of the last five folks to board and I figured there was no overhead space left by that time.

Now, I was in the Exit Row on a 757 and the fellow in front of me did not have an assigned seat. I am pretty sure that is why she kicked me up to 1B and not because there was plenty of overhead space in the first bin.

And if I could have, I'd have happily used miles or certs to sit in 1B, as this plane was originally supposed to be a two-class 767-300 as I despise coach in the 757 (even Exit Row).

Lets not mix apples with oranges. Wanting something for nothing is bad.... but lets not forget UA's legendary Employee Class...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

[This message has been edited by Gaucho100K (edited 08-21-2003).]

Wow, some pretty tasty people out there today !! SEA TIGGER ; I genuinely wanted to use miles to upgrade. I had flown from Hawaii the night before (first class) and was feeling real tired. The reason why I couldn't ask at ticketing is because the V fare, not upgradable.
I was not complaining about not being upgraded to first in place of the 2 UAX employees, I just question the fact that I spend a lot of money on United every year and they lost an opportunity to wow me. By the way, there were 2 empty seats in C. That's all...

If I'm tired I expect UA to forget about the fact that I paid thousands less than the price of a biz seat and upgrade me for free because I am one of their "elite" 1P population (probably 10% of the people on the flight). You didn't even offer to pay the difference to an upgradeable coach fare! Who cares if an employee is upgraded, its their right, not yours. I've been on SFO-NRT flights where I am one of 2 non-employees in 1st and the cabin in full! Its their right as employees to be their, its not your right as a customer to be there!

I'm just jealous that anyone scored an op upgrade.

I've flown around 80 flights transpacific in the past 5 years, and I've gotten exactly one (1) op upgrade.

While I did not make 1K until this year (84K, 98K, 72K, 89K, etc), still I would think that PremEx ought to be worth something!

What's really interesting is I've gotten 2 op upgrades on Qantas (to 1st, on a Japanese vacation travel package ticket, with my wife beside me), 3 op upgrades on Singapore, and 1 on Aeroflot.

I've probably flown 40000 miles total between these 3 airlines over the same period.

Ya think I believe United is cheap?

Thanks for the clarification, couscous.

I view Operational Upgrades as I view "Angels" - wonderful when they happen, but not to be expected or assumed.

Many of us have gone round and round many a time on whether UA should op-upgrade elite status passengers both when there are empty seats and when there are non-pilot non-revs traveling in a premium cabin - "paid" or "op-upped" (as they are charged a fee to travel in any class, and a higher one for premium cabin). No concrete consensus has emerged, as there are benefits (happy elites who get the upgrade) and downsides (unhappy elites who don't get the upgrade). While I know CO and NW upgrade their elites to First, that is because they don't have Economy Plus. And sure, First Class on CO/NW is better than Economy Plus on United, but at least with United, you can get Economy Plus at time of booking, and not wait to see if you get into First. And Economy Plus is a lot better than Economy on CO and NW.

I've sat in 6C (on Airbii) and 4C (on 737s) more times than I care to count with the First Cabin having empty seats. In fact, on my op-up ORD-SEA during the storm, there were only two passengers in F on the GSO-ORD 737 and like 15 on the whole plane (I was the only person in Row 6). And even a Captain decided to sit back in Coach (probably because he could stretch out and snooze) over an offered seat in First.

The GSO gate agent and I had a very good repore, yet she did not offer me an op-upgrade. Did I get upset? No. Did I curse UA's name? No. Did I even think about asking for an op-up? No. Which made the one I got ORD-SEA all the more unexpected - and sweeter.

If I want to sit in First Class, I know what I need to do: Buy a First Class fare or buy an Economy class fare upgradeable with miles or certs and then put in the request. In the case of international travel, that upgradeable fare might cost me a few hundred dollars more but you have to ask yourself - what price comfort?

[This message has been edited by SEA_Tigger (edited 08-21-2003).]