Well, here is my outbound trip report (from Almaty, Kazakhstan):

After calling both United and Lufthansa, it became crystal-clear that I would have to wait until day of departure to upgrade my code-share flight. So, on August 28, I went to JFK with two SWUs (one for me and another for my business colleague). Lufthansa happily took the certificates and put us on the wait-list to be upgraded to FRA.

I asked about the continuing flight from FRA to ALA. LH staff (two people separately) insisted that I would need two more SWUs. Supposedly, LH requires one per flight, not the familiar United rule (origin to destination, without stopovers).

I really couldn't believe what they were telling me, so I called 1K customer service to get the real rule. The very nice woman did not know the answer. She put me on hold while she checked with a service coordinator. That person didn't know the rule, either, and suggested that I READ THE CERTIFICATE (like I hadn't already done that)! So I gave up.

As it happened, LH's check-in computers failed that night, wiping out all the information about passengers already on board. All tickets had to be reentered manually, resulting in a 1-hour departure delay. That delay caused us to miss our connecting flight, and we had to continue to ALA on the following day, August 30. Coach was overbooked on that flight, and my colleague and I were both operationally upgraded to business class!

I can't wait until the return flights!

Bruce

Bruce -- as I started reading the thread, i noticed it was from July, and I said to myself, "I hope he lets us know how it turns out."

Congratulations on getting upgraded...and yes, please tell us about the return.

good luck

Experienced the same thing lately on a CDG-FRA-NRT routing. Was booked in V-class on LH, asked for the upgrade upon check-in in Paris but the only thing the agent could do is put a note on my PNR and told me that I had to check at the gate in FRA. When I arrived at the gat, the upgrade had been cleared and had an excellent seat, window exit row. On the flight back, I got upgraded upon check-in at NRT, but only till FRA, upgrading to CDG would have required another certificate, of course not worth it.

OK, here's what happened on the return flights from Almaty to JFK earlier today:

In Almaty, I asked that my colleague and I be put on the upgrade list for FRA-JFK. (I already knew that ALA-FRA was impossible to upgrade.) The woman said that it had to be done in Frankfurt. We knew that was incorrect, but she obviously wasn't going to do it, so that was that. (We had 4 hours in FRA, anyway.)

After riding to FRA in coach (and the plane was hot like an oven!), we went to the Lufthansa lounge and were put on the upgrade list for JFK. I asked about our chances and was told "very slim." This was not true (business had many open seats), but they seem to say that automatically.

When we got to the gate, the gate agent said that we had to wait until precisely 9:40 to be upgraded for the 10:00 flight (LH400). So, long after everybody else had boarded, we sat there watching the clock tick!

Finally, at 9:40, she asked for my MP account number so that she could deduct miles. I said, "No, I'm using SWUs to upgrade" (which had been clear from the start) and handed them to her. This threw her for a loop. She clearly had no idea what to do with them and began furiously typing into her computer.

After at least 5 minutes (remember, every other passenger was on the plane already), she said, "I'm sorry to inform you that I can upgrade only you and not your friend because these certificates are not transferable." Well, we know that's not true, and I showed her the sentence on the back that says in plain English: "This certificate is transferable." She replied that it was transferable only on United, not on Lufthansa. I adamantly disagreed and would not budge. I also told her that I had upgraded both of us on the flight TO FRA a week before.

Another 5 minutes of furious typing ensued, along with discussion among the three gate agents serving my colleague and me. I could not understand the conversation (in German, of course). Finally, the lead agent just walked away, never to be seen again! My colleague was just amazed.

I asked one of the other agents what was happening. She said that her coworker (the third agent) was going to upgrade us. (Thanks!) After another 5 minutes of furious typing, we had boarding passes for 3H and 4G.

What a nightmare! Yeah, I know, I got what I wanted eventually, so I shouldn't complain, right? Well, the whole experience was so unnecessarily nerve-wracking, I would NEVER go through it again voluntarily. United simply has to educate Lufthansa staff about how to handle these fairly routine things.

Bruce

Sorry to hear about your poor experience on Lufthansa, but it's not as if this is a rare thing! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif Sounds par for the course for LH.

Mightn't you do better flying UA on the transatlantic leg next time? I know I will.

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Heyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!