1. If you were a top customer, they wouldn't have taken away a confirmed upgrade to begin with.
2. Top customers don't buy W fares, they buy Z or above.

Good story though!

Sigh. If they overbook, someone has to go. I agree that upgraded pax should be downgraded first. No matter top customer or not.

Yikes... I agree... I wasn't aware that you could get downgraded if they oversold. That has never happened to me either.

I don't think they should do that. Once you are upgraded, you should be considered to be on a confirmed C ticket. If they are afraid of an oversold situation they should never have confirmed that SWU, especially at the time of booking. They should go to the VDB procedures if they oversold. Somebody will give up a seat for the right price and UA should pay it, its their fault.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Same here. ^ There are those who refer to upgrades, e.g. SWUs as "free," a "gift," etc. I don't know about others but I earned mine by following the rules set out by UA, including a heckuva lot of BIS miles.

Was F also full? If it wasn't I would have thrown a world class fit if they didn't op-up someone from C.

+1000

My question is did the OP displace someone on the waitlist with high fare, etc.

If they did, then UA should get smacked in the head for it.

The fac that OP displaced someone else will get paid back via karma

You are both way off base. The OP held a confirmed business class reservation (an upgrade, yes, but still a confirmed business class reservation) and was re-accommodated on another flight, so that he could travel in the class he was booked in.

Sorry, but that is not stealing. How can the OP steal something that never belonged to anyone on the NRT upgrade waitlist? DO you really think if I am #1 on the waitlist, the upgrade already belongs to me? It does not.

That is the usual employee circus they publicly perform in FRA: clear Y->C upgrades, only then clear C->F. That way there is sufficient revenue space in C or even better in F.

I concur ^

Sorry, but they were upgraded on one flight. If you change flights you have to play the game again. An upgrade is an upgrade. There was nothing wrong with the flight only that they got downgraded. No irregular ops, nothing, they just did not want to fly in coach. If it means that much buy the business class ticket. They basically whined enough and got supervisors to oversell a flight in coach and force an upgrade on a flight they were not booked on just to fly in business. That is not cool. If they had decided to change flights and had not been downgraded they would have to go into the queue just like everyone else. S**t happens, live with it. they got downgraded, they would have flown in the cabin they paid for. I also say very bad on UA for letting this person bully them into doing something they should not have done. Both parties were wrong.

And no, it did not belong to you but if they had not pulled the stunt it would have been yours and if that was the only upgrade seat you would have been in coach. And if you knew the reason why I suspect you would not have been happy, especially if you had a higher fare bucket than the OP.

On 11/18 from PVG to ORD C was oversold by 7 seats according to agent and they were paid C. It definitely happens....

Indeed. In the NRT United Club on 13NOV11 they were paging for a C passenger on NRT-SIN (UA803?) to voluntarily downgrade due to a C oversell. The offer was USD$700, then USD$800. They were still paging when the flight went to boarding, so I assume someone was involuntarily downgraded...

I'm considering it my own karmic payback for being #1 on the waitlist to FRA both ways in May on a B fare and not clearing either one.

F was full with 8 on the waitlist.

And by that logic confirmed is confirmed. Except when it's not. UA was unable to deliver something that was "confirmed" so they did their best to reaccommodate me. The upgrader on the NRT flight was never confirmed, so I don't see how it's stealing.

You were confirmed on a DIFFERENT flight. For all we know the #1 on that list could have been on the waitlist for a long time and a higher fare.

Regardless, you whined and UA did not follow protocol with the upgrade on the flight you got rebooked on. You should have been put in the pool on the waitlist. If that got you the UG fine but I suspect it likely would have not.

You were confirmed NC. Not confirmed C. That is a huge difference.

By your logic, anyone who gets a confirmed upgrade should be able to bump someone else on any flight that would get you to your destination. Doesn't work that way.

Cry me a river on missing an UG on a B fare. You just stuck your bad luck on someone else so it will come around..... Hard enough for people to get INTL upgrades without this kind of crap being played.