Learn something on FT all the time.. thanks.

Now to plot my stories of being disserviced ;)

This is one of the reasons I love United. Agents have the ability to put a "disserviced customer" on the wonderful BP5A list. However, I think (know) BP5A is sometimes "abused" in the same way that FFCC is.

Last month, I (a 1P) was travelling with a friend (a 1K). I was low priority on the waitlist (confirmed by gate agend 30 minutes before flight) and was upset that my buddy was going to clear and I wasn't. My buddy spoke to the agent and lo-and behold, I was cleared ahead of other 1K's even though we were each on different PNR's. Good for me, sucks for the 1K's who got screwed. I've been on the losing end too, you win some you lose some.

But the GS's upgrade was cleared manually! At the gate! By the Service Director with whom I spoke to! That is why he said that the Singapore office should have sent a message.

Sorry, should have mentioned that before.

Once again, I was promised something and they didn't keep their promise. The fact that a seat was available and I wasn't cleared disappoints me a lot.

I understand. I actually spoke to the CS department an hour before heading to the airport. I would have been manually given the upgrade since it was a note in the PNR (at least that is my understanding - IM could have done something so as to make the upgrade clear automatically as well, but I don't know that).

Exactly!

The one in the future has already been cleared :D But it is actually from SFO to HKG.

There was a service failure, and there hasn't been a service recovery. I can think of some things that could have been done to recover from the service failure, but I don't think that is necessary for me to post now. And you are right about the inflight crew.

Summary?
 

I guess this is a good summary ... in the world of upgrades, you have to realize that (never mind what anyone or any rule says) ... you win some & you lose some.

:rolleyes:

At least I hope you got a nice seat upstairs?

Ouch! well that adds an additional level of frustration to your tale. It doesn't help at all, but the DM list will sort the UGS before the 1k, every time, no matter what someone types in the reservation, but someone should have put a comment next to your name on the DM list, in hopes that anyone who cleared upgrades on the flight would read all the passengers comments. That is one of the drawbacks of having people in the RCC/ SD's that aren't working the flight do things that should be centralized by the 1 or 2 agents at the gate who will be working the list. Yea, getting cleared in the 1st class lounge/RCC is nice, but it de-centralizes important information.

Back in my gate agent days, people would request that I "call them in the RCC WHEN their upgrade clears." I tried not to be rude, but that presumption usually led to me stating that "upgrades will be cleared at the gate 10-20 prior to departure. If I call your name, and you are not present to accept your upgrade IF it clears, I will move on to the next person."

On a wide open flight, with extra manpower (the good old days) the RCC call was a nice touch that COULD be added provided time was not critical. In this day of ultra-competitive status matches, mileage runs, and road warriors earing more miles than heartbeats, 1 person with all the data doing all the DM work ensures a consistant product to all consumers (that be you guys!)

I still say take the UG, and write, expect nothing, and hopefully, your expectations will be exceeded.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

I've heard the Automated Upgrade list that Reservations uses does not roll over automatically to become the DM list at the airport on the day of flight (i.e. that you have to check in and be placed on the DM list). Is that true? If so, what is the point of that? To make us all race to the airport to see if that will help us beat another elite travelling on the same fare and status?

As for the op, the UA agent NEVER should have promised you something like that. Next time, take the "sure thing" up front and have the issue resolved. It's only going to stress you more to prolong the compensation issue over sweating out an upgrade.

Personally, I'd be very angry about this incident. Then again, I would have never accepted a "we'll move you to the top of the STANDBY list for upgrades." Creative? Yes. But it leaves the possibility that you won't clear that list at all.

I'm taking such a hard stance because Customer Relations agents should be resolving issues, not creating them. What a ridiculous form of compensation to offer! I hate to say it, because it definitely sounds creative, but they shouldn't have left you hanging like that (especially since they already deal with other pax w/o a legitimate issue who complain about upgrades not clearing...they should know better than to create that monster).

At this point, I'd call Customer Relations back, give them the incident # of the original problem (or have a CR agent look it up and give it to you first), and then ask for a Service Director, Manager or Supervisor (someone who oversees other CR Agents). They need to know that their own CR agent was offering this, and might be using this particular service solution with other pax, as well.

You can send a letter to WHQ if you want to, and one of Glenn's secretaries will respond in a few weeks.

Be clear with what you want, and offer them several options if there are different things that could work. One-segment confirmed upgrade on the UA system seems appropriate here. Other options could be miles or a CS voucher.

The original CR agent should have either confirmed the upgrade to First through Inventory Management or remained firm with an alternative offer to compensate you for the original incident.

or...
 

Just for giggles, here's my own creative service solution:

10,000 EQMs and 10,000 bonus miles. :)

Hey if UA can be creative... ;)

I don't see how you're due anything more than a CR-1, which is what I'm assuming you got when you reference a "Domestic upgrade". We all seem to value a CR-1 at 50% the value of an SWU.

In the end, you:
• WERE upgraded on an international segment;
• were NOT upgraded on the next international (but longest) segment; and
• WERE upgraded on the final (domestic) segment.

So according to the SWU rules, you didn't lose anything, since you got upgraded on one segment that can only be done with an SWU (or miles, but that’s beside the point).

However, since you were supposedly "promised" an upgrade on one of the international segments (the longest of your trip), I think you're due a PERCENTAGE of the value of an SWU. Hence, a CR-1 seems appropriate.

If I were you, I would accept the CR-1 (happily), since you officially didn't get cheated out of anything. Perhaps you can write a letter too, but in it, I personally wouldn't dare asking for anything. I would only write to ask WHQ to stop making promises that they KNOW they can't be accomplished in the "field".

Just my two cents, but I think you were treated and compensated fairly.

If I were you, I would just happily take what I got.

Also, just so you know, UGS customers ARE United BEST and MOST LOYAL customers. To UA, they are more important than you, for good reason.

Best,
Benjamin

Hopefully, UA will have someone with people skills deal with the OP. Definitely, it would be a bad idea to have someone with a "robot" attitude - like what I've seen in this thread - deal with people.

This guy flies 144,000 miles a year, and flies paid international business class. Isn't this the kind of customer UA is after in 2005?

Bottom line: There is an easy fix for UA to make this loyal customer feel good. It is a good business decision for them to do so.

Since this is the incident that started the whole fiasco, would you tell us more about what happened here?

I've had my share of annoying experiences on UA, but they're in the minority, and instead of sweating it, I just move on and realize the next flight will be better. Perhaps you should too in this case. You asked for compensation - complicated compensation at best, because being moved to the top of a w/l is a very subjective exercise - and then you are upset that it didn't work out. You then choose to demand more ambiguous compensation to be handed to you on a silver platter, after you tell airline employees "there won't be a next time". If I were you, I'd get over it, get on with life, be glad you're young and jetsetting in the premium cabins, and that you arrived safe and sound. ;-)

BTW - in all seriousness, I'm not making fun of you, just telling you to lighten up a bit. I can get tense about petty things like this and all it does is make me enjoy life less.

I don't want to hijack the thread and I think the original subject has been sufficiently addressed. However, Benjamin, can we puleeze get off this "UGS ARE United BEST and MOST LOYAL customers"-trip? The majority of them may have spent a sizeable chunk of cash on UA last year (their's or somebody else's; heck, they may have simultaenously spent even more somewhere else. We really don't know). They may be the "best" customer du jour but I would guess that your average 1K is far more loyal.

WOW! This makes me think of a "technique"... 1. Have a friend buy a full-refundable First Class ticket on a flight I want an upgrade on. 2. Go to the airport and verify that I am at the top of the upgrade list (using whatever means necessary) 3. If I am at the top of the list, get REALLY excited and call my friend and tell him to cancel his seat. 4. Get REALLY pissed when my master plan does not work :eek:

NOTE: Again, this is just an idea that comes to mind when I read the story. I am NOT making any accusations. I live in E+ and I do not understand the complicated "Business upgraded to First Class" world. :confused:

As Phil Hartman once put it, "Your world frightens and confuses me... your iron birds, your magic-picture boxes. I do not understand these things. You see, I am just an unfrozen caveman lawyer, and while I do not understand these magic cavepaintings, I do know that my client is entitled to $4.4M in compensatory damages..." :D