purchasing e-upgrade blocks
 

Is anyone else having problems purchasing the blocks of e-upgrades at the UA website? I have a trip in a couple weeks and am too low in 500 milers to upgrade myself and my son. But the site seems to be redirecting me to call customer service.

I have found this feature of the UA website very inconsistent, some times I can purchase the blocks of 4 for $200 and other times I cant. One time I made the mistake of actually calling customer service and they wanted to charge me $325 for the block of 4.

$200 for 4 is the Elite price, for Premiers & above. $325 for 4 is the non-elite, general member price.

If you're having problems with the website, you can buy them at check in/gate as well.

You can upgrade yourself even if you have none, specifying e-500s, and if the upgrades clear, you can by them at check-in.

No surprise that united.com is not able to take your money, but very sad for UAUA's prospects...

I was trying to do this about six weeks ago. I tried every day for probably two weeks, and it never would go through. I finally decided to not upgrade the flight in question. Yeah, I could have called. I just didn't feel like it.

This website function is obviously broken, and has been so for a while apparently. Sad.

I agree 100% that it is sad that they won't take your money. Or mine, as I have noticed before. Or others, who have used united.com and can't find united metal flights. So crazy to run a business like this, and have a website in 2006 that won't take money from people...............

Sorry for the rant....

However, if you want to upgrade, just upgrade as if you have the e-500s. Then, when it clears, at check-in you can buy the certificates for the same price.

albatross

I know. That's what makes it even worse. I knew that, yet I just didn't feel like dealing with that at check-in or talking to people on the phone. So $200 of mine didn't go to United. One can only wonder how much money they are leaving on the table. Even if no customer reports this to them (not that it would do any good), doesn't SOMEONE there notice that the revenue in this particular category went to zero all of a sudden and maybe contemplate that something might be wrong?? Again, the only word for it is "sad".

I founf out that i get an error message on sat nights

I am curious, were you able to purchase 500-mile upgrades online at any point within the last six weeks? I literally tried every day for at least two weeks. Sometimes multiple times in a day and on different computers actually on a RTW trip so in many different countries no less! It wouldn't go through no matter the day, hour, location, computer, planet, universe, dimension or otherwise...

Can you clarify how this works? I'm going to try to upgrade IAD-SFO in a few weeks, but I only have 4 certs for this 2500 mile flight. Being a lowly 2P, my chances of clearing are low, and I don't want to pay $200 if I'm not going to be upgraded. This is only one segment within BDL-SFO. I don't care about upgrading the BDL-IAD leg.

1) How do I request the upgrade? Do I call in or can I do it online?

2) Assuming the upgrade clears, at what point to I have to purchase the 500 milers? During checkin at BDL? Can OLCI handle upgrading only 1 segment?

3) Do I have to purchase a pack of 4 even though I only need 1?

I purchased e-upgrades online last tuesday and did not have a problem nor have I ever had a problem; but I am not surprised with united.bomb, it is so inconsistent

1) Yes. The easiest way it to say it's paper 500s.
2) At checkin. OLCI should be able to handle this - you will get a DM card and have to check in in person anyway.
3) Yes.

Thank you, everyone, for making me feel like all those 500 milers sitting in my account, are actually worth something. Unfortunately, the reality is living in the all-TED city of Las Vegas makes them not-so-valuable, and the same goes for the CR-1's.

I was able to purchase 500-mile upgrades in early May and then again today. I am the person who posted the original posting, so I feel your pain of trying many, many times.

Why did it work today? Who knows. Good Karma. The sun is shining in PDX???

However, if your upgrade clears at the gate (which would be the most likely scenario for a 2P, IME), you'll be out of luck. Generally, they won't allow you to purchase 500's at that point so you'd either have to pucharse the 4 additional 500's ahead of time or pass on the upgrade.

You could try to purchase them by phone as soon as your name is called at the gate, but a) I don't know whether you'd have enough time as they are usually trying to finish the boarding process by the time they clear upgrades for 2P's (again, IME); and b) I don't know how quickly the 500's would appear in your account.

One other thing -- if your upgrade clears at any point and you decline it, you'll almost certainly lose your seat assignments in Y and you may be stuck in E-. No harm in waitlisting until checkin, but if it doesn't clear by then, you may want to decide to cancel it rather than risk your E+ seat.

Why wouldn't they allow me to purchase the 500's at the gate? Has anyone had luck doing so?

Also, wouldn't I have my boarding pass for IAD-SFO when I check in at BDL? If the upgrade doesn't clear, I would still have it. If it does clear, and they don't let me puchase the additional 500s, I would still have it. Does this make sense?