Why did I get downgraded?
 

I'm curious about what happened to me last week. I was flying SFO-ORD-DCA, and upgraded using miles at time of purchase, to business for the SFO-ORD leg and first for ORD-DCA.

I checked in, got my boarding passes, and flew the first leg with no problem. And the new business class "pods" are a big improvement over the old seats.

When I went to board the ORD-DCA flight, the scanner binged at me and the gate agent checked my BP and then told me I'd been downgraded, and handed me a new boarding pass. My new seat was an exit row aisle, and for the short ORD-DCA hop I don't really care that much, but I've never been downgraded before after checking in and I wonder what might have triggered that.

Any ideas?

Bob

there could be many reasons for the downgrade.....

equipment swap
inop seat
fam
full fare pax

your profile doesn't show your status so if there were multiple folks who could have been downgraded, those with lowest status go first

what was your original seat number?

what was the equipment when your u/g cleared & was it the same when your boarded?

now as to compensation for the downgrade, i'll defer to others.... ;)

The plane stayed the same (A320), so I think one of your other guesses is probably accurate. And I have no status after a couple of years of very light travel, so I'm sure I got picked on first.

It's odd to have ~750K BIS miles and ~1M current miles in my account, but no status anymore.

Anyway, I'm not planning to bug UAL for compensation, since I got the nice new Biz seat I wanted for the longer leg of my trip, I was just curious as to the possible causes.

Bob

A FlyerTalk first??

Definately a first! Although for 15,000 miles, I would have expected to get more than an 1,800 mile ugrade to ORD that I could have used 4 e500s to get instead...I would ask for some miles back....but that's just me

I would send UA an email asking for a slight mileage refund, since you didn't get the full itinerary (i.e. you didn't get what you paid for and were confirmed for), but wouldn't make a big fuss over it. Certainly no other compensation would be due.

You may not have to.
I was "downgraded" from my booked 2-class F seat to a 3-class C seat following an eqpt. change recently.
Not only were the 3-class C seats better (as was the in-flight service and food) but within a week I received an apology email and 5,000 customer relations miles.
They can downgrade me that way anytime.

Ants

Yes, but you're a 1K and I'm (now ) a peon general member, so I'm not expecting anything.

And to the other reply, it was worth 15K miles to me because I have ~750K miles currently, and since I have 2 small kids and we don't travel much with them, I see no reason not to use the miles. Given the state of airlines in general these days, sitting on that many miles isn't much higher on my list of investments than Lehman stock would be.

Bob

If United cares about customer service your level should not mean a thing. You upgraded the whole flight and should have received that without question, and without your status not making a difference.

i'm going with the latter two of my suggestions of fam or full fare pax. what was your seat number?

YIKES! That is a huge mileage balance to hold for such a questionable airline. If I were you, and wouldn't be flying for a few years, I would

1. Trade some miles on CC to get 3P

2. Log in to MP and click the merchandise link under the "special awards for elite members" and buy myself something expensive (even though the $/mile value isn't that good).

Just my $.02

750K and you have two small kiddos? Wow...why not take the entire family off to Hawaii in first class for free (sorta)?

I think that next time I'd just use miles to book standard/saver C awards instead of paying with cash. With 750K BIS miles, surely you'll fly again when you're ready and wanting since you've done it before :D Or at least get that huge balance down to around 200K and then start mixing miles with cash for upgrades.

Also I too use my miles for upgrades (higher chances of getting the upgrade / less paranoia/insecurity of not getting them) despite too many e500s which have no value since they no longer convert to miles (I didn't sign up for that lifetime conversion, ugh), so I just let those e500s expire worthless like Lehman call options :D

Michael (miles balance envy)

Wow, you are much more of an optimist than I am :-)

first row aisle (1C), and into DCA, so a FAM is probably most likely.

Bob

Now that my kids are getting older (K and 2nd grade), we'll probably do that sometime in the next year or so, but in the meantime using 15K for an upgrade occasionally doesn't bother me.

Bob

Well, my company pays for the Y ticket, so I'm not interesting in picking up the base fare. But I'm glad I'm not the only one using them for upgrades.

Bob

We would never be able to wait that long....our 3 month old has been on over 15 flight segments already and she has been a pleasure to travel with...that is a prime travel age since they basically do one of two things: 1) Eat and 2) Sleep (90% of the time)....at some of the "older" ages, that may be a different story....lol