Glad to hear you got the upgrade. We all know they are a privilege but are definitely must haves for those long flights.
Matt is right; if you can't get in first on a 757, 9C is a little slice of heaven.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I had kind of the opposite thing happen a couple of weeks ago ORD-TPA. CO rebooked me onto the UA 530p nonstop-it was sold out but CO asked me "do you have certificates to upgrade?" Mystified, I replied "sure do" then walked over to UA. They said that at the beginning of the day the 1c seats which are unsold become available for upgrading (they don't sell much 1c into/out of Florida)and I lucked into one of the seats that was an upgrade seat. This was at the PE/1k desk at ORD...

PE/1K desk at ORD? What is this desk and where is it located? Now that I'm flying UA on a fairly regular basis I need to get up to speed with these things.

MK:

The 1K/PremEx checkin is to the right of the First Class/Premier checkin over by door #1. It's only open during "normal hours" (i.e., weekdays, opens about 5:30am and closed around 7pm, not as sure about weekends) It's kind of out of the way, but once you know it's there, you never go back! There is usually a UA person standing there to make sure your 1K/PremEx also. Now, if I could only use the 1K line at BOS...

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Regards,
- Anna

Thanks AnnaS. I assume then, that this means the desk is outside the security area. Is this correct?

it is a ticket counter rather than anything inside of security. If you go into ORD from the very first door in T1 you will run right into it (trivia--it was the British Airways ticket counter before T5 was completed)

Beyond security there are two 1K Service Centers. One each in B and C concourses. They have receptionists to handle check-in, upgrades, etc and workstations for phone calls and laptop connections. They are not RCCs and do not offer food or drink of any kind...mainly there for service and a quick bit of work away from the RCC crowds. The one on the C side is fairly small. I prefer the B side one.

By the way, at the gate there were three (3) first class seats still available on my flight. Those 3 seats went to others who were on the waitlist. This brings up an interesting thought which I remember reading somewhere in the CO forum. Could people be putting in bogus 1st class reservations in order to improve their chances of getting an upgrade? Any thoughts or experiences?

My wife's boss makes bogus first class reservations on USAir all the time. He's convinced this tactic works. His upgrade success rate is over 75%.

I'm not sure this is really effective, as he is already the equivalent of a 1K, on that airline.

I'm willing to bet UA has factured this possibility into their (no doubt) very complicated algorithms for load managing.