I got a pair of systemwide upgrades last year as a customer service gesture for a absolutely nightmarish trip to Bangkok--
I could go into great detail on what happened to me to get these but it would upset me too much and remind me of why I really hate United.

Anyway, to make a long story short, these systemwides appear to expire in April-- they're actually the standard travel voucher with "Upgrade" typed on them and a date of 4/30/02-- doesn't actually say it "expires" but i'm guessing that this is what it means.

I should have used them on a trip I took to Beijing/Shanghai I took last August but decided to be smart (dumb) and save them for a scheduled trip to Delhi in October, (since that was a 40K upgrade as opposed to 25K for the China trip). Of course, post 9/11 UA cancelled their service into Delhi (which is a whole another story in and of itself...) and consequently I still have the upgrades.

I'm not sure I'll go somewhere overseas before April, so any thoughts on what I can do with them?

Should I:
a) beg United to extend them? will they even do this?
b) try and get United to retroactively use them for my China trip, since I could have used them there and recredit me the 50K miles from those upgrades? ok, so that's a crazy idea.
c) take a weekend trip to Singapore just to hang out in United Business.
d) take my chances on trying to use them after 4/30/02.
e) "give" them to someone else (out of the kindness of my heart of course).

Cash is King. Sell them on Ebay.

Or try exchanging them for another pair with a later expiration date.

Well, personally, I'll take Option "E", perhaps giving them to me? But, if I was in your position, and I wanted to get some miles, make a trip out of it, and in general, make use of them, I'd take a weekend trip to somewhere, your suggestion of Singapore is as good as any. Plus, you'll get the base miles. But...once again, should you want to excercise option "E", I'm here for ya. E-mails above.

(1) Retroactive use won't be allowed; (2) you probably won't get an upgrade on a SIN segment; (3) don't listen to anyone who tells you to look for cash; (4) Don't expect anyone to take an expired cert.

But, I think if you explain that you saved them for a DEL trip AND could have used them on another trip but spent 50K mi instead (but would now like the experience of trying UA to another destination), you may get them extended. Good luck.

ok so maybe i'm naive. but i really do take that "prohibited from bartering or selling miles" stuff seriously. united is like big brother. i know they'll find out.

If you have time, go for the SIN option. Pick some dates which you can upgrade at the time of booking. Easy 20K or so Q miles.

Otherwise, I am sure someone here would be willing to trade your expiring one for one of their 2002 ones.

First, make sure they are indeed SWUs rather than segment upgrades. If they are the latter, upgrading a multi-segment itinerary won't work.

Second, you should have an easy time going on over to coupon connection and swapping for later expiration dates. Much easier than going through United. Even when they say they'll extend something, it can take forever and you'll have to chase it. FT'ers are much more responsive!

The ability to get upgreded into Business is now dificult on the SIN route since the capacity was cut in half.

I have gotten extensions on certs through the Customer Relations Dept. Just make sure you use the Premier number, NOT the (united.com) published number as Bozos in a different country answer those lines and only say "NO" to every request!

Note that the old stock for these (handwritten) upgrades or "service checks" as they were called were NOT TRANSFERRABLE so exchange of them is not a viable option.

Looking at loads for NRT-SIN on Saturday Feb 2, it's impossible to get any UG. All classes seem overbooked. There are 19 1Ks on the NC waiting list for that flight, and I am one of them

------------------
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

- Leonardo da Vinci

Highflyah,
It appears that Jamester is also on #897 NRT-SIN with us! Look us up 15G & 15H!!!

How about a quick trip to Europe? Lots of good fares there. You just need to make sure you get an upgradable fare.

thanks for all the thoughts. i decided to give eastbay's suggestions a try and talk to customer relations, explain the situation and see if they'd extend. they're "looking into it" and will get back to me. i don't hold out much hope -- never get the sense from these guys that they give a sh*t whether i actually keep flying united or not.

roberto -- the guys i'm getting seem to be the bozos in another country, but insist that they're premier exec customer relations. btw, how was your trip in usairways envoy class? how do you think it compares w/ua business (new)?

[This message has been edited by kv99 (edited 02-01-2002).]

because i am such a valuable customer united called me back yesterday and told me they decided to extend my systemwides for three months. the guy gave me the speech about how this is a one-time exception and how they will NEVER do it again and they had to "consult with upper management" to do it.

well, i guess i should be glad they did anything at all. time to start planning that trip to paris in the spring!!

KV:

I'm sorry that you got the bozos to talk to.

I've gotten many letters of extension from the Elk Grove agents that are good to work with.

Also, the SIN UG inventory should loosen up now that UA has the HKG-SIN-HKG service resuming on 8 April.

Email me regarding your Paris trip. I'll be there in April for 11 nights. Maybe we could meet up and enjoy some fine French beverages....

My Envoy trip is this coming weekend. I'll have to report the good news!

Also, if you need hotel suggestions, I've got a favorite that you might enjoy.


[This message has been edited by roberto99 (edited 02-03-2002).]