We traveled to Hawaii using CR-1s, part of our trip did not clear but last leg did. Before boarding I requested the gate agent to please return our CR-1 and take 500 miles upgrades. I checked the account Today and CR-1 are still missing and no 500 miles upgrades taken out.

Has someone else experienced similar challenge? How do I get my CR-1's back and give UA 500 miles upgrades.

HELP!

It depends on the circumstance. Did the part of the trip that cleared do so at the time of the initial upgrade request or inside your 500 mile upgrade window? If the CR1 cleared at the time of the request that is your upgrade "currency". If it cleared inside your 500 mile upgrade window then you should have been able to choose how you wanted to support the upgrade.

Either call or e-mail. It happened to me on a flight from SFO-HNL. My wife and I had cleared using the 500-mile certs. When I checked in, I asked the agent if she could take the 500-mile certs from my wife's account instead of mine's. She said no problem.

When I got home, I found out she had taken 15K miles from each of our accounts.

I e-mailed the 1K desk and within a few days got a reply saying that five 500-mile certs would be deducted from each of our accounts and the 15K returned.

Potentially a different scenario, though. As danville 1K points out, if the CR1 cleared (even just for part of the entire trip) prior to the e500 window, then it should not be possible later to switch it to e500s. The CR1s have the advantage of clearing right away with availability.

This is the crux of the issue - and correctly stated.

If any portion cleared before your window, you should not be entitled to substitute your method of payment.

That's the risk you take.

Absolutely true. That's why it's tricky when only one segment clears and you have to decide whether to use the upgrade instrument with the chance the other segment will not clear.

OK, here's a slight variant on priority, if anyone can educate me. Say a pax has a route like SFO-HNL and requests upgrade with miles or CR-1 at the time of booking (and the pax status is lower than 1K). United only waitlists the pax. Then, another pax comes along inside the 100 hr window, books and tickets the flight, also waitlisted, but using 500 milers for his upgrade.

Also, for argument, both pay a similar fare and are in the same fare bucket.

So, when UA opens the upgrade inventory shortly before the departure, does the 1K guy trump the other pax who has lower status (but such lower status pax had tried to upgrade with a more potent instrument---say CR1, or even SWU or miles)? If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it.

Possiblely, it depends on when the upgrades clear and the answer is different for the non-status passagner if using miles (they will be on the PB list) versus CR1 ( puts them on the PA list)
If upgrades don't clear till a roughly four hours before flight, then status trumps
Some threads on this subject
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/7967362-post233.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...l#post11280253