Upgrade Rules??
 

I recently flew SEA/LHR, and upgraded with miles. Since UA doesn't fly non-stop from Seattle, I flew through Chicago.

Outbound on SEA/ORD/LHR, I was upgraded SEA/ORD/LHR, both legs for 20,000 miles.

On the return, LHR/ORD/SEA, the gate agent at Heathrow said "no-way", it was 20,000 for LHR to first USA stop, then another 10,000 for a US domestic upgrade, and that had always been the rule.

Now, someone was wrong, but I am hesitant to call or write Mileage Plus, since maybe it was the US agent who was wrong, in which case, I would just live with the result.

Any advice or comments?

Bruce McAlister

It's based on Origin to destination, so in your case it should be 20K miles for LHR to SEA. The agent was lying to you.

In fact, you can even have one stopover en route if you're upgrading with miles.

Call UA and get your miles back.

Empress is correct, and I've encountered the same issue, on two separate occasions, in LHR.

UA owes you 10,000 miles.

Thanks All,

United should hire some of the people here to work at Heathrow.

Now, all I have to worry about is whether all my flight segments will appear and qualify for the *Alliance 55,000 bonus.

Bruce

Oooh, don't get many of us started on LHR staff and their ill-informed knowledge of the rules. They're some of the nastiest when it comes to gifted SWUs (even when the rules say they're transferable), and good luck with rebooking assistance in the event of irregular operations. They more than any other station seem equipped only to deal with high-rev (not necessarily high-status) fliers.

I've always wondered about this. I have never flown UA out of LHR but I have heard the horror stories. Ground service out of CDG is almost always good to excellent; when they don't know something, they ask for a supervisor and are usually quite thorough and professional (check in, tickets, gate, RCC). Why does UA allow this at their most important European gateway?

Ummm, but their record of collecting non-gifted SWU is NOT too great. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

It's funny how we all can have such different experiences.

In the year+ that I've been lurking I've read the stories of painful experiences at LHR. In my 2-4 trips/year for the past 3-4 years through LHR I've never had a problem; I'd even praise the UAL staff there for their speed and willingness to help (especially in often switching me from LHR-IAD-SFO to the non-stop LHR-SFO). On these trips I'm usually flying on some type of coach fare with a confirmed mileage or SWU upgrade.

My only complaint about my LHR travel is the recent lack of 747-400's. Business on 777's is more than adequate, but upper deck on a 400 is so nice...

-BP

Much as I dislike many of the UA LHR staff, many of whom learned their surliness and upgrade-employees-first policy from days when they worked for PA at LHR, I really think this comment is too much. What's the point of calling it a "lie" -- do they benefit personally from your not getting an U/G? What it is is ignorance of the rules, and disinerest in understanding if your challenge/objection is correct.



[This message has been edited by Starman (edited 07-07-2002).]