CP companion upgrades
 

As a CP, I have flown with a Silver Preferred companion three times in the last two months. Each time I have flown with them, I've called the CP desk and asked that they be upgraded as my companion at the seven day window along with me. In each case (travelling off-peak times) this has been accomidated and seats for both of us have been assigned. In each case, upon return, my Silver companion has had e-upgrades deducted from their account. This has resulted in numerous e-mails back and forth to try and rectify the situation. So far no luck. Am I alone in this situation? Have others experienced the same?

Yes. I upgraded a US3 co-worker, and he had upgraded deducted. Took several e-mails and phone calls to get the situation resolved.

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

Did you check-in by a rep or e-ticket machine? 3/9-14 I was flying PHL-TPA with my daughter, who has no status. The e-ticket machine could not print her boarding pass because there is no e-upgrade balance in her account. Both legs, I had to ask a rep to print the boarding pass, and they had to put my CP number into her reservation in order to print the boarding pass.

I used an expiring DMUPSYS last December to fly LAX-CLT-DCA, and 6 e-upgrades were still deducted from my account. I e-mailed the DMSC and the 6 were quickly reposted as "complimentary".

David

[This message has been edited by IndyDavid (edited 03-25-2003).]

I remember reading something from US saying if you are using a paper upgrade (ie DMUPSYS02) to remind the agent not to deduct the miles from the account. They may have some override they can do.

This may be available when flying with a CP. We shouldn't have to remind them, but if they get it right it saves you time in the long run.

Also, you could have the companion book the flight without using a FF number and add it later, after checking-in for the inbound.

Yes, Geo, this has happened to me. Hubby(CP) booked a trip BWI-CLT-NAS and return with me as a companion with my DM# entered (Gold). They deducted both the outbound and return upgrades. Cust Serv desk indicated that "whoever took the reservation did it wrong". Don't know about that. It took a phone call plus an email to get it straightened it out. All is well now.

I had the same problem ...

GSO-PHX and back... Mrs. GSO is Silver, Confirmed upgrades at booking (B fares), and the strange thing is that on the outbound, they deducted 1 for GSO-CLT and 3 for CLT-PHX. On the return, 4 for PHX-CLT and 1 for CLT-GSO. We checked in at the counter both times. Explain that one ( other than the obvious... Agent in CLT was being nice)

Thought I would bump this since its still happening to us.

My wife and I have been flying a bit lately (me CP, her GP as my companion) and no matter how we check in, the e-upgrades keep getting deducted from her account.

How is it they havent figured this out yet? I find it funny that there is no problem when I bump into a friend with no US status and make them my companion. They have none to deduct!

Kiosk check-in deducts it, normal checkin desk does it, etc.

Is there something I should be asking them to do specifically?

I feel lame requesting 1 e-upgrade credits for flights, but I also make a point of specifying what is broken when I ask.

Same thing happened to my wife last May after she traveled on a flight with me, using my CP status to upgrade. I just assumed it was a one time glitch. She had so many upgrades in her account, I didn't bother calling, but this indicates the problem is widespread.

actually, i have had pretty good luck with this. my fiancee (gp) has only had e-upgrades deducted once when we've flown together (out of maybe 12 trips together). on that specific itinerary, we were on different pnr's, as we weren't sure she was going to be able to go at the time i purchased my ticket.

when i called the cp desk, they fixed it right away (although the phone call itself took about 15 minutes, most of which was hold-time while they looked up the records) and the appropriate number of e-upgrades was redepostied into her account.

the rep suggested that the problem was probably that we were on different pnr's, but i don't buy this as a universal explanation to what has obviously been a pretty pervasive problem. for one thing, she was upgraded automatically with me at the 7-day window (so our records were certainly linked somehow), and we've also traveled on separate records before and had no problem.

that said, trying to book your tickets together on the same record may help minimize your chances of being victimized.

-- he who slacks

[This message has been edited by OverpaidSlacker (edited 08-20-2003).]

I just had a friend (GP) who was traveling with 2 companions. He used 3 20K awards to upgrade the three of them.

After the flights he checked his account and they took out e-upgrades for all 3 of them.

You have to monitor your account if you upgrade with anything but an e-upgrade.

I echo deelmakur's comments that while not a big deal on a case-by-case basis, this is likely widespread and going unnoticed. And it goes beyond CPs and companions as evidenced in the 'used miles to upgrade, but they deducted e-upgrades anyway'.

Almost have to wonder, with other things, if this is something they arent in a hurry to fix because it benefits them.

Keep an eye on those upgrade accounts!

I don't think there is any conspiracy theory here. I think the bare bones version of Sabre that the TA and GA's use on a daily basis probably defaults to an auto-deduct of the e-upgrades from the upgraded members account. There are probably so many little inputs that have to be made that one little slip by the agent and the default is the auto-deduct. And with all the pecking of the keyboard that the agents have to do just to check you in, is there any wonder this happens?