Thanks to shrewd planning and a watchful eye, I’ve dodged landmines and avoided most calamities in the post-merger world of United Airlines. Others have not fared so well. Will today be my day of reckoning?
I’m flying from Newark to Los Angeles this morning and applied a regional premier upgrade (RPU) to the reservation in order to secure a first class seat–forget about a complimentary upgrade on this route. Turns out there were no seats to assign–when I checked in online a boarding pass was generated that said “See Agent”. That’s not a good sign.
And note the electronic boarding pass does not even mention first class–
When all this transpired yesterday afternoon, I knew exactly what was going on. The first class cabin was oversold and I was one of the lucky ones confirmed in first class without a seat assignment. I was not ready to panic (though the thought of a 6.5 hour daytime flight in coach does make me panic) but I was curious…so I picked up the phone and called United, reaching the Chicago call center–
AGENT: United Airlines Premier line.
ME: Can you take a look at this record please * * * * * *?
AGENT: Okay, I’ve got it up.
ME: Take a look at UA1275 from Newark to LA.
AGENT: Okay.
ME: Notice I do not have a seat assignment.
AGENT: Hmm. Let’s see. [tapping away] They’ll have to give you your seat at the airport.
ME: Is the first class cabin oversold?
AGENT: The flight is not oversold.
ME: But is the first class cabin oversold?
AGENT: The flight is not full.
ME: Again, I know there is plenty of room in economy class but are there more than 24 passengers booked into United First?
AGENT: Yes.
ME: How many more?
AGENT: I can’t tell you.
ME: Thanks. Goodbye.
* * *
I called again and reached a different agent in Houston–
AGENT: Thanks for calling the Premier desk. How can I help?
ME: Hello. I’m calling about an existing reservation. I’ll give you the record locator when ready.
AGENT: Go ahead.
ME: * * * * * *
AGENT: Okay, Mr. Klint. I’ve got it. How can I help you?
ME: Take a look at the Newark – Los Angeles flight. Notice I don’t have a seat assignment and there are no seats available. That typically means the cabin is oversold. Is that the case on this flight?
AGENT: Hmm. Well, the government allows us to overbook.
ME: I’m aware of what the government allows–can you just confirm whether the cabin is overbooked?
AGENT: It is.
ME: Before I decide whether to change this flight, can you help me understand how many seats the cabin is oversold by?
AGENT: Uh…
ME: Is it booked to 25?
AGENT: Uh…
ME: 26?
AGENT: That one.
ME: Ok.
AGENT: But there’s plenty of room in coach.
ME: Sure, but I don’t want to fly in coach and I won’t fly in coach.
AGENT: Well, usually the lowest ones on the totem pole lose their upgrades. You should be okay with your status.
ME: Or the ones without seat assignments…
AGENT: True.
ME: Ok. Let’s leave the reservation alone. I need to be on that flight.
AGENT: Ok sir. Good luck. Hopefully you’ll get to keep your upgrade.
* * *
Part of the reason I left the reservation untouched is because I want to be on the flight–it gets into LA at a good time, allowing me to avoid rush hour traffic. Also, there were no other viable first class options–I checked.
So now I’m in a state of limbo–am I worked up about nothing or will I find myself in a fight at the gate? I just love that the boarding pass fails to even indicate the cabin I am confirmed in. It’s like a perfect excuse for the gate agent to argue that I never had an upgrade in the first place…
I’ll soon find out.
Hope you get your upgrade, someone with as much as your visibility on the web is not to be trifled with. Let’s see if United PR is doing their job.
Back in the day the old United would downgrade based on fare paid and status. Paid F (sorted by status), award F (sorted by status), upgrades (sorted by status). I was on board more than one oversold 757 F cabin where they came on to offload a seated passenger in order to accommodate someone without a seat but with higher priority. That was never pretty. Although way back when they also provided downgrade kits, you would get your upgrade instrument back AND a confirmed upgrade to use on a future flight…
Looks like he’s safely ensconced in 2A. Although a live play by play on twitter would have been better. 😉
Wouldn’t you be fine if you check in online as soon as it opens? Or will the system not allow you to check in online?
United did me right today. I was booked on a FRA – LHR – EWR but decided at the last minute that the onnection was not worth the 777 instead of the usual crappy 762 on the direct FRA – EWR. I do this trip for work each week and the FRA product has been hit or miss for some time now. I called the 1K line and explained that it would be great to go direct. However at that moment we got disconnected and I needed to get through security. Without asking the 1K desk they made a second booking for me on the direct flight at no additional charge. I ended up taking the connection after all but it was a great thing for United to do proactively.
Was this cleared with an RPU, or just CPU? As Mike noted, looks like you got the upgrade.
A rather anti-climatic ending…I was assigned 2A. Bad flight though…stay tuned for that.
@AS: I did check in online – that image in my post is the boarding pass that was churned out. I did not get a mobile boarding pass because I began the trip with an Amtrak segment from ZFV-EWR.
@Brad: RPU – no way I would have cleared any other way.
My bad! I was (uncharacteristically) not paying enough attention! Glad you got the upgrade and sorry to hear the flight was bad anyway.
Wow – only 6 out of 24 in the cabin were upgrades. Usually a list of only 6 cleared upgrades means it’s a 319, not a 753!
Who knows with TODs these days (though less likely on that route). Talk to any FA and they’ll say they see fewer elites in the F cabin these days. Why is that? Not like there’s a great influx of new paid F traffic these days to UA.
Grass is not any greener at AA. I have been in Y half the time as EXP, about 8 flights, I am sitting in Y now on their 762. I even tried to apply a SWU because I have quite a few and it still didn’t clear! I never sat in Y on UA PS but at least I get free food and booze on AA. The staff are by far much better than UA though. Super friendly with auto refills of alcohol the entire flight!
@UnitedEF: What routes do you fly? I would only fly IAD-LAX-IAD on AA, but my complimentary upgrade clearance was 100%