On Saturday I flew from San Francisco to Washington Dulles on United and witnessed what could be classified as a lazy and motivated gate agent at the aircraft door. Lazy because she wasn’t going to fill the two empty seats in first class with passengers on the upgrade list, but motivated to get our delayed flight out saying there were passengers with connections in Dulles.

For a few weekends, San Francisco International Airport is down to one arrival runway, due to construction, causing some flow control delays. As such, passengers missing their connections is more likely. And I believe my flight was a case in point.

When I boarded, the first class cabin was booked and checked-in full – I was number 4 on the upgrade list. No chance, really, and I didn’t care that much since I’ve been getting over my upgrade phobia lately. But I still like to see how it all plays out and when the agent came onboard with the paperwork ready to close the door, here’s how the flight looked:

I was in 10D and the gentleman ahead of me in 9D called out to the agent ready to close the door asking about further upgrades. (I bet he was also looking at his mobile app). The agent said, “let me look at the list” and turned around to her colleague. Seconds later, she said, “Yes, you definitely… take any open seat.” He got up and moved up front.

The agent then told the flight attendant, “I’m closing the door!” And she did. After the jetway pulled and the flight attendant armed the door, she went up front, grabbed the manifest from the purser and headed back to another passenger in 20C. He was quickly escorted up to the last remaining seat in first class and later in the flight came back to bring his belongings forward.

Sunday morning I looked at the flight again and noticed #1 and #2 on the list showed cleared, though I have no idea if they were indeed the two passengers moved forward. They probably were.

Now here’s what I wonder. If Mr. 9D didn’t question the gate agent, I bet those two first class seats would have flown empty. I certainly respect the gate agent for wanting to get the flight out as quickly as possible to protect the downline connections, but shouldn’t they also take the few seconds (it wouldn’t take more than a minute, would it?) to fill those empty seats?

I said earlier that I didn’t really care about missing the upgrade. But had I been number 1 or 2 and saw after landing that I showed cleared and still flew in coach, I’d be a little pissed. Wouldn’t you?

Finally, kudos to the flight attendant who seemed to take it upon herself to fill the last remaining seat in first class with Mr. 20C. I don’t think the gate agent had anything to do with that.

Related posts:

Buh-Bye Upgrade Phobia: Rediscovering the Joy of Coach Travel

A Look at Cheapest vs. Upgradable United Airlines International Airfares

I believe it was Matthew over at Live and Let’s Fly who first coined the term “upgrade phobia” – a condition of nervously worrying about whether your upgrade will come through, constantly checking your position on the list, etc. And I have admittedly been deeply phobic most of the time, which results serious disappointment when an upgrade doesn’t come through.

I’ve been fortunate to maintain an incredible upgrade percentage the past few years, primarily due to selecting off-peak times and days and/or only booking flights where I could confirm an upgrade at ticketing.

But with changes in my flying patterns and upgrades becoming harder to come by – in some cases simply due to the way airlines offer and process them – I will be flying coach a lot more often in the future.

Here I was yesterday (below) at number 17 on the upgrade list out of 49 with a fully booked and checked-in cabin from Washington Dulles to San Francisco:

Upgrade List IAD-SFO

I resigned myself to knowing I’d never clear and definitely felt a little depressed about it… until about an hour into the flight. I sat there in my perfectly comfortable exit row window seat and gazed at the gorgeous horizon and setting sun and had that feeling of pure joy and relaxation I seem to have lost track of recently. Sure, I have always loved the view and experience of flying, but the game of needing an upgrade has been putting a veil over my experience the past few years.

It’s an addiction, really, and my flight yesterday reminded me how the resulting emotions the phobia brings clouds my true passion for flying in the first place – simply flying.

Flying is awesome and it, in and of itself, is what I love to do. Chasing the high of earning top-tier status and getting upgrades these past few years really suppressed some of my natural joy.

My goal on United this year is simply to hit million-miler status (I’m 4,100 miles away after counting what I have booked, but not yet flown) and I’ll be dropping from Premier 1K status down to Gold for 2014. Upgrades will definitely be rare after that and I was happy yesterday to have been woken up from the (over-entitled?) behavior I’ve been demonstrating.

I hope to stay in this current mindset and avoid relapsing into old phobic behaviors. If I get an upgrade, great. And if not, simply love the experience of flying.

Related posts:

Looking Back at 2012, What’s In Store for 2013

My travel goals on United have changed this year due to several factors, including a move to a more expensive cost per mile (CPM) originating airport and the increasing likelihood that all U.S. airlines will add some type of elite status revenue requirement to their frequent flier programs.

My goal on United this year is to simply hit million-miler status and forgo my annual obsession with achieving Premier 1K status. With what I just booked today, I’m only about 4,100 miles away and I’m certain I’ll hit it mid-year.

And as I’m getting older and my time at home is more important to me, I’m looking to do it in the most comfortable and efficient manner. Often, that means spending more, as I did on my recent first class trip from Boston to Tokyo.

Also, I don’t want to waste all of my Global Premier Upgrades (GPUs) on domestic travel this year, so I searched today for the best deal on another international trip where upgradable coach-to-business seats were available at the time of booking. United, if you don’t know, requires the purchase of at least a W-fare to upgrade most international flights and I thought I’d share some of that research.

Keep in mind the fares below are exclusively for a specific time period (April 10-17), and there are often many other factors which affect the disparity between the cheapest coach ticket and upgradable fare. But I still think it’s a fascinating reveal of sorts, showing how widely the differences can vary.

Cheapest vs. Upgradable United Airfares

What stood out to me was the rather insignificant fare differential on the San Francisco to Sydney flights. Last year I paid nearly $900 more for a roundtrip W-fare to upgrade my LAX to Sydney ticket in July, a fairly off-peak time-frame for U.S. to Australia travel. Los Angeles came in at a difference of $574, but still a bargain over what I ended up paying.

And one of United’s easiest routes to redeem a GPU on (San Francisco to Seoul) ended up being the highest fare differential in the markets I checked.

I was also a bit surprised that the ultra long-haul Hong Kong flights from Chicago and Newark didn’t have a greater disparity, but then again… buying only a W-fare on those routes would do little to beget an upgrade.

I found a route that worked for me and I’ll happily rack up upwards of 13,000 butt-in-seat miles to add to my lifetime status in BusinessFirst comfort, paying a $350 premium for the W-fare. I’ll have a full report on my return.

What’s the most you’ve paid over the cheapest coach ticket? Did you get the upgrade?

Related posts:

Analysis of United’s Lowest Coach vs. Upgradable Fares Using a Systemwide Upgrade

Looking Back at 2012 and What’s In Store for 2013

Flight Review: United Airlines Global First Class, San Francisco to Tokyo

Flight Review: United Airlines BusinessFirst, Los Angeles to Sydney

With a merger announcement between American Airlines and US Airways imminent (tomorrow morning by all accounts), we’ll finally put some speculation to rest, but open the door on months of new supposition. [Edited 2/14/13: And it's official]

Of particular interest to me (and many of you, I’m sure) will be the changes to American’s AAdvantage frequent flier program. After all, earning miles and gaining status are at the core of my addiction to airlines. So here then are some guesses as to elite tiers, revenue requirements and upgrades in the eventual new program.

Elite Tiers

I, as many others do, believe American will adopt a four-tier mileage-based elite system being named Silver, Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum. This would mean a downgrade in name for 25,000-mile fliers, but it wouldn’t necessarily translate into reduced benefits from what they have today.

Adding in a 75,000-mile level as the new Platinum would likely shed some benefits away from current 50,000-mile fliers, also downgraded in name to Gold. I think they’d still be oneworld Sapphire, but their bonus award mile amount would probably drop from the current 100 percent.

And as for the new Platinum 75,000-mile level, I imagine American would provide marginally better benefits than Gold, such as better upgrade priority and bonus award miles. It’ll be interesting to see if they follow the US Airways model of 25/50/75/100-percent bonus award miles by status, similar to United.

Evolving to a four-tier elite program will also help even out the ranks when combining the two programs. And I’m certain American’s unadvertised Concierge Key program will remain.

Revenue Requirement

If you subscribe to InsideFlyer, Randy’s opening remarks in the February issue point to an opportunity for the merged carrier to pull off adding a revenue requirement for elite status at the same time as officially operating as one airline.

And I tend to agree. It’ll certainly take time to reveal the eventual new AAdvantage program, but when it debuts (probably in 2014), I wouldn’t be surprised at a Delta-esque spend requirement for each elite level – particularly with Doug Parker at the helm.

And I think United will announce something similar beginning in the 2014 year, effective with 2015 status.

Upgrades

One of the great things about Executive Platinum status right now is the “protection” of being the only level with unlimited complimentary upgrades. Other levels currently have to use 500-mile e-stickers for the privilege to upgrade.

But just as US Airways offers unlimited domestic upgrades, American will likely evolve AAdvantage to do the same and become competitive with United and Delta. Not necessarily good news for the Executive Platinums out there, I know, but I truly believe it’ll happen.

As far as American’s generous e-VIP (Systemwide) upgrade policy allowing all purchased coach fares to upgrade into business internationally, I think that will change, too. It wouldn’t surprise me if a minimum fare class requirement were instituted with the new AAdvantage program.

It will certainly be interesting to watch everything unfold in the next several months to a year, beginning tomorrow.

Related posts:

Why an American-US Airways Merger Worries Me

Delta’s New Medallion Qualifying Dollars Revenue Requirement

Virgin America today launched a status match program for elite frequent fliers with American and United. It’s a match/challenge combo, actually, where you’ll be matched outright until April 30, 2013 and offered the ability to extend your status through the end of 2013. First, here’s the chart of how the American and United elite tiers match to Elevate Silver or Gold:

They’ve lined the levels up fairly, in my opinion, where a 50,000-mile flier on either American or United gets Elevate Silver status. For Gold, you either need Executive Platinum status on American, or Premier Platinum (75k) or 1K status on United.

Here are the benefits of Elevate Silver and Gold:

There are a couple of exceptions to the perks above in the T&Cs for those members matched. During the challenge period (now through April 30, 2013), you will not receive the 25% off discount codes, nor will you have reciprocal benefits (lounge access, primarily) on Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia that require a physical membership card. Cards will not be issued for matched members. Also, matched members will only receive one complimentary pass to the Virgin America lounge at LAX.

To have your matched status extended through the 2013 program year, you must:

It’s a nice break they’re giving for Virgin America Visa Signature cardholders. The language isn’t overtly clear whether existing cardholders get the break, so I’ve reached out to their media relations folks for clarification and will update this post when I have an answer.

Application link: Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card

The current bonus mile offer for applying and getting approved for the credit card is 20,000 bonus points after the first purchase (for a limited time only). You can earn up to 5,000 additional bonus points if you transfer a balance within the first 30 days (also for a limited time only). See the full terms and conditions for complete details.

While they don’t have a complimentary first class upgrade program for elites, Virgin America does open up purchased upgrades earlier for Silver (12 hours) and Gold (24 hours) members. Upgrades to Main Cabin Select seats are, however, complimentary and follow the same timeframe/window. While waiting for that upgrade, elites can book Main Cabin Express seats (those near the front) at the time of booking.

Sorry Delta fliers… no match for you. American and United elites, click here for the status match page.

Related posts:

Flight Review: Virgin America First Class LAX to Seattle

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Perth to Sydney

Flight Review: Virgin Australia Business Class Sydney to Perth

I receive a referral credit if you use the link on this page and get approved for a credit card. I remain grateful to any who apply using those links as blogging is my full-time job. The decision to apply for credit is yours and includes the responsibility to read and understand all terms and conditions.

This just in from “UA Insider” on Flyertalk… and it’s great news to avoid having to request an extension (click the text below for larger/complete view). Essentially, all Global and Regional Premier Upgrades (GPUs and RPUs) earned during one program year will be valid until the end of the following program year. So… for those earned this year, they won’t expire until January 31, 2014.

Cheers to United for doing a very customer-friendly thing. This change is expected to be implemented by month-end with no action required to extend those you currently have sitting in your account (that were EARNED in 2012). Those still at risk of expiring this month and next based on 2011 flying don’t fall under this new policy.

Related posts:

Easy Extension of United Airlines Global, Regional Premier Upgrades

United has been allowing the extension of expiring Regional Premier Upgrades and Global Premier Upgrades (at your request) during the past several months. And I had one of each expiring tomorrow that were extended through December 31, 2012.

My call to the MileagePlus Service Center took less than a minute and after providing my PIN, they immediately showed extended on United’s website.

(Side note: I’ve found the agents staffing the South Dakota service center particularly pleasant and engaging over the years, always thanking me for my business. This agent simply answered, “MileagePlus” and after I asked for an extension, 20 seconds of silence ended with, “What’s your PIN?” Another 15 seconds passed and the agent simply said, “Okay, they’re extended through 12/31/12. Is there anything else I can help you with?” While there’s nothing wrong with how the call went, it was quite a change from all of my previous phone calls directly to MileagePlus. Did I get a former OnePass rep?)

Anyway, there are reports on Flyertalk that some people haven’t had as easy of a time getting their upgrades extended. Member ULMFlyer posted:

Just called the GS line to extend a GPU that expires today. Agent put me on a conference call with the MP desk. And the MP desk told me they can’t extend my GPU until December because I am an original OnePass member and the system only allows them to extend GPUs from original MP members. WHT?? Is this info true and I didn’t see it upthread?

After another member advised to ask to speak to a MP Supervisor, ULMFlyer came back with:

Got the same spiel from a supervisor. Said GPUs originally earned in OnePass accounts cannot be extended by the system. Mentioned your case and was told it must’ve been because you must also have had an MP account that was merged with your OnePass. Whatever, this is too much trouble for a GPU. I have neither the patience nor the time to deal with this company anymore. Thanks to FT, I’ve got 16 SWUs with AA.

And Flyertalker g_leyser had a completely different experience:

I have 2 more GPUs expiring in November. I called MP to get them extended one month to 12/12. Agent told me I can only extend them during the month they expire, so I have to call back on November 1st. I was in no mood to argue. I’ll just call back.

Anyone else have issues, or were your extensions as easy as mine? As always, often the tried and true method for success is to simply hang up and call back.

While United Airlines did remove the online fare class availability display overnight, you can still search for “R-Upgrade” space, albeit via a bit lengthier process. It’s not ideal, but it is a way to do it yourself instead of having to call reservations.

First, click on “Advanced Search” on the homepage.

After filling in your origin, destination, dates, etc., scroll to the bottom of the page and select “MileagePlus Upgrade Award” before hitting “Search.”

The next screen appears asking you to select which segments you’re looking to upgrade. Tick the appropriate box(es) and press “Continue.”

Now you’re presented with the flights showing where R-Upgrade space is available and those where it’s not.

It will annoy me immensely to have to search for the space in this manner, but it is something to help temper my irritation with United.

Related Posts:

United Airlines to Remove Fare Class Information Online

The New United Airlines Upgrade & Award Fare Buckets

Airfare Pricing Buckets & Airline Fare Basis Codes EXPLAINED

Keeping up-to-speed with how United’s reservation system processes Complimentary Premier Upgrades (CPUs) can be a daunting task. The vast majority of my flying on United Airlines this year came before the system conversion to SHARES on March 3. And all of my United flights since that date have been upgraded through other means – Regional Premier Upgrades (RPUs), Global Premier Upgrades (GPUs) and Y/B/M-auto upgrades based on my fare.

As such, I haven’t spent much time reading the forums about many of the upgrade issues being widely reported, particularly CPUs. Matthew and his readers clearly spell out one of the issues, and as a result, I’ve been schooled in what once was a smooth process pre-merger on United being boggled down by both the system and agents.

The short version of Matthew’s experience is that one of his upgrades failed to clear at the designated window, though upgrade space (R-inventory) was still showing plenty of space. Turns out that one of the problems was due to his ticket having married segments – something so ultimately common in fare construction for the past 20 years (if not more) that I couldn’t believe hearing SHARES couldn’t handle it.

That, combined with his ticket being out-of-sync, caused the whole CPU process to fail out, impacting him and everyone else further down in the queue. One of his readers commented that he’s experienced this issue first-hand a couple of times. Once the ticket was fixed (often not until check-in), the process ran and upgrades were processed. If not fixed expeditiously, the likelihood of other passengers scoring “tens of dollars” upgrades for low-ball amounts may have trumped many elites getting their CPUs.

The other nugget of information I gleaned from Matthew’s posts and reader comments is that many agents are unwilling to manually process upgrades if R>0, in part because they don’t know which reservation is holding up the process. If Matthew’s reservation, for example, was in sync and he called to get the upgrade manually processed, it might have trumped someone’s higher priority upgrade.

And it was also revealed in the comments that the sweeps SHARES takes to process upgrades aren’t nearly as dynamic as the former Apollo. They appear to only happen at designated intervals (T-96 hours, T-72 hours, etc.), not in real-time. Also, just because R>0 at some point within the CPU window, it doesn’t mean all the space will be used for CPUs.

This may be common experience for many, but this was the first I was reading about it. Matthew’s reader, Dan, has some other fascinating insights that sound completely legit and are worth a read if you, too, are hearing about this for the first time.

I guess I’ll get my first-hand experience with CPUs this fall as my RPUs and GPUs have now all been used. But if I see R>0 within my upgrade window, I’ll definitely be calling to try to grab that space. I already obsessively call multiple times to ensure my tickets are in sync as it is.

I flew back to Los Angeles from the Chicago Seminars yesterday and encountered what ended up being a fun screw up on United Airlines’ part. The agent working the first flight began boarding as usual and I was about the sixth or seventh person scanned and made my way onto the jetway. The flight attendant stopped everyone from actually boarding the airplane while the captain seemed to be finishing a briefing with the crew.

As it turned out moments later, the same flight attendant came back onto the jetway and said to us all, “you might as well turn around… the captain is refusing this airplane.” Before I was back in the boarding lounge, I was on the phone with the 1K desk and they quickly rebooked me on the next flight. Surprisingly, a First Class seat remained and the agent grabbed me the last one (as an upgrade… didn’t get full F for the redeemable and EQM bonuses). I hung around the gate for a moment just to listen in and the agent eventually advised that they’d be rebooking everyone. Cool, I headed for the club.

I got some snacks, booted up and worked a bit. After about 20 minutes I noticed the departure monitor across the room didn’t show my original flight as cancelled yet, so checked it out on United’s website. They ended up finding a replacement 757 and the flight was now leaving at 1:00pm. My rebooked flight left at 1:03pm and while I initially thought about changing back – in part to hopefully get an automatic “We’re sorry…” email with compensation as is common for elites experiencing mechanical delays– I decided to just stick with the 1:03 flight hoping the 1K desk booked me in full Y for the bonus EQMs.

I walked by my original flight’s new gate and their 757 wasn’t yet there whereas my A320 was at the gate already, so figured I made the right choice and would beat my original flight back home. Boarding came and the gentleman in front of me – with a first class boarding pass – got the dreaded loud error beep when he attempted to board. The agent apologized claiming there was an aircraft swap, which was sort of B.S. as all A320s have 12 seats in First, but it could have indeed been swapped to the other A320 configuration with six fewer coach seats. He clicked away and advised the passenger First Class was no longer available.

Instead of continuing boarding, the agent attempted to find him an alternate flight at the customer’s request. Nothing was available in First until 5:30pm and the customer said “no way.” The gate agent paged a service director and then scanned me successfully and I boarded and took seat 2E.

About 10 minutes prior to flight time the service director boards, approaches my row, looks both at my seatmate and me and says, “I have a situation that I’m hoping one of you can help with. I have a passenger who purchased a full-fare First Class ticket and I’m going to need one of your two seats as they were complimentary upgrades. He originally had your seat (she looked at me).” She continued, “I’ll ensure whichever of you agrees to give up your seat that you’ll receive appropriate compensation for the downgrade. The best seat I have available in economy is a middle seat, 7E, but it’s the bulkhead right behind First Class.”

I, of course, jumped at it and replied, “No worries, he had my seat, so I’ll go ahead and move.” The service director was thrilled at my ease of acceptance and made it a point to let the flight attendants know how helpful I was. I moved to 7E and as you might know, those bulkhead seats on the Airbus twins have more pitch than First Class.

Both the purser and one of the coach flight attendants approached to thank me and ensured they’d take very good care of me. And they did just that. Airlines don’t overcater First Class meals, but I had my choice of any multiple items from the coach menu. I went with the Thai Chicken Wrap, which is actually very good, and a can of Pringles.

When first class meal service began, I received hot towel service, warm nuts, beverages in proper glassware and the finishing First Class cookie. I wrote up a couple “Going the Extra Mile” certificates that praise flight attendant service and handed them to my stellar angels. It really wasn’t any big deal for a “relatively” short flight and my seatmates on both sides obviously wondered what was up. They both nervously yielded the middle armrests to my pleasure and I had an incredibly comfortable flight. Better room forward than First Class and access to both armrests? Not a bad deal.

When I landed I had two emails from United awaiting me. One included a $200 travel credit and the other was advising 9,000 Mileage Plus miles would be added to my account within 14 days. Besides regional jets, I hadn’t flown on United in coach in a very long time and yesterday’s flight was by far my most comfortable and enjoyable ever.

Kudos to United’s flight attendants on that flight for taking very good care of me and I’m incredibly happy with my compensation. Win-win times two, three and four. And yes, if you care, my rebooked flight arrived before my original. Those minutes count on the I-405!