I had a chance to test United’s newly introduced (3/19/10) Unlimited Domestic Upgrade policy for all Elite fliers. I hold Premiere (the lowest of all elite levels) status with United and was flying from Atlanta-Washington Dulles-San Francisco. When I originally booked the ticket, United showed a 777 would be operating the IAD-SFO sector, and really, this was the leg of the trip where I was hoping for an upgrade. There looked to be plenty of open seats in Business Class.
A few days before my flight, United’s website showed that a 767 was now operating the route, but a 757 seat map was displayed. I looked again the next day and United’s website showed that flight #874 was being operated by a 757 and there was a seat map to match. Forty-eight hours before departure, there was no indication of a confirmed or pending upgrade just the regular itinerary confirmation.
One day before my flight, when I checked in on-line, the ATL-IAD route was confirmed upgraded and I was waitlisted on the IAD-SFO portion. The morning of departure, I looked again and no upgrade was shown for IAD-SFO, waitlisted or confirmed, just my original seat.
I asked the gate agent in Atlanta about my upgrade for IAD-SFO. He happily checked for me and said I had a pretty good shot of making it to “Connoisseur Class.” Due to a tight connection, I did not get to the gate at IAD until the agent was calling all zones, all rows for boarding. I thought that even if I had received the upgrade, it may have been given away. I quickly asked the gate agent what my status was. With a harmless chuckle she said:
“This upgrade thing…it… it stinks; you all need to call United and tell ‘em…”
That didn’t sound promising, but with that she printed me my new boarding pass: 11E Middle Seat, Middle Section, bulkhead, Business Class! United will be giving Delta a run for my money….
UPDATE: On the return flight (SFO-ORD) I was upgraded 24 hours in advance. It’s worth noting the equipment changed from 777 to 747. No such luck on the 2nd leg (ORD-ATL) on an A320.
I am a Premier Exec and have been consistently for over 20 years and I fly at least one, if not two round trips per week. I have yet to be upgraded. I don’t even make the list! On the way to Houston this morning, there were 22 people on the wait list on a regional jet and I didn’t even make it to that list. The gate agent was right….this program stinks. The benefits of United’s elite program are shrinking. I may start looking for another airline.
[...] De Janeiro on United. The itinerary includes 3 connections, but hey, I’m in it to win it! As mentioned, with the introduction of UDU’s (Unlimited Domestic Upgrades) United will compete for my business [...]
I’ve been a United 1K for about 10 years and have had VERY poor luck with the new policy. I’m actively looking at trying to find a better program on another airline, or maybe shopping for discounted first fares if reasonable. It’s sad but I really see no reason to stick with United, upgrades are just an infrequent crapsoot.
Am Premier Exec LA Based.
Upgraded one hour before boarding 757 LAX->ORD
No upgrade 319 ORD-> LAX (#19 on upgrade list)
Upgrade me and spouse CRJ SLC->LAX cheap coach tix
I’m a 1K and have had fantastic results from the new United upgrade policy. I’ve been automatically upgraded on all but one of the 18-20 flights I’ve been on this year. Sad to haer that others aren’t having the same success, but it works like a champ for me!
I’m also a 1k and have been automatically upgraded on most domestic and even some international flights to Frankfurt. I know that there’s not much benefit for Premier Status, but 1k rocks. Let’s see if I drop to Premier Exec next year what happens… I’m directing all employees to United and have been for the last 3 years. No complaints… so far!
I’m a Premier Exec and of the 14 domestic routes I flew, I was upgraded to first on 12 of those. I don’t understand what is at all bad about this, because even if you don’t get upgraded it’s not like you lost anything that there was before this.
As a (now) lowly premier I used to be able to use miles for upgrades (either flown of from CC) but with the new program, I can never get an upgrade and already trying to use miles for specific flight awards stinks, so all this program is is shifting the first class seats to 1K — nice (I was 1K before) but enough to get me to not care who I fly. Bad United!