Plan B Discussion: Booking BusinessFirst Awards Without Availability

[yaakov]

They're ruthless contract workers, if you start explaining plan b to them the station manager will probably just remove you from the list.

Ime the successful way to do it in TLV is to call the 1K line & convince them to move you to the top of the list otherwise make sure you have a good economy seat.

As I've said in the past Plan B is very overrated today. It's very hard to justify the effort only to find out that ur the bottom of an impossibly long upgrade list with clueless gate agents

There should be a disclaimer that the chances of success with plan B are very low if your name isn't Dan

Does anyone disagree with this statement? Especially the last 3 sentences

[coffeebean]

Original flight was booked economy. I booked waitlist upgrade option for Business and Premium for $550 and 20k points. For Premium and Business I was way down on the list @ 10 for Premium and @ 15 for Business, so I end up paying for Premium which now put me @ 3 on the waitlist for Business. If my upgrade to Business goes through will it cost me the full $550 plus 20k points? Will I get a refund for my Premium purchase?

[alan519]

Hi Dan,

I’ve been trying all evening to get an agent to understand, I already have the X class booked, and they are insisting that upgrade in weightlifting is only available for those that paid with a credit card!

[alan519]

They are now telling me (both the genius who responded to my DM on twitter and the other genius who responded on messaging) that the website information is incorrect (!!!!) an they’re working to correct it! Talk about incompetence.

[Myccrabbi]

Just did plan B on 2 one ways, thru chat/text,
about 20 min to get correct agent,
about 30 min for first agent to realize and admit they just dont know(i explained nicely that i have done it in the past and friend of mine did it recently) and offer a supervisor that knows more(thumbs up for that),
15 min wait for supervisor, she knew about it and was able to do it, took some time, but, all in all it was done after about a hour and half by chat.

I happened to of gotten it on first try but if they dont play ball, just say ok and contact again and hopefully they will help.

[alan519]

Just curious, Domestic or Int'l?

[Myccrabbi]

Just curious, Domestic or Int'l?

international.

[alan519]

Nice!

[griff]

Hi, new poster but longtime lurker of the forum. Need a clarification.

Have an XN booked RT EWR-GRU Mar 18-25. Booked on United.com.

What is the difference between calling United to waitlist for a business saver ticket on an existing XN booking (additional miles deducted at waitlist request) and Dan's Plan B booking (calling to book a business ticket, seated in economy, waitlist for business, show up at airport and declare yourself displaced business, receive PR1).

In Dan's main site post, his ticket screenshot looks the same to me as if I joined the waitlist. \

If I were to call United today and join the waitlist for IN, with the miles deducted for the IN fare, can I declare myself displaced business at the airport?

maybe these are the same things, and I'm just confused.

[YOSSI170]

When doing a plan B, do you have to request to waitlist before you book or after you book your ticket?

[Aerial Dag]

Does anyone disagree with this statement? Especially the last 3 sentences

Guess that's a no? Odd to see people still arranging for Plan B with so many people complaining about not being able to get bumped up the list at the airport. Wonder if success stories are just not getting posted? Can't figure out if this is worth the setup time or not.

[YOSSI170]

Have been chatting with 5 different reps on chat/twitter, everyone says the same thing, since they switch to dynamic pricing they can't waitlist an X award ticket to I

[shmooz]

Guess that's a no? Odd to see people still arranging for Plan B with so many people complaining about not being able to get bumped up the list at the airport. Wonder if success stories are just not getting posted? Can't figure out if this is worth the setup time or not.

I think it's not worth it anymore, too difficult to execute.

[yaakov]

it didnt work for me at the airport

[griff]

LGA-IAD-GVA, plan b for 60k miles.

No CS reps at LGA desk, call the Agent On Demand service. Say I paid for business, was seated in economy. Was 21st on ug list, but told her that I needed PR-1 as displaced business. She seated me in business, we hang up. Calls me back 5 mins later and says they made a mistake, it can only be done at the gate. She said that even with PR-1 I was 15th on the standby list. I should have asked to speak with the supervisor who overruled her but I didn't think to in the moment.

Got to Dulles and had the worst luck in the world. Nobody wanted to help me. Should have gone to UC to do it. Lesson learned.

[Dan]

LGA-IAD-GVA, plan b for 60k miles.

No CS reps at LGA desk, call the Agent On Demand service. Say I paid for business, was seated in economy. Was 21st on ug list, but told her that I needed PR-1 as displaced business. She seated me in business, we hang up. Calls me back 5 mins later and says they made a mistake, it can only be done at the gate. She said that even with PR-1 I was 15th on the standby list. I should have asked to speak with the supervisor who overruled her but I didn't think to in the moment.

Got to Dulles and had the worst luck in the world. Nobody wanted to help me. Should have gone to UC to do it. Lesson learned.

Brutal

[efflpetzel]

it didnt work for me at the airport

I’m shocked.

[griff]

Interesting DP for all interested in premier status with UA -- I wasn't cleared for IN, and had to request a refund through Customer Feedback. Even after the miles were refunded, I was credited the full PQP amount for IN. Seems PlanB is obscure enough that even the architects behind the new MileagePlus rules  didn't hard code pqp deductions for downgrade of fare class.

[yitzyul]

Does anyone have experience with tlv agents for plan b

At gate they told me to wait and until boarding time and will "see if they can give it to me". 1 min before boarding they gave me the upgrade, as I got on line they called me back and "took it away" stating they have a "revenue" upgrade. The guy next to me swiped his card for $450 and they gave it to him.....
(this was a few years ago). Since then I dont even bother as it took 1+ hours to even get the plan b on the ticket

[donedeal12]

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mileageplus/benefits/mileageplus-air-awards.html

Waitlisting for travel awards is permitted in premium cabins on flights operated by United, and will be automatically confirmed, if the waitlisted cabin is available, based on the status of the account holder.
Waitlisting may be requested for travel in a premium cabin up to 24 hours before flight departure. If the waitlist does not clear, you will automatically be added to the airport standby list upon check-in.
Waitlisting for certain inventory types is not permitted.
Ticketed customers may waitlist for travel in a premium cabin for an alternate flight. Reservations where all segments are waitlisted without any confirmed segments are not permitted.
Connecting flights: Customers may waitlist on only one leg of the connecting flights and the flight must meet the required minimum connecting time.
Nonstop flights: Customers can waitlist on only one flight per direction. Alternate dates and times are allowed.
You may use miles for travel in United First®, United Business® or United Polaris® business class, even if the space is not available. In these cases, United Economy in the same award type must be confirmed, and the front cabin will be waitlisted. If the courtesy waitlist does not clear, it will expire 24 hours before itinerary departure, and you will automatically be added to the airport upgrade standby list upon check-in. In these cases, you will be confirmed on a space-available basis by a United airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in. For United Polaris business class and United Business travel awards, the difference in miles will be refunded when the United Polaris business class or United Business class segment of the trip cannot be confirmed. Waitlist requests may only be made over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center.