United 1K Claims He Was Booted Out Of First Class For Global Services VIP…

A United Premier 1K flyer complains that United took away his first class upgrade so a Global Services flyer could take his seat, but it seems that the real problem was that he failed to properly check in for his flight. Let’s explore what happened because this is a recurring problem at United that could impact you and it’s not exactly intuitive.

United 1K Flyer Says He Lost First Class Upgrade To Accomdoate Global Services Traveler… But That’s Not What Really Happened

Premier 1K is United’s top published status tier (it requires 18,000 Premier Qualifying Points [PQPs] and flying 54 Premier Qualifying Flights [PQFs] or simply 24,000 PQPs where one PQP is equivalent to $1 in spending on your airfare and government taxes do not count toward that). Meanwhile, Global Services is United’s invite-only status that requires big spending (often in excess of $60,000/year on tickets) in order to receive an invitation. In terms of upgrade pecking order, Global Services trump 1Ks on any waitlist, but a Global Services member cannot “steal” a confirmed first class seat from another passenger.

But what happened here?

A 1K flyer traveling from St. Louis (STL) to Houston (IAH) claims that he lost his first class seat to a Global Services member.

Got to airport super early and checked my bags. I had already checked in on line earlier in the day and had my boarding pass out when approaching security (even though I didn’t end up needing it). While I waiting I decided to throw some Plus Points at the flight as it had been a long day. There was no waitlist as it was a confirmed upgrade. I was put in 1F and I received an email confirmation.

Many folks have PlusPoints expiring later this month and therefore are using them on short routes like St. Louis to Houston, a 667-mile flight where it normally would not make sense to waste PlusPoints on. PlusPoints are a parallel currency used to confirm upgrades at a rate of 20 points for a domestic upgrade or 40-80 for a longhaul upgrade. These points are awarded to United’s top-tier flyers.

As departure approached, the traveler was confused why he had not received a text message that boarding had commenced (United sends this out automatically if you add your mobile phone number to your reservation).

35 minutes before the flight I found it odd I hadn’t received a “we’re ready to board your flight” text so I opened the app. I had no boarding pass and the check in option was gone. I was sitting next door to my gate at a restaurant so I grabbed my things and called the 1k line who told me to ask the gate agent.

At the gate, he was told he had not checked in for his flight:

Approached gate agent and explained and she said “you should have checked in. We gave your seat to a GS” I said I did check in and she said well i can put you in 10d. I said well I all ready had 10c how about you just put the GS in 10d? To which she replied I can’t tell a GS to move! Long story short I flew home in 10d. Thanks United. Didn’t realize 1k was so lowly that were disposable.

It is understandable that he was upset, but he’s upset for the wrong reason. The gate agent did not give his seat away to a Global Services member in any nefarious way.

Rather, when he applied the Plus Points to confirm his upgrade from economy class to first class, he neglected to re-check in. I’m also curious why that is necessary (when United’s tech is typically very advanced and user-friendly) but it is…and therefore he was booted from his seat because he was marked as a no-show…even though he was right there and even though he had checked in for his flight earlier and checked baggage.

So the point of this post and retelling this story is to remind you that if you change your United reservation either by upgrading or choosing a new flight, make sure to check in again…otherwise, you may think you are checked in but not actually be checked in and lose your seat.

This is a technological hole that I’d like to see United patch, but in the meantime, just go through the check-in process again when you make a change to your flight.