Does anyone know whether UA treats a "heavy" 1P (say 85K EQM) better than a "lite" 1P (51K EQM)? For example, when doing upgrades, after clearing GS and 1K, to they then look at the 1P with the most miles?

No. Or I'd get a lot more upgrades.

I don't think that anyone at the airport who would be processing UG's (ie GA's or TA's) would have convenient access to your EQM's. I think they just see your status level, fare basis, and waitlist position.

Craig

At the gate its, status level, then within status level its FARE PAID, then as a final tie-breaker, time added to DM. A heavy-1P vs. a lite-1P isn't part of the equation.

As it applies to departure management upgrades, no. Within each elite level its based on fare class and if needed time added to the DM list.

I do wonder if agents can see your EQM information though as on two separate occaisions a GA has asked me to wait in the boarding area for a likely upgrade since I had more EQMs than the other 1Ps on the list. Perhaps they were speculating why I was at the top and can't really see the information. I thought I recall a thread on that subject about a year ago, but I can't seem to locate it. In each case I guess each GA didn't realize it was probably my Y fare in one instance and B fare in the other that had me at the top of the lists.

Not sure whether this is true at the airport; however, when communicating with WHQ, it does make a difference - in my experience.

Does this matter? To a very large degree they just follow what the system tells them is due. And how the ranking works within UA's IT is very hard to predict.
When traveling with 1K lights on same flights and different PNRs, I always get the ug before them. Even if I was added to the WL later. But of course, that could also be explained by the way the WL is copied into the DM, so either pov will be tricky to be proven.

I've had this happen before ... I think the GA is just trying to explain the order of elites as indicated on her screen. In the background, United's systems are ordering things appropriately based on elite level, fare paid, check-in time, etc.

They don't treat you so nicely, huh?

Like drobbva and rch4u, I have had GAs tell me exactly this and have always been confused by it as it does not mesh with the folklore here at FT at all.

Lurker

Not that this would be hard to do, for an airline with a half-decent IT staff. I recently flew US for the first time as a 1K, and I was checking their website to see if I had any chance of an upgrade (the answer is no, by the way). For their elites, they do complimentary upgrades based on status, fare basis, and then YTD EQM. That seems like a much better system than time added to the DM list. Also, I liked that they had a very clear, very explicit flowchart on their website explaining all this, unlike the morass of confusing links and conflicting information on UA's site.

Maybe it is the reason you're not getting the upgrades.

It has ZERO to do with a half-decent IT staff, and they couldn't help. SO who is worth more in terms of fare paid on a DEN-LAX flight...1) The DEN-LAX local passenger who apid $500, or the GJT-DEN-LAX-SBA who paid $650, or the DEn-LAX NRT guy who paid $800, but is in a lower booking class? Would you then have the number of EQM be the tie breaker? I can assure you, the computer of ANY airline has ZERO clue what you paid, only what booking class you are on that local leg, which could have little to no correlation to your value to the airline on that segment.

Trust me when I tell you, US systems do NOT have any knowledge of fare paid, let alone a prorated leg fare on the entire itinerary. DOes a misconnect in Y pay more than a just bought fare booked in Q?

I know how UA's system works down to the exact detail. While it will not be perfect to all, it works pretty good for most. Unless you personally know every detail about every other person on the DM (status, ticket price/booking class, time added...) what difference does it make? How will you know. Be happy that you have a good idea. MP level is #1, some sort of fare/booking class is number 2, tie breaker is time added.

Well if you have MM status as your profile says that might explain why you're clearing before regular 1K's. I do believe that your MM status shows up on their computer screens/printouts.

Craig

Incorrect. It only shows up on the manifest if you are a 1K Million Miler or Million Mile Flyer (non-1K MM).