Upgraded on United

My father was busy working Monday morning, when he received a pleasant little email surprise.

You've been upgraded from New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) to Cancun, Mexico (CUN) on Tue., Apr. 21, 2015. Your new seat will be assigned upon check-in or at the departure gate. 

Sitting upfront isn't usually something to write home about, but fortunately, it wasn't just my father getting a free upgrade to business class due to his United Gold Status, but our entire family of three!

Now, my mother was United Silver, but I had no United status whatsoever. Looks like United either (a) went above and beyond for one of their mid-tier elites, (b) had an IT system glitch or (c) overbooked in Economy and needed to free up some space. Regardless, we're very thankful because we'll get some breakfast and free DirectTv.

This is likely the last time we'll get a complimentary upgrade because my parents won't be flying 50,000 miles on United this year, but we'll hopefully be well rested before our land/sea transfer over to Cozumel later this afternoon...