Forgive the very simple question. After reading posts on this board for the last couple of months it amazes me how much you all know about flying. I qualified for Gold status this year after never being in a program before. I am trying to understand the upgrading game. My understanding is that if I have a non-refundable ticket I can upgrade anytime. If I have a refundable ticket I can upgrade 3 days before my flight. I was told by someone at USAir that I could not upgrade award tickets but then read on this board that they can be upgraded 1 hour before departure. Is there an easy way to find out which flights I am more likely to be successful upgrading on or even getting bumped(if that is the goal). I guess I could go to AOW and check status on a regular basis but thought their might be an easier way. Thanks in advance for your help and I hope these questions aren't too basic.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by intobsv:
Forgive the very simple question. After reading posts on this board for the last couple of months it amazes me how much you all know about flying. I qualified for Gold status this year after never being in a program before. I am trying to understand the upgrading game. My understanding is that if I have a non-refundable ticket I can upgrade anytime. If I have a refundable ticket I can upgrade 3 days before my flight. I was told by someone at USAir that I could not upgrade award tickets but then read on this board that they can be upgraded 1 hour before departure. Is there an easy way to find out which flights I am more likely to be successful upgrading on or even getting bumped(if that is the goal). I guess I could go to AOW and check status on a regular basis but thought their might be an easier way. Thanks in advance for your help and I hope these questions aren't too basic.</font>

Other way around. If you have a refundable ticket (Y/B), you should be able to upgrade it at any time. In some markets, the full walk up tickets are automatically upgraded, so you don't have to fork over upgrade certs.

Restricted tickets may be upgraded 3 days in advance for US Golds. Exceptions to the rule include E-savers which may NOT officially be upgradeable. I've heard the same of priceline tickets.

Supposedly, awards are now not-upgradeable but some will allow you to stand by. IIRC awards used to be upgradeable ONLY with paid upgrades (the $40.00 jobbies).

As to improving your upgrade chances, book flights on craft with more F seats - A-320s, A-321s, 757s, 767s, and A-330s if they are flown on a domestic route.

Thanks for the correction. I did have them reversed. Thank you also for the information. You mentioned paid upgrades. Can you pay to upgrade to the next class of service?

Paid upgrades are the same as the 800-milers you get for free basically. They can be purchased for $40 each or if you buy three, you get one free (so $120 for four).

You used to be able to upgrade award tickets with these purchased upgrades, until just last year. That's no longer officially allowed. Personally, I would never book a coach award seat, so that's not a problem for me.

The only fares that you buy from US that are not upgradeable would be ESavers (sometimes you can get lucky if you talk to the gate agent though) and Priceline/Hotwire tickets.

Also, usually the full-fare tickets are not referred to as "refundable", but rather Y/B. This is because in some markets there are some fairly inexpensive refundable tickets that are rated lower than even B (usually to compete with a low fare carrier). (Note: This is a general airline fare rule, not specific to US. I've never personally seen it on US, but have personally seen it extensively on DL and would tend to believe that the same is true for US and all other domestic carriers).

Another important thing to understand is the meaning of three days prior. For a Friday flight, you count back three days:

Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday

So you can upgrade on Tuesday, as early as 12:00 AM Tuesday, so really (what I consider) late Monday night. All times are Eastern Time I believe, though this seems to occasionally be a subject of debate.