I wondered what sort of luck people were having using their SWU's at the gate, ie those waitlisted.

Especially PHL-LGW routes, as I have one of those trips coming up in a few weeks.

Chris

Chris,

While I can not address PHL-LGW specifically, I have cleared the waitlist (as a Gold) for Envoy at time of check-in at the airport using a SWU (or space available upgrade which is treated the same way) twice in the last year (for DCA-PHL-CDG, DCA-PHL-FCO). Both were Friday evenings.

I think US does a good job of holding seats in Envoy for full fare passengers until the last minute. Clearing at the airport seems to the norm now, particularly for WESTBOUND flights ex-Europe.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1004:
Chris,

While I can not address PHL-LGW specifically, I have cleared the waitlist (as a Gold) for Envoy at time of check-in at the airport using a SWU (or space available upgrade which is treated the same way) twice in the last year (for DCA-PHL-CDG, DCA-PHL-FCO). Both were Friday evenings.

I think US does a good job of holding seats in Envoy for full fare passengers until the last minute. Clearing at the airport seems to the norm now, particularly for WESTBOUND flights ex-Europe. </font>

Thanks, I am interested to hear more. I was able to clear already on the WESTBOUND portion coming back. They are doing a lot with their inventory management it seems and I think this is a good topic.

My method for using SWU's has always been to call as soon as I hold the reservation to see if upgrades are available in advance. If so, I book the flight and go. If the flights I have chosen are not available for upgrade in advance, I'll ask the res. agent if any of the other flights that day might be? If so, change flights and go.

Typically, I'll get waitlisted for Envoy. I'll call back every once and a while to see if they have cleared (always being nice and not pushy when I do so). As departure day approaches, I call six days in advance, the day before, and the morning of my flight. This last call the morning of the flight is the most critical because, as has been noted elsewhere on FT, funny things happen to the waitlist the day of departure. Get to the airport early and ask not only if your upgrade has cleared but ask specifically if the agent can clear your upgrade when you check-in.

An agent recently told me that on departure day, they were holding upgrades until about two hours before flight time because they found that Silvers were checking in early and getting Envoy seats ahead of CP's based on time of check-in.

Now there seems to be a gray area where higher tier Preferreds will clear a little ahead of Silvers on the day of departure. This is pure speculation on my part... as I checked in for a recent flight at DCA the agent said the waitlist was on hold, then he looked at the inventory, and THEN cleared a seat for me and upgraded me with the SWU. Had I been silver, I'm guessing I would have been rolled to the folks in PHL to see how the upgrade seats went.

At European stations, the trend is to check-in early for the flight. If your upgrade had cleared in advance, they will give you an Envoy seat. If not, they will put you on a list and tell you to head to the boarding area. There will be another check-in desk there and they will process upgrades as flight time approaches. I would recommend checking in with that desk as it opens (maybe an hour or so before flight time)... they will either process your upgrade then or tell you to hold off boarding until they see how many seats they have or, god forbid, they may say, "sorry, no seats, get on and take your coach seat".

edited for poor speling. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by geo1004 (edited 01-15-2002).]

In my recent search to try to find upgradeable (in advance) seats to Amsterdam, I asked USAirways International Reservations to check outbounds Wednesday and Thursday and returns on Monday the whole month of January and February and tell me how many upgrade seats were left. I found two flights with 5 seats and 4 seats left each, so I went out and promptly purchased them online (web-only fare), waited 30 minutes, and called back. I asked if they could verify if it was ticketed, they weren't sure, and after about 5 minutes on hold, they told me it did seem to ticket (and I checked online and it said it ticketed). My upgrades were then confirmed.

Also note that before all this I had called to make sure the fare basis I was booking was eligible for upgrades. All the agents I spoke to were very helpful and courteous.

Pitflyer's method works for me. Basically I call USAir gold line and ask for all flights showing O and (V or H or K) availability. Then I call our corporate travel agent and book those flights in the cheap class of service. Then call USAir back and snag the O seat upgrades. This is preferable to sweating it out at the gate although i cleared PHL-AMS and FRA-PHL at the gate back in September - but it was post 911 so load factors very light.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
Pitflyer's method works for me. Basically I call USAir gold line and ask for all flights showing O and (V or H or K) availability. Then I call our corporate travel agent and book those flights in the cheap class of service. Then call USAir back and snag the O seat upgrades. This is preferable to sweating it out at the gate although i cleared PHL-AMS and FRA-PHL at the gate back in September - but it was post 911 so load factors very light.</font>

I tend to prefer this method, though recently I have bought tickets at the last minute and had to sweat it out. I have actually waitlisted both myself and my friend on the outbound (without telling him) and i'm interested to see other's success.

For my three trips to LGW that I've upgraded with SWU's I always just make the arrangements I want, then call for the upgrades. I've been waitlisted both ways once (the one pre 9/11 trip), but the upgrades cleared to LGW well before the flight and from LGW I called the morning of the flight and was confirmed into Envoy before heading to the airport.

Both R/T's post 9/11, I booked my preferred itinerary and was confirmed into Envoy immediately.

As a Gold I have little concern if I have to waitlist ... but that may be misguided.