Apologies if this is old news, but I was shocked to learn this from 2 different agents today.

With the exception of Y and B fares, transatlantic upgrades using the SWUs can only be confirmed 3 days prior to departure for Gold members (1 day prior for Silvers).

Also, V fares are *never* eligible for upgrade using SWUs.

Does this apply to existing upgrades or only to those to be issued in 2002?

This change seems fair to me.

The 'old' SWU's were treated equally for CP, GP and SP's... not too fair IMHO.

A 100k a year flyer should have a better chance of getting an upgrade than someone who logs in 50k or 25k/year.

Note that this rule change does nothing to the number of paying Envoy passengers out there or the number of Envoy seats available so your real chances of getting an upgrade are the same as a CP, but perhaps reduced if you're a GP or SP. Now, you will just know at your 7/3/1 day window or sweat it out on the day of travel instead of knowing well in advance as was often the case with the 'old' SWU's.

Also note that this 7/3/1 day window only applies to discount tickets. Full fare coach (Y&B fares) or paid Envoy (J&C fares) can still be upgraded with a SWU anytime in advance if the seat is available.

Terenz,

The old certs. still are governed by the old rules, the agents told me. The new ones have a different code on them, to distinguish.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1004:
This change seems fair to me.

The 'old' SWU's were treated equally for CP, GP and SP's... not too fair IMHO.
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Oh come on, you only got 2 of them a year.... if they were going to do this they should have just done something like let you use NAUs without having them max at 3 per trip, i.e. BOS-LHR = 7 NAUs :-)

errr guess its time to switch to AA :-(

So either (a) SWUs are being taken away in 2002, or (b) their value will be very substantially reduced for all except CPs. Ah, SWUs, we hardly knew ye...

I agree that the rules are more fair, BUT they also mean that I'm definitely booking my next trip on AA. If I gotta wait till 3 days out (as a new Gold, or even 7 days as a Chairman's) I'll just sit in coach and save myself the heartburn .. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pitflyer:
I agree that the rules are more fair, BUT they also mean that I'm definitely booking my next trip on AA. If I gotta wait till 3 days out (as a new Gold, or even 7 days as a Chairman's) I'll just sit in coach and save myself the heartburn .. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

Hmm..I have to say that before i even thought about upgrades I was impressed by USAIR on their philly to munich service which i have taken twice in coach. I'll take the change for upgrades no matter how I get them.

For Silvers and Golds, these are still better than anything given by any other US carrier, so I'm not complaining. Of course, CP's are another story ...

I switched from DL when they stopped giving SWUs to non platinum elites. As a lowly silver who flies solely for leisure, I did enjoy US giving SWUs to first level elites. The new policy is fair, but is still disappointing to lower elite levels. The elimination of V fares also hurts.

Same thing coming over from DL because of no more SWUs. So I guess the no upgrades on e-savers and V fares are in effect already. Bummer. Surely there should be another fare code available instead of the full fares.

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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

Is this for the SWU's that were printed and sent to people in the last months of 2001, or will these be on the new 2002 printed SWUs? Has anyone called and tried to upgrade more than 1/3/7 days out with the old DMUPSYS code recently and gotten this info?

And, will we still be able to upgrade domestic awards more than 1/3/7 days out with the SWUs?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by worldbanker:
Same thing coming over from DL because of no more SWUs. So I guess the no upgrades on e-savers and V fares are in effect already. Bummer. Surely there should be another fare code available instead of the full fares.

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The DM Service Center told me yesterday that you could upgrade e-savers that were in V class now, is this not true?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by catwood:
The DM Service Center told me yesterday that you could upgrade e-savers that were in V class now, is this not true?</font>

The fare rules for ESavers still say non-upgradeable, even though the non-upgradeable language has been removed from the weekly e-mail apparently.

Here's my take on the new rules from what I've read on flyertalk.com and usaviation.com:

* Trans-Atlantic V class tickets cannot be upgraded anymore with either DMUPSYS or DMUPSYS02, since 1/15/02 has passed. However, such tickets that have already been upgraded are OK (not sure about waitlists though).

* The new 1/3/7 day upgrade rule for systemwide upgrades [for both domestic and international travel] only applies to DMUPSYS02, which are new 2002 upgrades that will be mailed out in late February or early March to Preferred members that did not receive a package last fall (i.e., members that do not yet have a card with an expiration date of 2003). Note that tickets booked in J/C/Y/B class can still be booked anytime in advance using the new 2002 systemwides.

* The systemwides that were mailed out last fall to members who completed challenges or moved up a level in the latter half of the year are the old systemwides (DMUSYS) and can be requested at any time in advance, assuming fare restrictions are followed (i.e., no upgrades of V-class trans-Atlantic flights).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
Is this for the SWU's that were printed and sent to people in the last months of 2001, or will these be on the new 2002 printed SWUs? Has anyone called and tried to upgrade more than 1/3/7 days out with the old DMUPSYS code recently and gotten this info?

And, will we still be able to upgrade domestic awards more than 1/3/7 days out with the SWUs?</font>

Nice, accurate summary davohuang. That's the way I see it as well.

Greetings from Singapore! (a quasi mileage run on UA) To answer worldbanker's question, I played around with usairways.com. The next lowest upgradable fare is the 'K' fare. In some markets, the 'K' fare is only a few dollars more than the 'V' fare for winter transatlantic travel. For LAX-CDG, the 'K' fare is about $150 more than the 'V' fare. It seem that the 'V' fare are the ones available only online & the super duper sale fares. (like the $258 SAN-LGW I got last March for June/July midweek travel--getting double status miles plus the upgrades made for a very happy camper http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif). I hope that US doesn't go any further & become like Delta (LUSer) & CO (HoKeY). I am rethinking whether to stay at Chairman's or just get 1K UA or AA ExPlat.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1004:
Nice, accurate summary davohuang. That's the way I see it as well.</font>

Why thank you, geo1004. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by davohuang:
Here's my take on the new rules ...

* The systemwides that were mailed out last fall to members who completed challenges or moved up a level in the latter half of the year are the old systemwides (DMUSYS) and can be requested at any time in advance, assuming fare restrictions are followed (i.e., no upgrades of V-class trans-Atlantic flights).</font>

I did a search but has this interpretation been confirmed by anyone. I'm just starting some travel planning now for the fall to Europe and I'd like to check upgrade availability before I book. Thanks.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tfjim:
I did a search but has this interpretation been confirmed by anyone. I'm just starting some travel planning now for the fall to Europe and I'd like to check upgrade availability before I book. Thanks.</font>


I used my old SWU's at the end of May to go to MAN and was able to upgrade at time of booking.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tfjim:
I did a search but has this interpretation been confirmed by anyone. I'm just starting some travel planning now for the fall to Europe and I'd like to check upgrade availability before I book. Thanks.</font>

you should be able to tell just by looking at the certificate. If it says DMUSYS you can confirm the upgrade when booking. If it says DMUSYS02, then you've got to wait the 7/3/1.

Many thanks. I have the old kind.