Trying to upgrade two relatives (restricted coach fare) using miles on a domestic flight in November. Lots of seats open for purchse. US is telling me there is only one seat in the upgrade bucket right now but I should check back from time to time to see if they release more.

Are there specific times when additional seats are released or is it on a flight by flight basis.

If I go on the US site to book award travel, seats are available for 50,000 miles. Stupid thought, is it logical to monitor that list to see if saver awards become available? Would that also mean they opened up "upgrade" seats?

Just curious

Thanks

I've heard that if the website is showing a 25,000 mile first class award, there will be upgrades for miles available. I booked a trip PIT-LAX, LAX-CLT-PIT on Monday for next Monday. Since I rarely get a gold upgrade on a long flight and I was stuck in middle seats, I looked at the website and it did show 25,000 for LAX-CLT-PIT, I called and got the upgrade. It showed 50,000 for PIT-LAX and an upgrade was not available. The agent on the phone said to keep checking, they do sometimes open up. So far it hasn't.

If I go on the US site to book award travel, seats are available for 50,000 miles. Stupid thought, is it logical to monitor that list to see if saver awards become available? Would that also mean they opened up "upgrade" seats?

Not so stupid -- that's exactly how it works. :) Award F tickets and mileage upgrades come from the same fare bucket. You can monitor F award inventory and as soon as you see two seats available at the 25K level, call them and they'll have the seats available to upgrade your relatives.

Thanks Deb and AZ. The 25000 award thingy seemed way too simple to work but I am glad to hear it does. I'd much rather keep watching via the net than calling US every day.

Yep, it's actually that "simple"...

Good luck on getting the upgrades.