US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - New upgrade windows on SYS02s?

I called last night, 5 days before my flight to FRA, and was told that I would need to wait until 3 days before my flight, as CP's could only upgrade to Europe 3 days in advance, and everyone else 1 day in advance.

When I stated that the back of the DMUPSYS02 coupon said 7 days, I was assured that 7 days was for North America and that if I looked again, I'd see that International was 3 days for CP. I was staring at the back of the cert as I spoke, which clearly indicates 7 days, but it was rather obvious that the arguement would get me nowhere.

She also told me that I would need to call during the day (I called at about 1am) because the "Inventory" people that could "free up" Envoy seats wouldn't be in until 5.

The original CP rep had to transfer me to International, and I sensed this was not a regular CP agent, as it wasn't the attitude, knowledge, or responsiveness I usually find.

I'll try again later.

btw - I also re-re-assigned my seats. I had called earlier this week to get 10C on both flights, only to find myself in 19B and 25F as I looked it up last night. US is making it really hard to fly them, and this is a paid, non-V class fare that I paid extra for to be upgrade eligible.

You are both correct. 7 days out CP's can clear an upgrade on a non-V discounted coach fare *IF* "O" inventory is available. If not, at 3 days, "Inventory" can open up some more "O" seats if they are sitting on a lot of J & C seats that aren't going to be sold.

[This message has been edited by gardener (edited 01-25-2003).]

on a somewhat related note about a little insecurity about CP agents...

i called last week to use my miles to upgrade a friend on his itinerary, and the CP agent told me, "I'm sorry, you can NOT use miles to upgrade someone else unless he/she is traveling witn you."
I replied, "I think you are mistaken. I am allowed to upgrade anyone with miles, even if that someone else is not traveling with me. Besides, if someone were traveling with me, I probably would not use my miles since as a CP, I get unlimited upgrades for me and my traveling companion."
The CP agent kept insisting that I was wrong, and then after a while, she transfered me to another agent who was suprised to hear that a CP agent was not familiar with that aspect of upgrading...

CPRich -- This is the standard approach for upgrading CP's internationally -- gardener is right. I think the way the agent explained it to you is all wrong however... IIRC you're going to FRA, so you should clear, flights looked pretty open this weekend.

What happened to Mrs. Rich's non-upgradeable fare?

Yes, I called back during regular hours and had an agent clearly explain to me the upgrade window vs Inventory reallocation, as explained above. The first agent was just wrong in explaining it - she insisted the upgrade window was 3 days, and that it said so on the upgrade cert (that I had in my hand).

Since 21 of 35 seats were available at 7 days, and there was still no upgrade inventory available, I'm curious whether anyone has ever actually been cleared at the 7 day mark. I know that on my SFO-PIT and back runs over 2 years, I actually upgraded before getting to the airport maybe 3 times, outside of 9-12/01.

I've got a few strategies to try for the Mrs' flights, but I'm sure BB would have a fit, so I'll share what was/wasn't succesful after I give them a try.

btw - One of the agents did say - "we have to be very strict and consistent with the new rules. People used to ask for waivers, and if they didn't get them, they would just hang up and call back to try with someone else".

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CPRich:
Since 21 of 35 seats were available at 7 days, and there was still no upgrade inventory available, I'm curious whether anyone has ever actually been cleared at the 7 day mark.
</font>

If you mean internationally with a DMUPSYS02 on a non-V roach fare, the answer is Yes. I just cleared on PHL-MAD for 28 Jan at the 7 day window. But there was "O" inventory available.

If you mean domestically, the answer is all the time, buddy. But then I seldom book domestic flights unless there is an abundance of G inventory http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

So it's not only my flight that has 21 seats out of 35 open, but no O seats to be seen. I really wonder how many they put in O to start with.

Quick question - Where do you guys go to find the info on what type of seats are open?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by umguy:
So it's not only my flight that has 21 seats out of 35 open, but no O seats to be seen. I really wonder how many they put in O to start with. </font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by phillyd2:
Quick question - Where do you guys go to find the info on what type of seats are open?</font>

go to http://flyaow.com/classavailability.htm. there are links to and descriptions of several good sites for this.

or try the american express site; www.itn.com. you must log in and select expert mode under preferences.

http://flyaow.com/classavailability.htm. there are links to and descriptions of several good sites for this.

or try the american express site; www.itn.com (http://www.itn.com). you must log in and select expert mode under preferences.

sorry for the dup and the problems with the links - not sure how to use them, and not sure where the "edit" button went...

none of these sites show O class availability, however. to find this out, you'll have to call up-- most reps are willing to give out exactly how many O seats are left, so call back if you don't get the answer the first time.

you can get a good idea of how many business seats are left for sale on a given flight by looking at the seatmaps. try and book a biz ticket using flyaow.com, for example, and go to select seats.