United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - Last minute flights = zero chance of upgrade

It really doesn't make any sense. Because of my job, I buy 99% of my tickets a day or two before departure. I am ALWAYS #1 on upgrade when I book 1 day before flight on United - however, I never get upgraded because of all the upgrades via the 72 hour upgrade block. By the time I book, first is already filled with lower tier/lower fare tickets.

So they charge me an UBER premium for flying last minute and I end up sitting in possibly the most expensive coach seat on the plane. Thanks for rewarding profitability United...

Awkward for United that when I do fly them, I remember why I stopped. You'd figure just once, that I'd be reminded why I used to fly United... but that hasn't happened in a while.

There was a fix in the works for this issue.

I really think UA is missing a trick here. They should adopt the NOR-1 standby upgrade system like Hilton has to manage TODs. "If the seat is available, do you want to upgrade for $XXX?" Then offer a higher upgrade fee if they want a confirmed upgrade instead.

That would probably leave more last minute room in F for high-priced Y tickets, while still capturing paid upgrades if tickets such as the type you buy don't get purchased.

It really doesn't make any sense. Because of my job, I buy 99% of my tickets a day or two before departure. I am ALWAYS #1 on upgrade when I book 1 day before flight on United - however, I never get upgraded because of all the upgrades via the 72 hour upgrade block. By the time I book, first is already filled with lower tier/lower fare tickets.

So they charge me an UBER premium for flying last minute and I end up sitting in possibly the most expensive coach seat on the plane. Thanks for rewarding profitability United...

Awkward for United that when I do fly them, I remember why I stopped. You'd figure just once, that I'd be reminded why I used to fly United... but that hasn't happened in a while.

If you are buying full Y tickets 1-2 days before departure you should be able to upgrade instantly if there are any seats available in F and you have any kind of premiere status. I find on most flights that at least one F seat is not given away with the CPU hand outs and gets filled at the gate.

It really doesn't make any sense. Because of my job, I buy 99% of my tickets a day or two before departure. I am ALWAYS #1 on upgrade when I book 1 day before flight on United - however, I never get upgraded because of all the upgrades via the 72 hour upgrade block. By the time I book, first is already filled with lower tier/lower fare tickets.

So they charge me an UBER premium for flying last minute and I end up sitting in possibly the most expensive coach seat on the plane. Thanks for rewarding profitability United...

Awkward for United that when I do fly them, I remember why I stopped. You'd figure just once, that I'd be reminded why I used to fly United... but that hasn't happened in a while.

Your profile shows that you are Premier Exec which UA has mapped to 4th tier in the CPU upgrade scheme: GS>1K>Platinum>Gold>Silver>Dirt. As a 1K I often buy tickets at the last minute. Last week I bought a ticket the same day that I flew, about 6 hours in advance and I was #1 on the upgrade list with 1 seat remaining. I cleared at the airport less than an hour before the flight. Of course it is route dependent, but your chances of clearing with higher status is greater.

Your profile shows that you are Premier Exec which UA has mapped to 4th tier in the CPU upgrade scheme: GS>1K>Platinum>Gold>Silver>Dirt. As a 1K I often buy tickets at the last minute. Last week I bought a ticket the same day that I flew, about 6 hours in advance and I was #1 on the upgrade list with 1 seat remaining. I cleared at the airport less than an hour before the flight. Of course it is route dependent, but your chances of clearing with higher status is greater.

Was your ticket booked in Y?

How do you know that F is being filled with upgraders in advance? The other threads in this forum seem to suggest that no one is getting upgraded at the 72 hour window, so which is it?

I would hazard a guess that actually a lot of those in F are paying for it (via full fare instant upgrades, or full F tickets). Of course, this depends on your route.

I did recently buy a ticket (LGA-DEN-SJC) <24h before I flew it. At the time, I figured I was not going to clear as F was looking pretty full. At the airport, I was #4 on the list as 1K (on I think a T fare), but I wound up being upgraded on the plane by the GA. It did make me think about the windows, but whether seats get held back is really a failing of revenue management, not the upgrade system itself. As a 1P, you're awfully low on the upgrade list (from speaking from experience last year).

Do you have any idea that you will need to be in a particular place at a particular time (and instead, these plans just occasionally change/fall through)? If so, since your company is willing to drop the money for full Y, could you book earlier (in full Y) and refund if plans change?

How do you know that F is being filled with upgraders in advance? The other threads in this forum seem to suggest that no one is getting upgraded at the 72 hour window, so which is it?

I've stopped relying on CPUs and mostly burn RPUs for the flights that count (redeyes). Anything else is a pleasant surprise at this point.

If you are buying full Y tickets 1-2 days before departure you should be able to upgrade instantly if there are any seats available in F and you have any kind of premiere status. I find on most flights that at least one F seat is not given away with the CPU hand outs and gets filled at the gate.

I certainly can't speak for "most" as sample size is small, but my personal experience includes trying to book on several flights out of IAH that have been completely full in F more than 24 hours from departure, including twice that I was actually trying to buy an F ticket. (In both those cases, I was able to reschedule my obligations and buy relatively inexpensive coach tickets instead, so this is CO's loss more than mine, I suppose.)

It is not always the free upgraders that are eating up F inventory. I have a six segment trip coming up in paid F that is 3 weeks out and half of my flights are already almost full in F (less than 4 seats left), so UA does a good job of selling F seats on some routes.

UA tries to hold back 1-2 seats until the gate before giving those away for upgrades, but there are plenty of walk up F fare customers, customers on fully refundable F tickets changing their tickets, and some higher tier elite members on Y fare switching flights and taking the last seat.

I have a SFO-IAD itinerary at the end of the month that is on a Saturday, and F inventory for 3/4+ of the flights that day is already well into the single digits. There are a bunch of 757s flying this route, but it is selling. I can't imagine a weekday flight on that route and it is a no wonder GS and 1Ks are almost always in Y. LAX/SFO/SNA-EWR is another route that is almost always full in F/C with paid customers.

There was a fix in the works for this issue.

The fix being TODorama: "all kettles, all the time" aka the upgrade nazi . . . "no upgrade for you [over-entitled elites]!"

I think it is hard to get an accurate picture of how the high/full fare compares to the upgrades at the last minute.

For example, even though many times last minute fares are in Y/B/M or other higher tiers, it is also possible that last minute fares include the lower ones.

I typically see at least 1 or 2 seats available for sale in F, meaning it will convert over to either seat for upgrade or for TOD purchase.

That said, if you are buying a full fare or YBM fare, you should automatically get it.

However, if you fall into the lower fare bucket, and you are not 1K, you'll wind up being out of luck.

While it may or may not be fair to the last minute buyer, the system is currently set up so that only someone who buys a full fare will trump the elites with the complimentary upgrade (presuming space is available).

This involves a whole slew of things, from inventory/revenue management, to appropriate software algorithm, to controls at the airport, which, honestly, I don't know if UA (or other airlines for that matter) can figure out and make work 100% of the time.

Great points guys.

I'm going by the mobile app.. possibly not the most reliable source but on the upgrade list, it seems to show confirmed upgrades and upgrade wait list. My name is usually #1 but there are 7-8 confirmed/checked-in upgrades and status lists F class as FULL from the upgrade tab.

Today's flight is a Y fare. I believe I've just passed 100k this year (all domestic except for a jaunt to Ireland) but a small fraction of that has been on United. Just like social levels, I fear middle class is getting the hard squeeze. No place/value in MP for 50k-100k flyers..... (my level last year).

Hope this doesn't kick off a political/economical debate :)

Although I will say it's given me the opportunity to fly VA & DL for most domestic and am now using Porter for Toronto (something I never did as a UA loyalist before).

OP - which route do you fly?

I have a Premier Gold friend who always uses my miles for last-minute travel. In most of the case, he was cleared CPU for everything except ex-DEN.

It is not always the free upgraders that are eating up F inventory. I have a six segment trip coming up in paid F that is 3 weeks out and half of my flights are already almost full in F (less than 4 seats left), so UA does a good job of selling F seats on some routes.

"Good" is all relative when they're offering dirt cheap P fares on routes that cause the domestic F cabin to fill up a week+ in advance. So they're not going to get close-in A/F fares, and may lose people connecting to an int'l flight in C/F.

OP - which route do you fly?

I have a Premier Gold friend who always uses my miles for last-minute travel. In most of the case, he was cleared CPU for everything except ex-DEN.

Not to go off topic, but clears when using miles? How does that work? I thought you couldn't upgrade when flying on an award ticket. Is it some credit card thing which also transfers? Also, if they are using your miles, the ticket is typically tagged with your status, not your friends.

Not to go off topic, but clears when using miles? How does that work? I thought you couldn't upgrade when flying on an award ticket. Is it some credit card thing which also transfers? Also, if they are using your miles, the ticket is typically tagged with your status, not your friends.

Thanks to SHARES, status is inherited on award tickets. It also includes the "has the credit card" marker for purposes of upgrades.

wait, one sec. if you're buying a YBM fare, shouldn't you be allowed to upgrade instantly on the webpage as long as there's inventory even if you're within t-72?

wait, one sec. if you're buying a YBM fare, shouldn't you be allowed to upgrade instantly on the webpage as long as there's inventory even if you're within t-72?

+1 - Exactly. OP says he's buying "expensive" tickets, but doesn't list the fare buckets. If they are Y/B (M doesn't apply to OP because he's not 1K), he's eligible for space-avail. instant UG at time of purchase and, if no space avail., moves to the top of the queue ahead of all CPU's except GS.

UA does a great job of prioritizing high fare-payers over deep discounters with lots of miles/segments. If OP isn't being UG, he's being beat by GS because there are almost always a couple of F seats held to the gate unless they are sold. If those seats are sold, OP has no beef.

His concern may well be met by the trend to holding more UG's to the gate and sorting it all out there.

+1 - Exactly. OP says he's buying "expensive" tickets, but doesn't list the fare buckets. If they are Y/B (M doesn't apply to OP because he's not 1K), he's eligible for space-avail. instant UG at time of purchase and, if no space avail., moves to the top of the queue ahead of all CPU's except GS.

UA does a great job of prioritizing high fare-payers over deep discounters with lots of miles/segments. If OP isn't being UG, he's being beat by GS because there are almost always a couple of F seats held to the gate unless they are sold. If those seats are sold, OP has no beef.

His concern may well be met by the trend to holding more UG's to the gate and sorting it all out there.

could also be the website issue that a lot of PMUA flyers just aren't aware of and isn't super publicized by the new UA where you have to manually log into united.com and click the "upgrade" button on your reservation. not sure if it's that, but seems not a lot of people are aware of it still and that the YB(M) "instant upgrade" just essentially means it's instantly available, but not instantly processed. :shrug:

"Good" is all relative when they're offering dirt cheap P fares on routes that cause the domestic F cabin to fill up a week+ in advance. So they're not going to get close-in A/F fares, and may lose people connecting to an int'l flight in C/F.

Meh, if most of the time [I'd bet 80%+ of the time] there is/are 1-2+ F seat when they finally process the last upgrade or two, then they are doing it right and they are not losing potential revenue from full fare customers.

FWIW, only one out of six flights on my itinerary has a P fare inventory filed. Nope, there was no P on those flights when I bought it. Only PN for BM-UPs.

Unless, the OP is on a Y fare, chances are he is being beat out by GSes often is pretty high.

Meh, if most of the time [I'd bet 80%+ of the time] there is/are 1-2+ F seat when they finally process the last upgrade or two, then they are doing it right and they are not losing potential revenue from full fare customers.

FWIW, only one out of six flights on my itinerary has a P fare inventory filed. Nope, there was no P on those flights when I bought it. Only PN for BM-UPs.

Unless, the OP is on a Y fare, chances are he is being beat out by GSes often is pretty high.

A GS on any CPU-eligible fare will beat OP on any fare, including an -UP fare, unless OP booked prior to the window. Once you're at the gate on a GS-heavy route, there's nothing to be done (or complained about). Having heard the loud shrieks of GS at the gate on my two most recent TCON's xIAD and the GA's retort that there were 21 and 15 GS who would wind up in Y, that may be the issue here too.

A GS on any CPU-eligible fare will beat OP on any fare, including an -UP fare, unless OP booked prior to the window. Once you're at the gate on a GS-heavy route, there's nothing to be done (or complained about). Having heard the loud shrieks of GS at the gate on my two most recent TCON's xIAD and the GA's retort that there were 21 and 15 GS who would wind up in Y, that may be the issue here too.

Right, at the gate only.

However, on a Y fare, you do not have to wait until the gate and the OP can easily trump any GS if he manually pushes the upgrade through via his reservation if there is JN inventory [which is pretty much given if there is F space].

I think elites on full Y fares [non-discounted or excessively discounted corp/gov't Y fares] should trump GSes any day. Those fares costs more than A/P/Z/etc fares.

In terms of CPU, does a gold has better change of upgrading on SFO-BOS transcon?

In terms of CPU, does a gold has better change of upgrading on SFO-BOS transcon?

Not really. Better than Silver for sure, but only marginally.

To have a reasonable shot at an upgrade most of the time you need to be an 1K on this route.

If you are buying full Y tickets 1-2 days before departure you should be able to upgrade instantly if there are any seats available in F and you have any kind of premiere status. I find on most flights that at least one F seat is not given away with the CPU hand outs and gets filled at the gate.

Just for another data point; I changed flights 6 hours before departure the other day and was CPUd about five minutes after my reservation was re-ticketed. YMMV

Great points guys.

I'm going by the mobile app.. possibly not the most reliable source but on the upgrade list, it seems to show confirmed upgrades and upgrade wait list. My name is usually #1 but there are 7-8 confirmed/checked-in upgrades and status lists F class as FULL from the upgrade tab.

Today's flight is a Y fare. I believe I've just passed 100k this year (all domestic except for a jaunt to Ireland) but a small fraction of that has been on United. Just like social levels, I fear middle class is getting the hard squeeze. No place/value in MP for 50k-100k flyers..... (my level last year).

Hope this doesn't kick off a political/economical debate :)

Although I will say it's given me the opportunity to fly VA & DL for most domestic and am now using Porter for Toronto (something I never did as a UA loyalist before).

I personally would never kick off a political / economic (nor social) debate.

I will just say though that being in the 1% (GS/1K) is a lot more fun than being one of the 99%! (99,999 PQM and below) :)


Just for another data point; I changed flights 6 hours before departure the other day and was CPUd about five minutes after my reservation was re-ticketed. YMMV

And I had the opposite experience...

Changed flights not long before departure (of the new flight). Lost my confirmed upgrade that I had on my old flight, and did not get the upgrade on my new flight.

I was still happy that I even was able to get on to the new flight.

wait, one sec. if you're buying a YBM fare, shouldn't you be allowed to upgrade instantly on the webpage as long as there's inventory even if you're within t-72?

That's what I would think. If you are buying a full-fare ticket, instant upgrade rules are in effect for premier.

could also be the website issue that a lot of PMUA flyers just aren't aware of and isn't super publicized by the new UA where you have to manually log into united.com and click the "upgrade" button on your reservation. not sure if it's that, but seems not a lot of people are aware of it still and that the YB(M) "instant upgrade" just essentially means it's instantly available, but not instantly processed. :shrug:

Can anyone verify this? Do you really have to click "upgrade" for the "instant upgrade" to work. I'm PMUA, and I haven't bought YBM yet this year. I'd be interested in another data point here.

+1 - Exactly. OP says he's buying "expensive" tickets, but doesn't list the fare buckets. If they are Y/B (M doesn't apply to OP because he's not 1K), he's eligible for space-avail. instant UG at time of purchase and, if no space avail., moves to the top of the queue ahead of all CPU's except GS.

UA does a great job of prioritizing high fare-payers over deep discounters with lots of miles/segments. If OP isn't being UG, he's being beat by GS because there are almost always a couple of F seats held to the gate unless they are sold. If those seats are sold, OP has no beef.

His concern may well be met by the trend to holding more UG's to the gate and sorting it all out there.

OP's follow up post states that he/she believes that he/she has just passed the 100K mile mark this year. So going forward, he/she will be able to use M fares for instant upgrades as well.

I also agree that OP may be consistently beaten by GS's on the routes that he/she flies as well. My impression was that United holds on to 2 first class seats on the big 757's until after general boarding. I've seen it quite consistently on SFO-LAX a couple of times where they go to coach and pull two elites out of the pile and put them in FC after just about everyone has boarded.

Just for another data point; I changed flights 6 hours before departure the other day and was CPUd about five minutes after my reservation was re-ticketed. YMMV

Had a similar experience a few days ago. Changed from RIC-IAD-SFO to RIC-EWR-SFO a few hours before the flight due to weather delays - upgrade EWR-SFO cleared within 30 mins. A few hours later (due to further weather) I got them to protect me the next day on EWR-ORD-SFO - upgrade cleared on ORD-SFO within 10 minutes, and on EWR-ORD about an hour later.

To answer the earlier question -UP fares are "instant" but not "automatic." A silver booking a B fare can, space available, UG ahead of the GS CPU window. This is why there are so many GS in coach on the IAD-SFO/LAX routes. Lots of YCA and other corporate discounts booked into Y/B quite far out + intl. F/C pax inbound, all mean that most of domestic F is gone before the GS window is even hit.

As to reroutes, that's all a flight-by-flight matter. If you move up by a flight and 10 GS misconnect, you're in clover. In the reverse situaion, you're in steerage.

Can anyone verify this? Do you really have to click "upgrade" for the "instant upgrade" to work. I'm PMUA, and I haven't bought YBM yet this year. I'd be interested in another data point here.

My experience - My reservation on United.com said (red letters) that my reservation in Y is upgrade eligible.

I did not see a way to do it on line.

I called the 1K line and in about 2 minutes both of the Y segments on my itinerary were upgraded to F by the helpful and professional 1K phone agent.

As to reroutes, that's all a flight-by-flight matter. If you move up by a flight and 10 GS misconnect, you're in clover. In the reverse situaion, you're in steerage.

UA F = clover? Sounds nice! :)

My experience - My reservation on United.com said (red letters) that my reservation in Y is upgrade eligible.

I did not see a way to do it on line.

IME, when doing this you can either click on the "Upgrade Reservation" link just like what you do when you want to apply RPUs or GPUs to upgrade or burn miles for upgrades.

Or you can just click on the seat map and select any seat in F then click save/continue and follow the instructions on the screen.

I have not done this in several months, but I am pretty sure that process has not changed.

IME, when doing this you can either click on the "Upgrade Reservation" link just like what you do when you want to apply RPUs or GPUs to upgrade or burn miles for upgrades.

Or you can just click on the seat map and select any seat in F then click save/continue and follow the instructions on the screen.

I have not done this in several months, but I am pretty sure that process has not changed.

Thanks!

The method to do it online was not immediately clear to me, and I like calling the 1K line anyway. The level of service I have been getting from the 1K line over the past 60 days has been as good as ever.

could also be the website issue that a lot of PMUA flyers just aren't aware of and isn't super publicized by the new UA where you have to manually log into united.com and click the "upgrade" button on your reservation. not sure if it's that, but seems not a lot of people are aware of it still and that the YB(M) "instant upgrade" just essentially means it's instantly available, but not instantly processed. :shrug:

I didn't know that.

IME, when doing this you can either click on the "Upgrade Reservation" link just like what you do when you want to apply RPUs or GPUs to upgrade or burn miles for upgrades.

Or you can just click on the seat map and select any seat in F then click save/continue and follow the instructions on the screen.

I have not done this in several months, but I am pretty sure that process has not changed.

Thanks.

Cheers.

Not really. Better than Silver for sure, but only marginally.

To have a reasonable shot at an upgrade most of the time you need to be an 1K on this route.

real life experience as a gold - pre 3/3, upgrade percentage was about 40-50% on most routes except transcons SFO/LAX-PHL. post 3/3, 17 segments flown, 2 CPU -- one ORD-CID (30 minute flight on CR7) and one IAH-PHL which frankly shocked the hell out of me.

Thanks!

The method to do it online was not immediately clear to me, and I like calling the 1K line anyway. The level of service I have been getting from the 1K line over the past 60 days has been as good as ever.

the link is just below the entire body of the reservation on the lefthand side, hard to find at best, took me 10 minutes to remember where to find it the other day even though i had just clicked one thru a few days before.

I really think UA is missing a trick here. They should adopt the NOR-1 standby upgrade system like Hilton has to manage TODs. "If the seat is available, do you want to upgrade for $XXX?" Then offer a higher upgrade fee if they want a confirmed upgrade instead.

That would probably leave more last minute room in F for high-priced Y tickets, while still capturing paid upgrades if tickets such as the type you buy don't get purchased.

Actually, US has already started offering the "If the seat is available, do you want to upgrade for $xxx." The email is clear that it is a space-availabe upgrade at y hours before departure, if an F seat is still available.

by the way, how about this solution, if you're really buying full fare tickets all the time:

Buy your tickets in advance, even if you're not sure you're going to be using them. Use the refundability to preserve your options, including the upgrade possibility. You can cancel or reschedule the tickets if you don't use them, but you'll be in line for the upgrade if that's really what's happening on your routes.

Actually, US has already started offering the "If the seat is available, do you want to upgrade for $xxx." The email is clear that it is a space-availabe upgrade at y hours before departure, if an F seat is still available.

Do you have a link to the best US Air thread discussing this?

Interesting approach... You only pay if the upgrade space is available and you receive the upgrade...

This is what many people have complained about with W fares required for applying a GPU. (The fact that you have to buy the W fare and hope you get the upgrade, if it does not clear immediately at booking.)

If UA adopted this for W fare upsells / GPU's, I think most 1K's would be happy with this development.

the link is just below the entire body of the reservation on the lefthand side, hard to find at best, took me 10 minutes to remember where to find it the other day even though i had just clicked one thru a few days before.

Yup - and while it's good for us who are "in the know", I can only imagine the hundreds (maybe a few thousand) of M flyers (and B too on occasion) every day who may not have had the auto-F upgrade available at booking, but then don't know to keep checking for space.

A more dynamic system would check for space in real-time and would process the auto-upgrade if space became available, but of course SHARES can't do that.

IME, when doing this you can either click on the "Upgrade Reservation" link just like what you do when you want to apply RPUs or GPUs to upgrade or burn miles for upgrades.

Or you can just click on the seat map and select any seat in F then click save/continue and follow the instructions on the screen.

I have not done this in several months, but I am pretty sure that process has not changed.

OMG...it can't be so. COdbaUA and SHAREs actually let you do it yourself easily?

To have a reasonable shot at an upgrade most of the time you need to be an 1K on this route.

Not really - GS.

In the reality, this is one of the routes that a lot of people burn their RPUs.

It really doesn't make any sense. Because of my job, I buy 99% of my tickets a day or two before departure. I am ALWAYS #1 on upgrade when I book 1 day before flight on United - however, I never get upgraded because of all the upgrades via the 72 hour upgrade block. By the time I book, first is already filled with lower tier/lower fare tickets.

So they charge me an UBER premium for flying last minute and I end up sitting in possibly the most expensive coach seat on the plane. Thanks for rewarding profitability United...

Awkward for United that when I do fly them, I remember why I stopped. You'd figure just once, that I'd be reminded why I used to fly United... but that hasn't happened in a while.

I haven't seen these points mentioned yet in the thread -

1. If you are buying at last minute on a high fare, and that fare is not B (or M if you are 1K) then you should check the difference between your fare class and BM classes and maybe for a few bucks more, you can get Y or M, then get an instant upgrade. Note, though, that Y and M clear into another special bucket, so you need to check that bucket to see if the instant upgrade is available (but the UA web site should tell you that at booking time). This strategy might help you. I did this on a recent flight in a very similar situation and it worked well. I was on a trip that required me to go "lowest fare" so I just paid the difference (about $100) out of my pocket.

2. Are you Prem Exec or 1K? If the former, it's highly unlikely you are "always" #1 on the UG list. Your profile says the former, but I thought someone said the latter.

- however, I never get upgraded because of all the upgrades via the 72 hour upgrade block. By the time I book, first is already filled with lower tier/lower fare tickets......

....I'm going by the mobile app.. possibly not the most reliable source but on the upgrade list, it seems to show confirmed upgrades and upgrade wait list. My name is usually #1 but there are 7-8 confirmed/checked-in upgrades and status lists F class as FULL from the upgrade tab.

You cannot conclude that those upgraded ahead of you are lower tier or lower fare. This list shows several types of upgrades and does not consist only of CPU. Also, the CPU and other upgrades can occur at several times. It is certainly not unusual for a 1K to get the upgrade at 72 or at 24. I definitely see inventory being held for the last minute for first class sales and Y/B/M ups. Nearly every flight I look at has first inventory long after the last CPU starting window has passed.