US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - If a CP upgrade doesn't clear at 7 days, do we have to wait until the gate?

I'm flying DCA-PHL-LAS on the afternoon of the 31st to meet my girlfriend in Vegas for the new year. (She lives in SAN, so she'll be flying in on HP).

As expected, my DCA-PHL upgrade cleared yesterday, right at the 7-day window. But PHL-LAS on US 642 shows up as "Economy: Confirmed" and "First: Waitlisted" on virtuallythere.com. The flight to LAS looks oversold or close to it, showing F6 P0 A4 Y3 N3 B1 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 M0 L0 T0 K0.

What's odd is that there are six first class seats for sale but none left even for full-fare upgrade. Are there actually six F seats open or does US ever deliberately oversell F on the 757s?

I'd imagine for a "leisure" destination such as LAS on a date such as New Year's Eve that there'd be few preferred members on board, so perhaps my chances for an upgrade are better than they'd be on other dates.

But my main question is this: If an upgrade doesn't clear at the 7-day window, can it still clear in advance of check-in time? Or do we have to play the gate dance game?

But my main question is this: If an upgrade doesn't clear at the 7-day window, can it still clear in advance of check-in time? Or do we have to play the gate dance game?

The answer is Yes: I've been cleared more than once after the 7-day marker but before day of departure. If I don't clear at 7-day, I always call at 4-day before those rascly US2's start clearing.

That said, it only happens about 50% of the time that I clear within the 7 days when you missed it AT the 7-day.

Happy Holidays!

I will be fighting for an F2 flight to FLL and an F3 flight back..the first didn't clear at 7 days and don't expect the next one too.

Have you had good luck on F8 planes on the last minute?

A friend an I flew out to Vegas about 2 weeks ago and it was F2 up until day of departure and we both cleared. Coming back it was F5 at booking and about a week before the trip went to F0 up until day of departure. Again, my friend and I were the only ones to clear. The agent was suprised to see my friend and I jump to the top of the standby list. There were 6 other Chairmans. Since I lost all my money gambling :( , we decided to go to the public library and checkin 24 hours ahead of the flight.

Have you had good luck on F8 planes on the last minute?

I've had 50% success on the F8 aircraft to and from LAS (only flew it twice, upgraded once, not the other). My upgrade was done at the gate - and I had not checked in early online.

i will checkin online to help the cause.

I was upgraded last Friday night at the gate in PHL for my Vegas flight. There was only one seat open and guess who got it. Not sure if there were any other CP's on the list, but I checked in 23:51 prior to flight time to increase my chances of moving up.

What was surprising was on the return Tuesday night from LAS to PIT. The eight seats must have been all paid F, full Y or awards as I checked in exactly 23:59 before flight time and was shocked to find out at the ticket counter that F had already checked in full. I could care less about upgrading redeyes, however, since I can sleep just as well in an exit row window as in first class.

When are the Airbus planes coming back to the LAS routes?

When are the Airbus planes coming back to the LAS routes?

Probably heading way off topic here. If you believe the business plan US set out when it converted the 757s to F8, never. If Vegas is still viewed as a low yield destination that the 757s work well to, I can't see 'em putting the Airbuses back on the route. Wish they would though. I remember flying a 319 out to LAS back in 2002. Was even actually able to upgrade (almost forgot what that was like going to LAS). The 320 family is probably best used on transcons (save for LAS) and to the Carribean. Of course, they may be coming back to the Shuttle, instead of the mix of Airbus and 737s (but that's something I read on USAviation.com, and you can take that with a full shaker of salt).

I'll say this - using the 757s is better than the 737-300s that used to ply the route. I didn't have to endure a fuel stop in the middle of a trip, but a friend of mine did on a mid-summer afternoon flight from LAS to either PHL or CLT.

Probably heading way off topic here. If you believe the business plan US set out when it converted the 757s to F8, never.

I remember flying a 319 out to LAS back in 2002. Was even actually able to upgrade (almost forgot what that was like going to LAS).


The schedule shows a 319 starting Feb 5th PHL-LAS.

Thanks for the heads up, planeluvr. The schedule also shows the late PIT-LAS, CLT-LAS and redeye returns to be 319s starting in February.

That's great news. ^ We'll have planes with 12F seats around, instead of just the 8. Maybe, just maybe, we can get upgrades then (assuming that US is still flying, which to quote CPRich, "Nobdy knows."(tm)).

Unless there has been a programming change in the last three months or so, you will be doing the upgrade dance at the gate. The program was/is written to only look at your record once at the 7 day window. If there was/is no availability at that time, your record is not looked at again until you go into the upgrade window at the airport, even if availability comes open. Unless some one can site a recent example of not being upgraded at the window and then being upgraded with out making a phone call to check on availability, then I would say the system is still the same.

How about those demon deacs?

We flew to LGW Christmas 2003, upgrading with certs. The upgrade didn't clear at the 7-day window, but it did a couple of days later. Got Row 1, too. :)

If you work through the CP desk, they keep chasing it down for you. Or at least they used to.