joew92

I apologize if this has been answered somewhere already. I searched around, but couldn't find an answer.

For the first time ever, I got 1K status on United. I wanted to use my SWUs to take my family on vacation and fly in business class. Can I realistically expect to book a ticket a few months in advance and apply the SWUs at the time of booking? I read that I have to check for R/RN fare availability. But, for the most part, there only seems to be availability about 2-3 days into the future for all destinations that I checked. Unfortunately, last minute vacations are generally not feasible for us.

Is there any way to do what I'm trying to do (confirm upgrade using SWU a couple of months in advance)? Or, is the only way to confirm business class seats a few months in advance to actually purchase business class seats with $ or miles?

Thanks in advance for any help!

LaserSailor

GPU is the gnu gname for SWU

If you share your itin folks here can give you a bit better info on your upgrade chances but you have the essentials correct

Pony up the Biz fare for the guarantee

Look for R open buckets to book confirmed into biz with W fare plus GPU/ miles

No other shortcuts exist

Only W fares or higher permit GPU upgrades btw!

zrs70

Welcome to Flyertalk, and mazal tov on reaching 1K!!!

Upgrades at the time of booking are always a good thing. Inventory can be available at any time (as long as the flight itself is bookable). As you saw, additional seats are often released within days of the flight.

What is your intended destination?
Are you ok making 1-2 connections along the way?
What are your preferred dates?

joew92

Thanks! That's what I figured. I didn't have a particular itinerary in mind, but was considering a round trip from the Washington, DC area to Sydney, Australia sometime between March and May.

Thanks! I was mostly considering Sydney, Australia. I'm definitely okay with making a couple of connections along the way. AFAIK, there aren't any direct flights from the DC area to Sydney anyway. My dates are flexible - as long as I have a couple of months' notice.

aacharya

That's your issue. LAX/SFO-SYD isn't exactly a fun ride in coach - and many will pay for business on that flight.

mmack

OHHH! The most difficult route to find R space on! That is, between the west coast and Australia, non-stop. Many people find better availability going thru Peking or Korea, which adds hours to the trip.

I'm always searching for R space (from now to the end of the year) as I won't book without being able to confirm the upgrade. Hard to find, tho sometimes last minute availability occurs. There is a thread about waitlisting for Upgrades on the SFO/LAX SYD route somewhere

Good luck

joew92

Ah, that being the hardest route to upgrade makes sense.

Are there other good international destinations for vacations where I'd have better chances of seeing R availability a few months in advance? I know 'good' is subjective.

double_black77

You may have better luck with Europe and Japan

joew92

I'll check that out. Thanks for your help!

GroundStop

Looking through March-May I see the following confirmable R space currently to SYD from either SFO or LAX.....

SFO-SYD
R9 on 3/24
R9 on 3/25
R7 on 3/26
R1 on 3/31
R1 on 4/7
R2 on 4/19

LAX-SYD
R6 on 3/26

Worth noting that the 777s replace the 747s on the schedule on 3/27 (and hence the reason nothing really available after that date?).

I'm assuming you'd also want to upgrade on the return, but I saw nothing available for the whole of April (assuming you took one of the March outbounds)