Buffalotrvlr13

I'll be Platinum at time of flight, but am gold at time of booking. For once this is a personal trip and taking the girlfriend? Chicago, Newark, Dulles are my options.

What do you think is my best shot?

I've read the fare class breakdown in milepoint and from what I could gather I should book a flight with RN at least 1 correct?

Sorry for the newbie questions, still trying to process all the information. I am relatively new to business travel (1 year) but have flown 73k on UA and another 50k spread out, in under 1 year, so trying to learn as much as I can.

Thanks!

craz

I assume you are looking for the CPU or free Up, for that Id stay way clear of EWR, not that the others will be much easier. Also the A319 has only 8 up front stay away as well, the 320s have 12 not much better, best bet is a PMUA 757 or PMCO 753 if they are flying the routes. But all will be hard since you are looking to fly out of teh Main Hubs.

Did you check BUF-CLE-SFO you might have a better chance depending on the type of ac being used for CLE-SFO

then on top of that you want a companion UP as well, for both to clear you're gonna have to come up with a way to make sure the plane ends up witha very lengthy delay

Buffalotrvlr13

Yes, sorry.. Looking to for the free up, not using any miles for this. Need to save those for my flights to Asia!

There's not much with Cleveland but will narrow down to Cleveland and Chicago...

Is my understanding of the RN code accurate?

Thanks again.

thomwithanh

If you're Platinum at the time of the flight using your RPU's are an option as well.

sbm12

Not really. If you are looking to clear in advance (i.e. instrument of some sort) then the R inventory matters for clearing at that time. If you're just hoping for the CPU then the lack of R inventory doesn't matter at all.

8rulos

What day/time will you be connecting through any of the hubs? Reason I ask, is I personally think snagging a CPU as a 1P from a Hub to SFO on a Thursday would be impossible around 5-7pm. Out of ORD a lot of my 1k friends are in the low teens on the upgrade list. Same goes for other peak days as well. If you would connect earlier or on a non-peak travel day, you might get lucky. My point being, you wouldn't want to waste $ on a more expensive fare to route through a specific hub, if there is virtually no chance of an upgrade anyway.

Buffalotrvlr13

Thank you for clearing that up! I was thinking that it would be tied to my reservation giving my "fare class" priority when it came to clearing. So if I wanted to use something to upgrade at time of booking, THEN I look for the RN code.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the wealth of knowledge, like I mentioned in my previous post, I am new to business travel and trying to learn the ropes. Was promoted in January and then next thing I know it's mid October and I'll be at Platinum. I never had the time to sit down and really plan this out. Luckily for me my company is fairly flexible and allows me to choose the flights as long as they're priced competitively..

I'm actually looking at that now.. Late Thursday night (when everyone wants to fly apparently) or anytime Friday. Trying to figure out best chances and I'll book based off of that.

Is there a spot where posters on here track their upgrade success rate?

I'd like to contribute if so!

Continental250K

In my experience, I would go BUF to ORD and arrive if possible into SFO on the last flight of the night.

Going early or late week before 5pm may never happen.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Any seat leaving Buffalo is an upgrade

Buffalotrvlr13

Thanks!

Going to go with ORD and will share the info.

Also going to Mexico City next week and we will see how that goes.

Continental250K

I'm not saying a thing, but you aren't far off. Unless we are on an 8 seat FC cabin, I've cleared 90% of the time.

There are more GS members this year than I anticipated since the merger.

Buffalotrvlr13

I haven't cleared once on 8 flights being gold, I'm sure that makes you happy

Going to ensure I get to 1k regardless, even if it takes paying for a 4 day weekend in Asia to get it!

craz

that might not increase your % either! I looked at a bunch of xxx-SFO flights for this coming Thurs and it was to find a flight that I think as a 1K I'd clear, yet a companion of mine clearing via CPU SFO is a hard nut to crack no matter where you are flying into from