nomad420

I will possibly end up doing this on my Friday SFO-CLE flight. If the RPU doesn't clear at T24 (it won't) and IF they offer me the TOD I will buy up rather than continue to roll the dice for the chance the RPU will clear on the redeye. FWIW I will keep an eye on the RPU to make sure it is returned but quite honestly not sure why, they seem pretty worthless.
I have a another SFO-CLE turn around next month that I bought up to W with hope that at least that will clear. This Friday's flight I didn't buy up to W, exact class of ticket it is I don't know off hand.
Also still standing on RPUs placed months ago on two SFO-BOS flights for later next week and next month... not holding my breath on those and also did NOT buy up on those.

transportprof

I thought that you didn't need a W fare to apply RPUs?

Kacee

Correct, no minimum fare requirement for RPU.

And if hoping W would improve spot on the upgrade list, it's still a discount fare, on the lower end of the fare hierarchy (Y,B,M,E,U,H,Q,V,W,S,T,L,K,G). So that's likely just wasted $$. Maybe buying M, E, or U would help, but at that point why not just purchase discount F?

nomad420

Yeah kind of an experiment if you will (I know "sucker game"). The W was $80 more on the SFO-CLE RT ticket. I tried it last year once on a TATL SFO-MUN ticket and it didn't work and I swore I wouldn't do it again. But I am snake bit with these instruments. ZERO have cleared in almost 12 months now. Starting July I will throw them at everything, I don't care if it's my SFO-MFR runs.

sfo789

I have far, far better CPU/RPU odds on W/V/Q than S/T fares (usually fly on those 5 domestically). I think it was WineCountryUA who speculated that this is because anyone who's listed for UG and flying xxx-SFO-CLE -- where xxx is international -- has to be on W or higher (since W is minimum fare for GPU). In turn, that means there's a large clustering of upgraders at the W/V level.

So if you put yourself at or just above a W, you'll probably jump ahead of a fair few upgraders coming off intl flights.

Kacee

On business routes, I find anything below an E or U to be extremely low odds for an upgrade. There's no way I would pay up to a W in hopes of clearing an RPU.

nomad420

Well I will let you know what happens. That trip isn't until late June. If it doesn't clear I won't do it again for sure. It wasn't to spendy for the up purchase and like I said nothing is clearing so I'll roll the dice one last time. Didn't quote E/U fares but obviously more $$$.

Kacee

Well good luck, I hope you are the exception here!

sfo789

I do think even on "business" routes, upgrade odds depend a little on time, route, luck, etc., and sometimes the upfare might well be worth it. I've cleared Thursday and Friday morning SFO-ORD and SFO-IAD on W fares (once even on a CPU!), have never missed an RPU on the intl 772 when it flies IAD<>SFO, etc.

Obviously a Thursday redeye SFO-EWR is going to be disastrous unless you're a GS on a Y fare, but I do recall (as a counterexample) missing the CPU on LAX-CLE on an S then getting it on a W soon after.

Kacee

Oh I fully agree with that.

I just wouldn't pay extra to upfare to W on those routes. It's a very low odds proposition. (And even if you accept the "international connecting GPUs" theory, booking a W at best gives you a tie. You'd have to go to at least a V to get any advantage.)

sfo789

Agree most of the time. That said, sometimes I'm willing to roll the dice if the upfare is low and the value proposition is high. I remember flying IAD-SFO on an intl 772 in November on a relatively busy day; the flight showed PN6 about 2 weeks out. UA was selling a ~T, upped to V and crossed fingers. Cleared a couple days out. Pretty sure the T wouldn't have been so lucky judging by the size of the list.

DELee

One data point:

LAX-HNL

Applied instruments to MrsDELee and myself even though R=0.

One day later, I checked the webpage and its offering $299/person to buy up in to P. After asking MrsDELee again (had asked when I booked if she was ok to book into F or a day before if she was ok with sitting in E+), she said "buy". So I bought - with the instruments still applied.

Anyway, just before T-24, instruments still not returned, so I called 1K and the agent pulled them off before I went and checked in.

So, no, the instruments did not come back without asking but it wasn't hard. And we still had the offer to buy up even though I had the instruments applied.

David

WineCountryUA

The RPU stays attached to the reservation after the buy-up (even if there is nothing it can do) but after the flight occurs, the unused RPU should be returned (as is normal for any unused RPU). But not earlier.

Lori_Q

Thanks for the data point. I pulled the RPU off the itinerary before T-24 because I had read a report on this board about an RPU that appeared to prevent a buy-up from being offered. That story may have been apocryphal, but in the instance last week, I didn't want to leave the upgrade to chance. It looked like no upgrades cleared on that flight, and we had a tarmac delay. The $129 for a lie-flat 757 seat on TPA-EWR was money well spent.

WineCountryUA

There are many, many reports of folks getting cash upgrades offers with waitlisted instruments.