RickFuller

Login onto united.com, verify that
"My Profile"
->"My Travel Preferences"
->"Display Preferences"
->"Availability Format" is set to "an expert"

Then search for "standard award" milage award booking for the specific flight you are interested in learning about "current" upgrade inventory availability.

When the list of flight options comes up, click on "Fight info" for the flight of interest. You are looking for the NF NC items on the list.
NC# is the number of clearable upgrades to business class currently available.
NF# is the number of clearable upgrades to first class currently available.

If the upgrade you want is currently not 0, then your upgrade should clear right away if you are inside the window for your status, or it should clear at anytime if you are using miles, CR1, or SWU.

If the upgrade you want is currently 0, then your upgrade will NOT clear right away, and you will be placed on the waitlist. The probability of your upgrade clearing at this point is impossible to know, and you just have to wait and see.

If NC(business) or NF(first) seats become available after your request, I think that they will clear as they become available based on status/fare ordering rules.

I have used this feature on united.com and I assume that many FT folks know about this, but I was reading FT a while before I learned about it.

Moderator's Note - Older, related thread may be found here.

mahasamatman

NF - First Class upgrade inventory
NC - Business Class upgrade inventory
XF - First Class award inventory
XC - Business Class award inventory
XY - Coach Class award inventory

If you do a Standard Award search in expert mode, you'll see the buckets.

warreng24

You have to set your profile to EXPERT mode first and then do the Standard Award search.

See the FAQ on how to set EXPERT mode.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...lines-faq.html

MBS MillionMiler

1. Make sure your united.com profile is set up in 'expert' mode.

2. Go to 'Book with Miles' (award tix).

3. Select 'Standard Award' and put in your city pairs.

4. Hover over the flight info and it will show available fare buckets, including NF, NC, XF, XC.

FortFun

And see this thread from the FAQ for more info on the buckets and how to see them:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-each-one.html

mike_L

I've see seat info like "Q9 V9 W9" or "Q8 V0 W0" for awhile, but I could not figure out where to find them.

I did set my profile as expert mode and logged in, but I still don't know where to look. Can you help?

Antipode

In your search results, hover over "Flight Details" and the information should pop up.

sim510

You can also do a dummy booking of a standard award ticket (in other words, don't 'purchase') for your same routing. If you hover over details, this will give you award seats as well... provided you are set at expert mode, which it seems you already are. Good luck. Hope you get the fare you are looking for.

tmm1012

There are a few other options (some paid services, like ExpertFlyer and KVS Availability Tool) that provide easy access to fare bucket availability. I also find the FlightStats Availability search a relatively quick, easy and free way to search.

FortFun

There is a detailed description of how to get the info for all buckets in post #1 of this thread from the FAQ:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-each-one.html

If you only care about the revenue buckets then the flight details route mentioned above works.

Might find more info in one of these:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-merged.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...t-ual-com.html

mike_L

Got it. Thanks everybody.

Some observation, don't know if it's weird

I logged in with expert mode, and did a dummy search. I could see the fare bucket, but I could not open the seat map anymore. I cliked it, nothing happened.

If I log out and do the same thing. Of couse, I will not be able to see the fare bucket, but I can open the popup seat map. Is this weird?

2cardinalalums

I don't see "My Travel Preferences" under my Profile page. Do I need to do something else to see this? The referenced thread is locked, so I can't ask this question in that thread. Sorry for the OT reply.

Michilander

That may be the wording that was on the old site. The site was revamped recently. Anyway, in My Profile click on the "My travel information" tab. About halfway down you will see a section labeled "Display preferences". The first drop box, labeled "Availability format" is the one you want to set to "an expert".

Enjoy.

thetravelman

Hello,

Is there a way to check for upgrade inventory via United.com or any websites? I know calling United Rep’s they can check for you. I was just wondering.

Thanks.

mahasamatman

Set your profile to Expert Mode and do a Standard Award search. The Flight Details will have the info you want.