gnaget

I haven't read the thread apart from page 1, but I bet you that the Y fare on SFO-FRA is a government employee. They get special Y fares. The regular Y fares would not be purchased by "normal" people since you can buy discounted business or B economy fares that are also refundable.

I guess the idea of a government Y fare is that it will allow the person to buy a ticket at a fixed price and it's always available unless economy is completely sold out. But with the upgrade game then it also allows them to jump the queue over people who purchased more expensive ticket in "lower" fare buckets on some routes.

I think UA should ban upgrades on government fares.

zombietooth

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1k650

Interesting - is it the same mess internationally?

WineCountryUA

if by mess you mean R>0 appears and waitlisted GPUs don't clear immediately - yes!

PaulInTheSky

What a tough decision to make - I got a chance to get JFK/IAD-HKG in B fare at around 1.1k one-way. The first leg to SFO seems to have PN easily to get the upgrade, but SFO-HKG is ridiculously hard to get the upgrade on it. I still have one GPU to burn, and I have ORD/IAD-NRT to get it cleared upon booking if I choose to. If trick is this B fare is roughly only $100 more than the Q fare that goes through ORD/IAD and NRT. I am not sure if I should use B fare with the GPU and compete against GS and Y fare for the SFO-HKG route. I am not sure if I could get an upsell fare much lower than most others, but since it's the end of the year, I doubt if I could even have a chance for the upgrade.

NYC1K

This is why I will try very hard not to fly UA to Asia. I'm 15 of 15 on upgrades to NRT on AA and I don't get to play the "W" fare or higher roulette wheel. The only crap about AA is if you want to fly to any other airport in Asia other than PVG or NRT, those EVIPs don't help because you can only fly AA's partners (JAL & CX), athough you do get the occaisional Op-Up on CX.

BigE

This is probably Smi$ek's favorite thread. They have managed to increase revenue by selling upgrades. Then, on top of that, they get us to bid $$ for the scarce remaining upgrades by competing with each other to book the most expensive ticket!

If it's true that "there is no such thing as a free lunch," this strategy might eventually backfire. Maybe other airlines (such as AA) will poach the elites, or people will just fly the cheapest airline, or fly less. It probably takes a while, though, to see the full reaction because most people are resistant to change.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Poaching isn't likely anymore; industry consolidation has reduced the number of players to a venue ideally suited for a game of golf. They know they've got it pretty good; they've been profitable with oil at $100/barrel, and the club is small enough that it's unlikely someone would feel comfortable "stepping out" on the guys, y'know? And an unforseen competitive advantage to the hub & spoke network is that it required the legacys to build or support extensive proprietary feeder networks, limiting the markets that can be served by non-aligned players. Can you imagine the damage Virgin could do if they had access to the feeder network of any of the big-3? But they don't.

So whatever you're not liking about the SWU lottery today, don't look for it to get better tomorrow. The game has changed radically over the past 10 years.

weero

It does indeed take a non-linear customer response to overcome the current loss of competition.

In the case of CO, this is actually easier than for a more generous legacy carrier -> if the intl upgrades don't clear anymore, save yourself the money to buy upgradable fares. Saves a lot of trouble.
Domestically it doesn't really matter. The carriers comp from one another so also there, you can go for the more affordable option without risking much.Many of us will not be part of the game or lottery anymore. It was too tricky for my liking, so I will return when the reign of Smisek will return to reason or dissipate...

1k650

SWU lottery is alive and well - look at the U/G lists out of SFO intl. any day...

harrisoned

Hi guys -

I'm a newbie to upgrading flights and wanted to know what my chances are at getting upgraded on my flight to Bangkok from Boston. I'm just a Silver and purchased V-class tickets. Looking at the seat map now (trip is 5 months away), the entire business class section is empty, but the long haul flights (IAD-NRT and NRT-BKK) are huge planes so I'd imagine plenty of other people are requesting upgrades too. I've got the upgrade request in but just thought it would be good to know my chances heading in.

Always Flyin

Welcome.

Upgrade availability varies from day to day, season to season, and route to route. There are no absolute rules, although some routes are regularly harder than others (e.g., SFO to HKG).

That said, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but as a silver upgrading with miles, your chances are about zero these days.

That cabins are smaller due to the flat seats and more people are paying for them.

Your best bet for an upgrade is to pay the surcharge UA may offer to upgrade.

Good luck!

cova

Point is - if you want to upgrade on UA - check that R is available and that you can use miles/instrument. I would NEVER pay more for a ticket to increase your upgrade chances. Unless you can get an instant upgrade (and you call and know that at ticket time) it would never make sense to pay more.

AA is a world of difference. Much more luxurious flights - better food etc - and much better upgrade chances. UA just is not competitive with AA or even DL on the upgrade front.

BigE

I failed to clear on a Y fare SFO-HKG, even though I checked in 23 hours early and was on the waitlist the whole time (mostly at the top). I also failed on a one-way W fare for which I paid $300 extra. I don't plan on doing that anymore, if I can't get into R right away (which also seems harder).

tryathlete

The real question is whether or not the higher fare class purchases were intentional or incidental. If intentional, then SWU's are useless and one should switch to AA where fare class is not a factor. I've been buying V fares but if all 42 people are buying higher fare classes, my strategy is doomed unless I race to the top.