robyng

I think I figured it out. I looked at the domestic flight segments standing alone. And the reward tickets on the outgoing are standard rewards - and there are no first class rewards on the incoming at all. I've booked a saver ticket.

So I guess my options are to pay more miles (which I'm not going to do) - or wait and see if these seats are ever released as saver reward tickets. Doubt that's going to happen - because these are the beginning and end of day "business flights" between JAX and ORD - but it doesn't hurt to keep looking.

Does that make sense to those of you who know more about these things than I do?

BTW - I thought the UA agent was very nice in terms of helping me find some flight options that weren't available on the website. And I'm thrilled that I found 2 front of plane saver tickets to Asia (Delta had a limit of 1 front of plane saver ticket per flight). Robyn

zombietooth

Look, this is very common with UA, and I am almost certain that you will get the upgrade before the day of travel, so don't waste any more miles!

Do you know how to use "expert" mode on the UA website. Because you can watch the available award seats if you wish.

Here is a primer on how to read the codes: http://blog.wandr.me/2011/10/decodin...he-new-united/

If you follow the chart down, a First Class (2-cabin) award for a non-elite will be in the "I" bucket. So if I>0, a FC seat is available.

Good Luck!

P.S. "Bucket" is just slang for a fare class. Here is the bucket view for UA flight 851 on 10 SEP 14: "Available Cabins: F6, FN6, A4, ON2, O0, J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN2, R2, RN2, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L9, K9, G0, N0, XN9, X9."

From this you can see that there are 2 seats available in Global First for elites only(N suffix)=ON2. There are 2 upgrade seats available to anyone from economy to biz=R2, RN2. And there are no award seats available in biz=IN0,I0.

robyng

Wow zoombietooth - looks a bit like rocket science! But I've printed out your message - and the link - and will try to figure things out. Might not get around to it for a week or so - but I don't anything's going to change between now and then. Thanks. Robyn

freakflyer

I tried to waitlist the business class standard award today and United said that they are not allowed to do that anymore. And even if they did the system wouldn't automatically confirm. So I need to check daily.

Aspen

Please note: This is almost a year old

I can confirm 'Requested IN' on a mixed class award itinerary becomes confirmed automatically when the bucket opens. Thank you for the information about calling and asking for the request to be notated. Of course my first call was met with: "You should watch to see if IN become available and then call in"
I did the usual HUACA.
A very helpful agent on my second call put the request in which I appreciated because with only two F seats available for sale <72 hours before the flight the buckets opened and it is now F0