Programs: Marriott PLT, SPG PLT, HG Gold, DL PM, UA 1P, FL A+ Elite, National EE, Avis First
Posts: 295
Purchased Gold... 0-4 on Upgrades
I guess TPA-CLT is a hot route after all. I am 0-4 on upgrades. At least the $400 has gotten me extra miles and the priority TSA line (I tend to get to airport on Mondays about 30 mins before take-off )
Not impressed with the upgrades so far needless to say.
What did you expect? All Golds that earned their status with miles would be ahead of you (not to mention Platinums and Chairmen).
Monday is heavy business traffic and even CLT-TPA sees its share of preferred members at Gold and above levels.
I've been G (BIS) for past few years (since I stopped traveling as many trans-cons and fell from CP) and only noticed significant increase in upgrades once I've passed 60k this year (last year I barely made G).
Programs: Marriott PLT, SPG PLT, HG Gold, DL PM, UA 1P, FL A+ Elite, National EE, Avis First
Posts: 295
Well I opened a thread here before buying the Status and many mentioned that Gold would be fine for this route. I did not know that Purchased Status has less chances than a "flown" status. I'm gonna try and play with my departure times a bit to see if it makes a diff. In reality its so short of a flight that it doesn't even matter to me. I am glad I opened this thread though as I found out about how purchased status is a tad below attained status.
Would that be the case if I flat out purchased Chairmen too rather than a trial?
If you flat-out purchased CP status, you would probably be the lowest chairman on the plane because you would have CP status but few BIS miles. You would outrank PP, GP and SPs even if they have more BIS miles.
Programs: US CP, HHonors Gold, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat
Posts: 396
Yes, BIS miles are used to rank DM members within status tiers (for upgrades). So if there's one F seat left, the CP with 100,005 PQM's will get it over the CP with 100,004 PQM's.
If you're playing the upgrade game, I'd suggest getting a subscription to ExpertFlyer so you can see the loads on the flights before booking. I'm a Gold and I have a decent upgrade chance, except on weekday transcons. But as said before, my Gold comes before you, due to the miles I've flown.
As to Jaxxon, I'd just buy CP. You may lose a couple upgrades to people who have more PQM than you, but lots of people also get close to CP and then buy up.
Yes, BIS miles are used to rank DM members within status tiers (for upgrades). So if there's one F seat left, the CP with 100,005 PQM's will get it over the CP with 100,004 PQM's.
Continuing on this theme, the CP who bought-up with 64,000 BIS miles (or 0 miles for that matter) will not outrank any CP who gained status by flying but will outrank all PP, GP, and SP members, even outranking the PP with 99,000 BIS miles.
As others have told you, it's about both the route and when you fly. I'm only SP but I have ridiculously good luck with upgrades. I think it's probably because I fly primarily for pleasure rather than business, so I'm flying at times without too many other preferred pax on the plane.
Programs: US Airways Chairman's Preferred, Best Western Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold
Posts: 397
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaxxon
I never knew that a "Purchased" status was a step below "Flown" status.
Believe it or not, I need about 105 miles to get to Chairman - and I was just going to buy it for $250. I can fly it in an afternoon.
Are you sure?
Thanks for the info.
I'm in a similar boat although I have a few more miles to go. I would just purchase CP as a couple people have stated. flying the miles are only going to put you a few miles further into the pool. You would still be before all PPs, even if they have more BIS miles.
If you book a discount fare (any fare other than Y or B class), we prioritize your upgrade by Preferred level and within each Preferred level, by the number of Preferred-qualifying miles you've flown on US Airways and US Airways Express operated flights in the last 12 months
(bolding mine)
There are a number of threads here on the forum dealing with the US autoupgrade system.
As a CP, it is pretty rare that I get upgraded on my hub-to-hub flights (PHX-PHL/CLT).
Location: DFW; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA GLD 1.5MM; IHG Plat, Marriott Silver; OMNIPat
Posts: 10,115
Quote:
If you book a discount fare (any fare other than Y or B class), we prioritize your upgrade by Preferred level and within each Preferred level, by the number of Preferred-qualifying miles you've flown on US Airways and US Airways Express operated flights in the last 12 months
I was wondering if it was miles for the current year or qualifying year. This suggests that it's a rolling 12 month period, is that right?
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(bolding mine)
There are a number of threads here on the forum dealing with the US autoupgrade system.
As a CP, it is pretty rare that I get upgraded on my hub-to-hub flights (PHX-PHL/CLT).
Interesting. Looks like if you fly *A flights those PQMs aren't factored into to the upgrade scenario.
Given that about 20% of my miles this year were on UA since US didn't fly to that destination, it looks like I'm not as good as situation as I thought.
To the OP: Like others have said, it all depends on the routes and times you fly. As a platinum this year, I've only cleared 2 transcons in F this entire year. Any other time I've sat in F on those flights, I've paid for it. There have also been CPs on here that have stated on some CP heavy routes, they're only batting about 25% on some flights. Status won't guarantee you an upgrade, but the higher you are, and the more BIS miles you have, the better your chances will be.
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US Upgades as a CP: Total 3/4, Short Haul 2/2, Midcon 0/0, TCON 1/2
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