dchristiva

Thanks for the info, dhuey. Very helpful. I agree with your assessment of my odds of getting into F on UA. E+, maybe. Hard to say. So it comes down to: do I want to fly VX and assure myself of a better coach experience, with the possibility of upgrading to F for $399 one-way (is there a similar option to upgrade to Main Cabin Select? If so, how much, and would it be worthwhile?), or do I want to take my chances on a crappy UA coach experience, but with the possibility of getting E+ or maybe, just maybe, F? Kind of a tough call, but I'm leaning towards giving VX a try.

Moultrie

Yes, you can buy-up to MCS at T-12 (I think?). Usually something like $160 for a transcon. You also get complimentary upgrade to MCS at T-24 as a Silver (if space is available), and you can buyup to F more cheaply from there -- it was ~$180 on a recent SFO-IAD, and $240 from DCA-SFO.

I fly VX whenever I can domestically b/c it's so much better in coach, but use UA for Int'l.

dhuey

Your decent shot at E+ makes this a close call. If you had said you were UA Gold and could grab E+ at time of booking, that'd push it in favor of UA. An extra 4" of legroom is pretty nice in UA E+ (usually 36" vs. VX MC at 32").

Regarding MCS (Main Cabin Select), yes, you have a good possibility of getting that at 24-hours before check-in. It's $159 extra one-way for the transcon. That's a generous 38" of legroom, priority security and boarding, free booze & food and two checked bags. You can upgrade to MCS at 24-hours and try to upgrade to F at 6-hours; if you do both upgrades, it'll be the same total cost as going from MC to F. Check the seat map at 24-hours to see if the only available MCS seats are middle seats.

All in all, I'd give VX a shot here. It's not going to be a bad flight. Your UA flight might be.

dchristiva

OK, you've convinced me. I booked my first VX flight from IAD to SAN this morning. I've added reminders to have a look at MCS upgrades and FC upgrades 24-hours and 6-hours before my transcon flights. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

dhuey

Good luck. If possible, be ready to go right at the 24-hour mark. There are only 12 MCS seats, and 4 of them are middle seats.

One quirk to mention: if during check-in at 24-hours you are able to get the upgrade to MCS, you'll need to call in at the 6-hour mark if you want to upgrade to F. Once you're checked-in, you can't upgrade online -- an agent needs to undo the check-in. So, if no MCS available at 24-hours, don't check in if you want to try the F upgrade at 6-hours. This was true a few months ago for me, so I'll stand corrected if someone has more recent experience.

BTW, how many MCS and F seats are open at this point for your outbound?

dchristiva

Currently all 8 FC seats are available. I see 9 seats with an "M" (4 of which are middle) and 20 with an "E" (9 of which are middle). I assume that the "E" seats are NOT Main Cabin Select seats, just Main seats closer to the boarding door.

That said, my outbound flight is over a month away, so I'm not holding my breath that any of those seats will still be around by the day before departure.

dhuey

That's encouraging. Yes, there are several weeks to go, but often you'll see some F seats purchased by now. Pretty good chance one or more of those 3 MCS passengers will be trying to upgrade to F at 6-hours.

unavaca

I'm trying to understand the upgrade thing. Let's say I'm a VX Silver or Gold and my goal is to get into F on a tcon. At 12 or 24 hours (depending on status), I should be able to pay my $399 and go from MC to F, right? If I want to save some money and gamble a little, would I want to wait for the comp upgrade to MCS (when does this happen?) and then pay $240 to go from MCS to F?

The way I look at it, tcon upgrades on UA are difficult without a CR1, which are generally worth about $150-ish. If the comp upgrade from MC to MCS is generally a sure thing, then paying an extra $100 for MCS to F might not be terrible, but $399 is a non-starter.

Do upgrade fees earn points toward elite status?

mr27

The comp upgrades to MCS are at -12 as Silver and -24 for Gold. And no, unfortunately
the upgrade fees dont earn points towards status.

Eastbay1K

What keeps me @ VX? Today I had an experience that reminded me of the "good old days" as a UA 1K (circa over 10 years ago). I don't fly VX all that much, but I'm Gold due to status match plus some spend. I've never asked for a waiver or favor.

Today, arriving at the airport after 3 flights spanning 2 continents, I had built a 4 hour connection for the VX segment on a separate ticket (allowing for delays, immigration/baggage, etc.) only to arrive at the VX terminal to find out my 4 hour connection was going to be a minimum of another hour - alas, the earlier flight was delayed (the one that was cutting it too close to reserve) and we could make it with time to spare. "I have 2 MCS, but they're not together." "We'll take them!" Click click, a few more clicks, a couple of BPs and bag tags, and we were off to PreCheck.

I was not expecting this outcome at all when we first walked up to the VX counter. An excellent VX experience today. :-:

dhuey

Great story! That's almost always been my experience with VX employees -- they really want to help you.

Chachito415

Terminal 2 at SFO keeps me at VX. Every time I walk from T2 to BART the slow way via T3, I glance at the long security lines for United "premier" access and laugh to myself.

That being said, I have MVP status with Alaska and I do love those free upgrades to first class. MCS at VX is great much of the time, but too many passengers are practicing a much more aggressive armrest behavior, making me yearn for Alaska's free first class (which, incidentally, MVPs can really only score on weekday flights).

LarkSFO

A) The new 6 lane premier security line in T3 is scheduled to open shortly if it has not already.

B) Can you say T3E?

C) I really like T2 and VX as well.

Chachito415

Good, I hope for reasons A and B above that people fly United, that way fewer passengers will be crowding my armrest on VX. Like all residents in San Francisco, I have to fly United at one time or another to some under-served airport. The overly tiered boarding process is reason enough for me to dread those occasions.

LarkSFO

VX is barely making it as it is.

If 'fewer people are crowding your armrest', then that means VX won't be around for you to enjoy in a couple of years.

The majority of the people on the UA forum have gotten used to the boarding process (and so have the gate agents), and I believe are much more satisfied with it these days.

The only complaint I read these days is that paid F and 1K's should have some more 'separation' from the masses. Me, I could care less.