Originally Posted by
K_M_McMahon
I know there has been a decline in P.S. so this may be an easy "no" but I'll ask anyway.
I typically travel IAD (or BWI) to LAX direct. If my schedule permits, the fare is almost the same to travel IAD-JFK-LAX on the outbound and still come back direct to IAD.
My company only pays for discounted Y so I can upgrade into C on this flight. Since I would likely burn miles to upgrade anyway, is P.S. C still worth the hassle of this routing? (assuming I can confirm at booking?)
I would say go for p.s. if it's confirmable. Then again, I'm a big fan of p.s. still - still the best domestic product offered by United. However, I still like 947 IAD-LAX on 777.
Originally Posted by
climmy
IF, and only IF you can confirm your upgrade at time of ticketing, I'd say yes, it's worth it.
Bear in mind that PS routes are hard to upgrade as a lower status on a lower fare. If you need to waitlist, fuggeddaboutit.
I recenlty flew PS via SFO-JFK and onto IAD because all of the 3-class widebodies are gone from the non-stops this time of year. When departing SFO, there was something like 15 names on the list when biz checked full. On the return, same but only perhaps 6 or 8 names didn't clear.
In my experience, JFK-SFO is harder to upgrade than JFK-LAX, probably because of the international connections and high concentration of 1Ks in SFO. Then again, as a 1P for the last 2 years, I've had pretty good track record in getting upgraded on p.s. flights using miles.
Originally Posted by
climmy
Lastly, bear in mind that IAD-JFK is prone to delay. If you miss you're connection, you might be relegated to coach anyway. On my return, I missed my scheduled flight [2hr WX dealy] and was lucky to get protected on the next flight in biz (GS desk again). You would not get afforded the same protection.
ur, sorry to rain on your GS parade, but I've had my upgrade honored or protected on alternate routing when things went awry that would cause me to misconnect, WX or not.