Originally Posted by
NCommander
This may be a silly question, but why do you want to force a B fare? (I've seen some people talk about how they do this regularly)
I understand the reason might be refundable, but its not quite clear to me why you'd pay such a high cost for the higher fare class ...
The reason for me is simple. I want to ensure the best possible chance my upgrade will clear using a SWU.
The majority of my UA flights are from SIN to SFO/LAX/JFK.
True, I can book a cheaper W fare online (or over the phone), but my experience has been that a B fare is approx US$500 dearer when I ticket from SIN.
Trust me, that $500 starts to look cheap when you're half way between Hong Kong and SFO, unable to sleep because you're stuck in E+ and your upgrade failed to clear.
With 1K status, and a B fare, plus some planning on ensuring the departure date has the best loads, you'll give yourself the best chance of clearing.
At least that's been my experience. My SWU's have all cleared between 7-10 days prior...and no sweating it out at the gate.
In addition, lets say I end up paying US$2200 for a B fare round trip between Asia and the East Coast of the US and my SWU's clear both directions. Where else can I fly Business Class for that amount of money?