Originally Posted by
Hussman
I pay, on average, 20% more than the competition for a total of almost 40K a year largely because of their loyalty program. Part of that loyalty program is an offer of 'confirmed' regional upgrades. I have tried to use these upgrades repeatedly, and they deny them to me and then offer to sell it to me afterwards. Why would I not be upset? I've already paid more than once for them.
For me, the instrument upgrades have become a way to upgrade other family members, not me. You can still get pretty good value out of them if you drop the expectation that they can be used on flights chock full of business travelers. I used 10 GPU's this year for trans pacific crossing from ORD to China and Hong Kong... all for family members, and all on flights that left on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday. I planned the trip to begin and end midweek specifically to target the GPU's to days when they had a chance to clear. If you try to clear multiple GPU's on friday-sunday on those flights it's just not gonna work most weeks. I got five of them to clear on the same flight outbound (a Tuesday), and 3 on one flight and 2 on another on the return. RPU's are being used exclusively for in-laws who are elderly and have some health problems, but are flexible about when to fly. I only book flights with R inventory (usually ORD to West Coast) and then immediately clear the upgrades. They have some value when used this way, but the old days of using them on a wider range of flights appear to be gone.