Originally Posted by
2002HeelTransplanted
Maybe this is obvious and I know your original post focuses on upgrading, but if don't typically use miles and your primary concern is getting business or first guaranteed, have you considered just booking an award ticket with miles at one of those levels? Assuming if you're closing in on million miler and don't typically use miles, you've got some to consider burning on this.
This. If you have loads of miles buy a standard award and waitlist for a saver award. Compared to the purchase of a ticket, a copay, and the miles, even a standard award starts to look attractive pricewise, and a saver award will blow it out of the water.
Originally Posted by
Kacee
From our perspective, UA opens R space at random.
It's not entirely random, even from an outside observer.
UA tracks actual seat sales versus what it predicts based on historical analysis for each flight. If sales are well below what it predicts it tends to make award space and upgrade space available.