Hi Everyone,
As some of you have noticed, late last year we began operating flights between Houston (IAH) and Lima, Peru (LIM) with newly configured Boeing 767-300 aircraft. These flights now have flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst, a refreshed interior throughout and on-demand entertainment nose to tail. We hope you’ll agree this is a significant improvement over the previous aircraft which had recliner seats and overhead TV monitors.
With this improvement, we’ll also be eliminating the upgrade carve-outs we previously had in place for this market. As you may remember, in Feb 2011, we began operating ‘domestic’ premium cabin service between IAH and LIM. At that same time, we also instituted our ‘domestic’ upgrade policy for these flights to align with the service provided. Now that we have restored our BusinessFirst level of service on a year-round basis, our upgrade policies are again being aligned accordingly.
Specifically, on February 6th, 2013, upgrade policies for flights between IAH and LIM will be aligned to match the policies in other markets, such as Newark – LIM, where we offer our United BusinessFirst product. For those of you planning to book travel between IAH and LIM, here are some details to keep in mind:
- The current Premier Upgrade benefits will apply through Feb 5th. Between now and Feb. 5th, Premier Upgrades will continue to be processed within the guidelines of our current Premier Upgrade policy. This includes both space-available Complimentary Premier Upgrades (CPU) and instant upgrades for Premiers booked in Y/B or, when applicable, M classes
- Regional Premier Upgrade (RPU) requests will be accepted through Feb 5th. Regardless of your travel date, we’ll also continue to accept RPUs through Feb 5th. After this date, Global Premier Upgrades (GPU) can be used instead and will require booking into W class or higher
- MileagePlus Upgrade Award co-pays for Premier members will be waived through Feb 5th. After this date, all requests for MileagePlus Upgrade Awards will be subject to applicable upgrade co-pays
- For those of you who are already booked to travel Feb 6th onward (ticketed on or before Jan. 6), we’ll ensure any upgrade requests (including Complimentary Premier Upgrades) are honored in accordance with the policies in effect when you booked your flight. In fact, we’ll be confirming these upgrades for you automatically by the beginning of next week.
We’ll be updating our systems over the course of the next couple days to reflect these upgrade policy changes. In the meantime, I hope you find the above information helpful. If you have any questions please post them here.
Shannon Kelly
Director, Customer Insights
United Airlines