Originally Posted by
Kacee
And if hoping W would improve spot on the upgrade list, it's still a discount fare, on the lower end of the fare hierarchy (Y,B,M,E,U,H,Q,V,W,S,T,L,K,G). So that's likely just wasted $$.
I have far, far better CPU/RPU odds on W/V/Q than S/T fares (usually fly on those 5 domestically). I think it was
WineCountryUA who speculated that this is because anyone who's listed for UG and flying xxx-SFO-CLE -- where xxx is international -- has to be on W or higher (since W is minimum fare for GPU). In turn, that means there's a large clustering of upgraders at the W/V level.
So if you put yourself at or just above a W, you'll probably jump ahead of a fair few upgraders coming off intl flights.