Originally Posted by
mduell
- GPUs will ignore PE and still be Y->J, but who knows what the future holds.
I have zero confidence in this, which is why I am fervently anti-PE. If it becomes a separate cabin, I expect that one-cabin upgrades will be the norm.
Here's the applicable text from aa.com:
AAdvantage awards and upgrades into Premium Economy aren’t available now, but will be at a later date.
For now, you can upgrade to Business from Main Cabin and Premium Economy using your AAdvantage miles or systemwide upgrades.
and from delta.com:
There will be three ways to upgrade into Delta Premium Select:
1. Purchase an upgrade with cash through delta.com or Reservations
2. Purchase an upgrade with miles through Reservations
3. Use a Global Upgrade Certificate, and if not cleared prior to check-in, monitor the airport standby list to see if your certificate clears. Global Upgrade Certificates are only available to Diamond Medallion® Members as a Choice Benefit option.
When UA adds PE, I expect that they will update the policies similarly, and we'll be back to three-class travel, with slightly different names, a poorer experience in each cabin, and, likely, higher overall fares. Passengers who want to sit in Business (née First) will need to purchase Premium Economy (née Business) and then upgrade.
Furthermore, I sincerely doubt that it will be possible to use a certificate to upgrade to J from the lowest PE fare class(es).