FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Ways to search for upgrade space at booking?
Old Nov 25, 2017 | 6:33 am
  #13  
Hipplewm
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Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CHS
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Amabassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,593
Originally Posted by Kacee
"most of us"? Not me. That's a recipe for needlessly missing upgrades.
Originally Posted by jsloan
Maybe Hipplewm meant setting an alert for P space? If you set an alert for I space, you wouldn’t need to start checking daily, since I being open almost always means that R is open. But a transition from P=0 to P>0 might be an indication that you should start looking for R on a regular basis.
Maybe I need to expound....if I need to take a trip to Asia sometime in late April, I tag basically 30-40 possible flights that will get me there, or close with a small final flight at the end. ie - if going to HKG - flying business to TPE, then whatever to HKG isn't too bad.

I go to expert flyer and tag all those flights and look for I, X, and P (if not already available) and wait. If I get an email, generally it means they are opening seats - I start looking daily on those flights for R space using United.bomb
is it anal - yes, does it take a fair amount of time - yes, is it worth it to everyone - I dunno, can't answer that. Have i missed possible upgrades, maybe - I can't say as I have been upgraded on every flight so far. Same trick worked to get my whole family upgraded RT IAD-HNL-IAD this summer.
I have used 14 GPU so far, they all cleared. Maybe I just got hella lucky over and over, I dunno

I generally have a very flexible travel schedule though. If you have a much more rigid schedule, there is probably not much you can do.
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