Originally Posted by
XFer2
Thanks for the suggestions. I went ahead and booked the flight with the most open business seats available, but didn't go as far as splitting the reservation. We have a kid so preferred to stay together even if it is in economy.
I'll call EVA on the suggested T-X day interval. I'm happy to report back if and when the upgrade goes through and on what fare code inventory, to contribute to the data points on this thread.
If you have enough United miles in your account (30k per person per segment you want to upgrade) you can try putting the request through the United SAUA request page as frequently as you want. That way you do not have to call so often. It won't tell you if space opens on a different flight but you can attempt the upgrade on the flight you are on without calling. If you call and find upgrade space on a different flight you can change your flight and then upgrade.
I would also keep checking award space on the flights with a united.com search. While award space is not the same as *A upgrade space (many times there is more upgrade than award space) if you see award space that is good indicator that upgrade space may be available.
Another suggestion would be to track for flights a few days before yours what time of day they release award space (united.com award search) at T-10 and T-7 because that may also be an indicator of what time of day they release upgrade space. I believe it is in the late evening / night PDT.