Originally Posted by
stmvanc
Thank you jsloan and findark for setting me straight about this. I now see that I should have been looking at the far right column, which gives fares for buying PE, upgradeable to J using GPU. However, in all my searches this column never showed any options, despite that "all PE fare classes are upgradeable". I figured that jsloan knows the system better than the United website, so I called the 1K helpline.
Happy to help. You're making me blush, though.
Originally Posted by
stmvanc
Even the more senior agent was confused at first by me wanting to pay more to have a guaranteed PE seat, but still apply the GPU in hopes of getting upgraded to J. It appears that this is a relatively rare thing for them to see.
FlyerTalk (not just me) definitely knows the upgrade system better than the agents do. It's a tiny part of their job, but a major point of emphasis for many of us.
Originally Posted by
nomad420
I suspect they will be seeing more of this. I may be doing this myself later this year. Most my international flights this year are/were already purchased J but will probably go PE with GPU later.
I agree. PE is new enough that this probably hasn't come up much yet. But, if the fares stay where they are, I think it's going to be more common.
In your case, I assume you'd just buy PE straight out. Y->PE and then list GPU is likely to be more common among passengers where the employer will only pay for Y and they're willing to eat the difference out of pocket.
Also, while reports are hit-or-miss on the change fee being waived to upfare to W to use a GPU (after purchase, when PZ comes available, to avoid the lottery), I'd expect that GG BUYUP would unambiguously apply to a P+ purchase. So, if you're the "book the cheap fare, then wait for PZ" type, it might wind up to be cheaper to change from, say, a K fare to an R fare (change fee waived) than to a W fare (if the agent refuses to waive the change fee).