FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - [Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight {Archive}
Old Aug 11, 2019, 12:58 pm
  #1527  
WineCountryUA
Moderator: United Airlines
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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Welcome to FT!, HaydukeMT
Originally Posted by HaydukeMT
Looking for a little advice here, so thanks in advance. Booking a family vacation for four to Paris on 5/30/20 (Saturday, I know). I see three United options: IAD> CDG, EWR>CDG, SFO>CDG. Planning on purchasing R fare tickets to guarantee premier plus. Both wife and I are explorer card holders w/o status and were going to book each one adult/one kid on separate PNRs and do a miles+co pay upgrade request. All three routes are showing waitlist for upgrade with PZ0 ~10 months out (0 Polaris seats sold yet). Understanding the factors weighing against, which route would have the best chances? ..
Paid Premium Plus (PP) helps because paid PP is ahead of all waitlisters in economy regardless of status.
I would rank IAD slightly better (but still poor) over EWR and SFO the least likely. On a Saturday, at the beginning of summer travel, multiple seats, ....are not favorable factors. Partially will depend on which airline type is using at that point in time for each flight (looking at the ratio of business to economy). UA will be in no hurry to release award seats for your desired flights.

Originally Posted by HaydukeMT
Also, might have a chance to get a match on delta silver by the time of the flight; would this make a material difference or just be a pretty low level tiebreaker for one of the reservations?
Having UA status will help, a little. You will be ahead of the non-status request and behind all those with higher status.

Having the credit card is a non-factor in this situation.

Having purchased PP will make these flights much more tolerable the regular economy.
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