Originally Posted by
rtmf
I said to get good value out of it, you (usually) need EF. This is because midcon and transcon routes rarely have U space at time of booking. To cash in a GGU on a longer flight, you need to be actively notified when U space opens so you can claim it quickly. The alternative is doing a dummy booking check everyday (still risky and not time efficient) or just not getting to use your GGU on a good route. Just because someone is a casual flyer doesn't mean they'll be opposed to spending $10 and 20 minutes of time to maximize the utility of thr gift. Sure, it's not for everyone, but it's not rocket science either.
There is no need to do a dummy booking to find U availability, a simple 15 second search is all it takes. That aside, the $10 fee is monthly, or $99.99 per annum, just so other readers know.
It took me less than 60 seconds to find U space on the 7:45 am departure from JFK to SFO on November 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th, all dates U3. During that same search I was also able to determine,
JFK-LAX 4:55p 8:25p Nov 1st 3U
JFK-SEA 7:10a 10:30a Nov 2nd, Nov 3rd 3U
JFK-SEA 7:30a 10:57a Nov 7th 2U
JFK-PDX 7:25a 10:40a Nov 2nd 3U.....
This was all obtained from a single JFK-SFO search! No only was I able to determine other routes that had U availability from JFK but I was able to determine how many U seats are available. All from the AS website. In all, 26 available U seats on 9 different transcon flights from JFK to 4 West Coast cities, in the first week of November, all from a single search.
Similarly, over the same week, there are options with U availability from LAX-ORD. Certainly not as plentiful, but not non-existent, and no non-stops from LAX. I was able, however, to see, in that same search, that SFO-ORD & SEA-ORD both had non-stop U availability. From LAX a connection would be necessary. There is also a connection, LAX-SEA-ORD, afternoon flight, where both segments have U space with a connection <= 4 hours (2h, 21m) so a single GGU would upgrade both segments.
As you say, it isn't rocket science.
As long as the giftee understands that ExpertFlyer isn't going to find U space on an AS flight 100% of the time, that if it does find U space, it may have been spoken for before acting on it or ever receiving the alert, the K fare can be up to 200% of the R fare, that U may never open up and doesn't mind the $10 monthly fee, then by all means, fill your boots.
On the above mentioned JFK-SFO flights, Main is $149, Eligible fare for GGU application $279.(185.25% of R fare)
James