Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: DCA, IAD (not BWI if I can help it)
Programs: UA 1MM 1K, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Hilton Silver, status-free elsewhere
Posts: 1,586
1. GRU-IAD
2. 5/5
3. L
4. Y-J, Economy to Polaris Business
5. 80 PlusPoints
6. Booked (and upgrade request put in) just over two months before
7. Upgrade cleared moments after boarding started
Two days before departure, I got a message from United that this 764 had swapped to a Polaris + Premium Plus configuration, meaning that if my upgrade didn't clear I'd still have a premium economy seat for free--and then the day before, the flight status page showed that it had reverted to the old config. The evening before, flight status showed business had 30 or 31 seats (don't remember which) booked and six blocked, so I was reasonably confident my upgrade would clear; the next morning, it showed business fully booked (with me third on the upgrade list) and stayed that way through the evening. But by the time I got off my connecting flight at GRU, it once again showed just 30 or 31 seats booked.
Six people wound up clearing the waitlist, myself third among them, and I really appreciated having that lie-flat seat--even though I had to step over the passenger next to me--on a flight that long that left that late at night.