Originally Posted by
Repooc17
United is unlikely to ever divulge such data, at least not in any granularity.
If OP is trying to use the data to gauge overall upgrade probability, even if the elite population is disclosed, still a crap shoot, as there are a lot of actors to consider.
A recent trend: airlines such as United have been mastering the art of upsell. You could be a GS, you could have "Chairman" status, but you may still be sitting in the back.
For example, just flew LAX to SFO, every single GS preboarded sat in economy; 1K preboarders, only 2 people settled in F, plus another pax in F during preboarding was in a pilot uniform.
If you want to sit up front, especially on domestic rights, the common advice here is buy F.
This is the truth. I am a 30-year 1K (lifetime now) and things have never been worse for upgrades. Buy-ups have been pretty good for me though, and I've found some fantastic discount international biz cabin fares on other carriers. I believe that the UG rate for 1Ks can only get worse as UA gets better at monetizing open premium cabin seats.