Originally Posted by
coORDinates
Usually I don’t do this, but I think I need to learn better how this works…
I’m 1k and have a united credit card.
Currently have a cash flight (W - paid $590), one way, from Chicago to Paris (UA 987) on March 5th, waitlisted for an upgrade with plus points:
- Premium Plus waitlist 1/6
- polaris waitlist 4/7
It feels like I have a good shot at P+, and a bad shot at Polaris.
should I cancel this flight, and switch to a connecting flight through IAD using miles? I can book UA293 -> UA915 in P+ for 75k miles. And then I think can use plus points to try for Polaris?
i don’t understand the UA915 availability. The seat map is showing P+ as completely full, and Polaris as very open… I know the seat map doesn’t tell the whole story, yet I can’t understand what the available fare class means. Available fare classes: J1 JN1 C1 D1 Z1 ZN1 P1 PNO PZO INO
06 ON6 A6 R4 RNO Y9 YN9 B9 M7 E6 U4 H3 HN3 Q2 V1 WO
any tips or tricks for understanding my situation would be highly appreciated! Thank you!
You understand the situation much better than what you give yourself credit for.
The only thing that you forgot to do is to search for IAD-CDG flight alone. This flight has 9 across all J fares, but PZ0 and IN0.
The key question is: do you really want to arrive three hours earlier by routing through IAD? You won't get much sleep anyway on the nonstop, but much less via IAD.
Add: If you want to go for a mileage ticket with pluspoints for upgrade, book the same flight two days earlier for 32.3K miles (assuming that you want to spend two extra days in Paris). This will be much cheaper than the cash ticket. You can cancel it if you change your mind last second.