Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: EWR
Programs: CO Plat, AA Gold, UA Premier, Hertz #1 Gold, Hyatt Diamond, Loews Gold, Marriott Gold, etc. etc. etc
Posts: 621
When I traveled EWR-LAX almost weekly a while ago (2006 was most recent), 1002 was usually better-than-average for upgrades.
What does that mean? For a Plat, on a high fare, midweek, I'd say maybe 25%.
When I used to fly the route I would generally get upgraded about half the time, but I flew on a lot of Tuesdays, a lot of high-revenue fares, and used some strategic planning to make sure I had the best possible odds. These days, I don't think it's possible to enjoy that degree of upgrade success.
Luckily now the bulk of my business is EWR-TPA, which has consistently been one of the best upgrade markets I have seen, year-round.