canadiancow

Actually, OP's concern is about how as a 1K, he doesn't get upgrades on United.

​​​​​​Your post is simply wrong. He'll sit wherever he wants to. TOD offers on United make it very cheap to sit up front, and I think I had about an 80% success rate getting E+ for free when I used to fly Y.

Upgrades on UA have become so hard for people like the OP because of how cheap it is for people like me to buy into F. I literally had to buy a fare a couple weeks ago where Y was 250 and F was 270. That's a regular occurrence when I'm shopping.

And that's why I'm always in F on UA, and that's my advice if you want to fly F on UA.

Upgrades on AC are much easier to come by as SE. J fares are typically a much higher Delta from Y, so it works out well to have AC status.
​
Upgrade on the airline with expensive J, and just spend tens of dollars for it on the airline with cheap J.

FlyerTalker70

Unless you're a Yank on a P fare internationally on AC metal. AC J is still a rip off when lie flat seating is only available on their ancient 767. Pay a premium for a hard product that is literally hard? No thank you! Enjoy your upgrades on the bench I'll be sitting back in K(ettle) class in my E+ seat on UA Basic Economy

If anything the one who's constantly paying to sit up front is the UA elite! Unless you're travelling on a W fare and bought your ticket months in advance, good luck. Otherwise you're playing a lottery and on some routes the Powerball has better odds than your upgrade clearing. As Cow pointed out it's not all that bad: you'll never find a $1000 upgrade to J to India on AC but you bet your bottom dollar that you will on UA!

rankourabu

So basically like when you have to buy Flex to use eupgrades?
At least when I buy my W fare, I buy it for flights that I can upgrade immediately, without having to play the lottery like AC eupgrades.
I 've already used up my 2019 RPUs, all cleared at booking.

Also, low fares (K) can be upgraded, you just have to know how

WaytoomuchEurope

I must be misunderstanding you. It sounds like you're saying that AC only has lie flats on old 767 aircraft. Please explain?

FlyerTalker70

The reference is to the fact that the new J pods on their 777s and 787s are known to deflate - there's a whole thread on FlyerTalk discussing the fiasco. How bad is it? Imagine sitting on a metallic park bench for a 12 hour flight! How prevalent is it? Common enough for there to be a multipage thread on FT about it and the worst part is you won't know if you're on one of those seats until part way in when the stupid bladder stops staying inflated!

The 767s OTOH while ghetto at least don't have this issue and can provide reasonable lie flat comfort over the long haul.

@24left and @canadiancow please let me know if I've left something out

-James

YEG_SE4Life

James, have you heard of the a330 seats deflating? Have you any personal experience with deflating seats?

FlyerTalker70

Was unaware they still had the Mulroney paper bag special on their long haul routes.

Joking aside no I haven't been AC J so I can't comment. However the thread on FT about this specific issue and speaking to some who do so regularly they cite this as one of the top frustrations long haul and overall (aside from certain routes going Rogue). Don't get me wrong AC is ahead of the curve in terms of all aisle access J seating something UA is starting to realize makes a lot of sense. But those deflating seats remain a sore point (pun intended)

-James

zebranz

pest or cholera ..... I would stay with pest.

Santander

Yet here we are.

FlyerTalker70

I don't understand what this is all about. I'm merely reporting what others have said. If anyone wants to challenge my observation and say how wonderful AC J pods are on the 777 feel free to do so.

Don't shoot the messenger just cause you don't like the message!

-James

WaytoomuchEurope

I'm aware of the thread and aware of the problem being a (new) frequent traveler on the deflating seats. I've still managed to avoid them but thanks to this community I'm aware of them and aware that it should be reported and will be compensated should it occur.

I just didn't realize your meaning. Nor did I realize they let UA customers who only buy K fares get actual experience with lay-flat beds.

sram

you might find it harder to qualify as SE with AC due to AC's skimming of AQM's relative to other airlines. I find this one of my biggest complaints with how AC treats is loyal flyers. While UA offers 100% PQM on all fares, except N and BE. AC scams its frequent flyers and only offers 50% AQM standard fares. If you fly for work and need to take the lowest logical fare, you'll most often loose out on 100% earning on most fare classes in NA.

YEG_SE4Life

Actually it looks more like you are expressing your opinions on something you know nothing about (much like the 10.00 meal voucher) and then saying you can't comment.

Santander

Lower mileage earnings on the cheapest fares is the norm outside the US. While obviously AC has generally worse EQM earning rates than UA, with the lower AQS requirements for each tier, and full AQS on even the lowest Standard fares, segment qualification is not that bad for short-haul commuters, where AC dominates most Canada and TB markets. (I realize this doesn't help those who fly lowest logical fare on transcons)

CZAMFlyer

I think even this joke fell as flat as the J seats. Mulroney was accused of influencing Air Canada's A320 purchase. The A330 is an entirely different airplane, acquired almost a decade later.

Speaking as a UA Gold, I haven't noticed much difficulty getting upgraded for no cost on certain routes I fly. My success rate falls whenever departing IAD, or flying eastwards from ORD, but that's to be expected at their hubs and my comparatively low status. On the whole, UA gives me a much better system than I had with similar status with AC. Coupled with the reduced earning requirements, the superior accumulation on partner airlines (except LH O fares - what's up with that?), good onboard product and lots of options from my home airport, there's little reason to switch back.