Gold Guest Upgrade (GGU) Success or Gripes
Jan 8, 2019, 4:30 pm
#46
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
New to using GGU. Trying to upgrade a friend that I convinced to fly Alaska non stop Dulles to SFO instead of his normal American Airlines. Will feel really bad if it doesn't clear haha. Flight leaves in 2 days with no F space yet, 4 out of 8 seats available. The 75K agent said I couldn't wait list the space and to just keep checking. What happens if upgrades go to the gate? TIA
Jan 8, 2019, 5:04 pm
#47
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA & Bangkok (Home)/Lawrenceville & Switzerland (Boarding School)/Baltimore, MD (College)
Programs: DL DM, AL MVPG 75K, SQ Gold, BA Silver, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriot Plat, Hertz Pres Circle
Posts: 599
Thanks! Looks like I messed it up. And he doesn't earn miles on AA. So is the space for GGU different than the space for elites. When booking this ticket months ago I asked the 75K agent and she said it was the same space.
Jan 8, 2019, 5:19 pm
#48
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AS 100k, DL PM, New Sagaya
Posts: 1,291
For advance upgrades (anything not based on the waitlist 5 days before departure) there must be U space open. On AS website its the solid blue F once you've clicked on the type of upgrade you are trying to use. In this sense its all the same, GGU just offers the most broad set of fare classes to upgrade from. The one area that can be confusing is the handoff to the waitlist upgrades that occur in the five day period before the flight. There GGU's don't really work as noted above, U space gets snapped up by status waitlisted. There are some rare cases where there are no elites to move up, and it could show U at that point. But thats rare, and a DC area flight will be tough to have that happen. So not impossible ... but close to.
Jan 8, 2019, 5:41 pm
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
The upgrade window is now open for all elites. So if U space opens up, it will automatically go to an elite before you have a chance to manually apply the GGU.
Your only chance is if U space opens up, and someone is not upgraded into it. This can happen:
1. If there are not enough elites to fill all the U spaces (unlikely)
2. If the upgrade processor gets stuck and an elite is not automatically upgraded, allowing you to "snipe" it from the person who should get it (unfortunately not that rare)
3. If the U space opens before the elites' upgrade windows open (that ship has sailed, as we are inside 2 days now)
4. If a single U spot opens and all the elites on the list get skipped over because they have multiple people on the same itinerary (upgrades are all-or-nothing). People often get skipped over for this reason, but it's unlikely that there aren't ANY solo elites anywhere on the list.
Jan 8, 2019, 8:32 pm
#50
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA & Bangkok (Home)/Lawrenceville & Switzerland (Boarding School)/Baltimore, MD (College)
Programs: DL DM, AL MVPG 75K, SQ Gold, BA Silver, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriot Plat, Hertz Pres Circle
Posts: 599
Thanks everyone! I just booked him a seat in F and canceled his Y booking. As much as I fly AS I really should know more about the GGU's. VERY appreciative for this forum!
Jan 10, 2019, 9:06 am
#52
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: AS MVPG, IHG Diamond Elite
Posts: 1,445
Was able to use two GGUs for a companion and me for LAX - EWR on a Thursday flight in March. Date and flight time were actually exactly when we were looking for, so didn't require too much flexibility. I'm actually still pretty shocked that there was U2 available. Sadly, a 739 vs a pmVX F cabin (likely why U2 available), but we'll survive.
Jan 10, 2019, 8:15 pm
#53
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Anchorage, AK
Programs: CO - Onepass Gold Elite--> UA - MileagePlus Gold Premier--> Silver --> AS - MileagePlan MVPGOLD!
Posts: 735
Just used two for ANC-DAL and back in March. All segments had U space.
Granted I had to pick certain flights during those days to get the U space, but they were frankly the flights I'd have chosen anyway.
I thought it was noteworthy that I scored U both IN AND OUT of ANC to SEA!!
Granted I had to pick certain flights during those days to get the U space, but they were frankly the flights I'd have chosen anyway.
I thought it was noteworthy that I scored U both IN AND OUT of ANC to SEA!!
Jan 11, 2019, 5:21 pm
#54
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AS 100k, DL PM, New Sagaya
Posts: 1,291
Alert from ExpertFlyer popped up and scooped a U space for PDX-DCA in March. Totally empty F cabin before I hopped in. I decided to use the GGU since I seems to always be on page two of upgrades flying into DCA....
Jan 17, 2019, 12:39 am
#55
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
I used a single GGU tonight for a three segment transcon JFK-PDX-SEA-PHX for the end of next week. U space available on all three fights. The best part is the connection time in PDX was, wait for it.... exactly 4 hours. 
I am arriving in JFK on a JL J/F award from HKG with onward Saver A that I booked today. I changed the onward travel to a different destination and added a 2 month stopover.
James
I am arriving in JFK on a JL J/F award from HKG with onward Saver A that I booked today. I changed the onward travel to a different destination and added a 2 month stopover.
James
Jan 19, 2019, 8:56 am
#56
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Whitefish, Montana
Programs: Four Seasons PP, RW Elite, Dorchester Diamond, Virtuoso, PenClub, Privé, Oetker Pearl, etc.
Posts: 142
I had one GGU left with a 2018 expiration date... and on 12/27 I was able to apply it to a trip I had already booked for travel on 1/13/19: FCA->SEA & SEA->MSY. Looking forward to more GGU success with my 2019 certs. :-)
Jan 19, 2019, 2:18 pm
#57
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Preferably waiting for takeoff
Programs: AA EXP, MVPG, DL Silver, United Silver, Accor Platinum, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 458
Was able to use two GGUs for a companion and me for LAX - EWR on a Thursday flight in March. Date and flight time were actually exactly when we were looking for, so didn't require too much flexibility. I'm actually still pretty shocked that there was U2 available. Sadly, a 739 vs a pmVX F cabin (likely why U2 available), but we'll survive.
I'd be interested to know if anyone sees any Airbus route with U inventory.
Jan 19, 2019, 5:44 pm
#58
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
I've noticed that almost any ex VX airbuses don't offer U inventory. I'm sure part of the logic is only 8 F seats in those current configurations. I haven't checked the west coast up/down routes.
I'd be interested to know if anyone sees any Airbus route with U inventory.
I'd be interested to know if anyone sees any Airbus route with U inventory.
Jan 21, 2019, 6:05 pm
#59
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Preferably waiting for takeoff
Programs: AA EXP, MVPG, DL Silver, United Silver, Accor Platinum, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 458
Jan 22, 2019, 12:43 am
#60
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 83
No, 26 individual GGU codes. To save everyone from sifting through my thousands of posts, when we qualified for MVPG in 2017 we each received 4. When we qualified for MVPG75K we each received 4 more. Subsequently, a lot of 75Ks in 2017 got a second round of 4 more each, just as we did. That is 12 each × 2 = 24. I used two GGUs on PDX-SEA-MSY. The E175 PDX-SEA was downgraded to a Q400 but we still flew SEA-MSY in F. Alaska issued 2 more GGUs for the short hop downgrade giving us 26 in total. All 26 were used.
James
James