Hi everyone,

I tried searching for the answer, but it was not working properly.

I am thinking about buying a ticket for a flight on Friday, and as it is now Tuesday afternoon (inside the 3 day window for Golds), I was wondering if I would catch an upgrade at the time of purchase, or if I would have to wait until the next comptuer sweep. I have the ticket on hold @ the current price until tomorrow night.

Secondly, I am not sure if I will be making the trip to IAH this weekend or not. Should I buy it now to be in the upgrade window longer, or wait until tomorrow night when I will know for certain. FYI it is a refundable ticket, so it should be no problem getting my $ back if I do get it now.

Thanks for the insights! ^

-CLG

Unless you purchase a Y fare the agent will tell you that you need to wait until the EUA sweep. In this situation, I would grab a full Y fare (which can be different than other "full fares" such as H) after seeing what flights have availability up front.

Buying a Y doesn't guarantee you the U/G, even if there are seats up front. If the flight has the golden U icon online then you'll get the upgrade. Otherwise it is a toss-up. I have bought many Ys (admittedly a high-rev market) and not gotten the U/G, as I am only a lowly gold elite.

Most likely this is because F is sold out. Elite Y upgrades come from A inventory, so if there is A available, it's yours. Always check for flights with availability in the F cabin before purchasing full-Y to be sure you get up front.

Robin

Yeah, that is a good suggestion to pass on to everyone. I have seen it plenty of times at Northwest when looking for international business class that the "coach + miles upgrade" ticket price (their Y or B) is more $ than buying a business class ticket outright (Z fare). I think that is just plain silly.

In this case, the coach ticket price is $233 (all-in) vs. the 1st class ticket price of $333 (all-in). Is the extra $100 worth it to me for an hour long flight? Nope... But a free upgrade is

-CLG

I was just pointing out that buying a Y today doesn't mean that you'll automatically get F, even as an elite. You have to make sure the golden U is there.

This is a very important point indeed...

I've seen many flights selling Y with no "u" icon indicating FC was not possible to upgrade to...
-Vincent