TCON upgrades
 

Hi all,

Relatively new to this forum... have been predominantly a Delta boy. I'm testing "the grass is greener" theory on Continental. So far, so good. I've done a bit of searching but still keep coming back to my basic question:

Are there better transcon flights (looking at EWR-SFO) now on securing an upgrade as a platinum elite? On Delta, I'd managed to figure out the flights when the loads up front were generally lighter. I'm self-employed so flexible on travel times.

Also -- is there anything really different between the 737s and the one 757-300 that seems to do the last flight westward bound and then the red-eye return? or is it just more first seats crammed in there?

thanks in advance,

NYCt

As a Plat, the only times I've ever gotten upgrades EWR-SFO or SFO-EWR are very early Saturday or Sunday morning (flythis route 1-3 times a month). I have noticed in the past few months that upgrades (1-2 total per flight) have happened for those on higher fares than me as where it used to be none per flight.

As far as the 753 vs. the 738, the seats are exactly the same, not sure about the AVOD.

There is no AVOD on the 753.

CO could probably run aircraft that are set up with as many premium seats as a UA PS jet on EWR-LAX/SFO and still be in the position to deny people upgrades or paid F availability. Some people have seen upgrade standby lists in the 60's, and Plats on H or B-esque fares have pretty regularly reported being in the back.

If you want an upgrade on an EWR-SFO flight you either need to buy it or be very, very lucky. Paid first class sells out on these flights, sometimes a week or so in advance.

No AVOD on the 753. The 753s have the slider seats, where the seat pan slides forward slightly as you recline. I think they're more comfortable, although I've never sat in an ex-ATA 753 in Y. The 753s also have 32" pitch in Y, while the 737s have 31". That inch does make a difference.

The IFE on these plane types is the same - not AVOD but overhead screens. Both will be retrofit with LiveTV over the next ~16 months.

Depending on where you are headed into the Bay area, you could try SJC but I dont know if you would do any better. SMF is the next closests airport but it is 2 hours away I believe. So not many choices for now. Perhaps things will change with *.

And SMF only gets the OP to IAH on a non-stop, which may be less than desirable.

Then again, some legs on the PHL-IAH-SMF flight are upgraded even for Silvers, are usually much cheaper than the EWR-SFO direct, and faster in terms of check-in and baggage.

SMF is an hour and a half from SF. Considering you will have your rental car within minutes (and at half the cost of SFO), it is a viable alternative. If you are flying into SF to do wine country, it is actually your best bet.

The main advantage of the 757-300 is that their are 50% more available for your unlikely upgrade making it somewhat less unlikely.

The 8:00am SFO-EWR flight is typically a 757-200 with International Business-First seating although regular transcon service. It's very unlikely that you will upgrade on this flight (16 FC seats) but it you can do a B or Y-up, it's a treat. Also has AVOD in all seats.

There are also a bunch more Y seats (~190 instead of about 150), so you aren't necessarily all that much better off. ;)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/6719570-post17.html

Thanks for all the responses, though this was certainly my favorite :) I am very much looking forward to not getting upgraded on my transcons.

As Plat on Delta I was 12/12 last year. I may stick with DL for NYC-SFO/LAX.

From what I'm hearing EWR-IAH-SFO/LAX may be better shot at the upgrade, though I don't think I can stomach the layover.

Thanks everyone.

For what it's worth, I was 1/2 in December for EWR-SFO / SFO-EWR with Gold status. The outbound flight (~8am departure) was only half full, so I was able to lie down across an entire row and slept the entire way there.

The inbound flight, I got a battlefield upgrade - quite surprised, as I was 5th on the list.

Unless you are buying full fare tickets, don't be surprised if you never see an upgrade on SFO-EWR, even as a plat. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to buy F a week out and ended up on DL because every CO flight was already sold out.

And this will be a problem when CO leaves SkyTeam and/or ends the DL relationship -- J on UA transcons can be significantly more expensive than CO F, particularly for close-in bookings.

I am at better than 50% upgrades on the year as a plat on ewr-sfo and sfo-ewr. obvious rules apply: avoid peak business travel times, hope you get lucky.

It would not surprise me to see a price increase for CO.

On certain routes, such as EWR-SFO and EWR-LAX, one would have thought either a major increase in capacity or an increase in fares would have been implemented a long time ago, as demand has been vastly outstripping inventory at current cost.

Yet, in fact, the opposite has occurred, with CAL implementing the B-urp fares, thereby in effect reducing the cost of FC.

Need advice for SFO-NYC
 

I need to fly SFO-NYC leaving on Sunday night in about a month. I checked upgrade availability and found nothing on CO or UA nonstop flights to EWR/JFK (I'm willing to use miles to UG - not EUA).

I am a CO plat, and usually fly CO in such cases due to the slight chance of EUA. However, in this case, if I assume that my UG chances on CO are slim to none, does it make more sense to book the UA PS flight? I can also waitlist myself for a UA upgrade using UA miles (although I have no status with UA). My logic is that if I assume UG doesn't clear on both carriers, UA is a better choice as I will get to sit in UA Economy Plus. Does that make sense?

Thoughts?

I think there's a copayment for using UA miles to upgrade on UA as a non-elite -- 100 dollars or more.

If the flight you want has an exit row avail in advance, CO will give you more room than Economy Plus. I'd suggest using your CO miles to waitlist. You'll have airport waitlist priority ahead of most complimentary upgrades so your slim chance is somewhat less slim. And if it doesn't clear no miles are deducted.

IME (LAX-EWR), the only real chance of an upgrade is a Y- or B-up, and, occasionally, M-up, on some evening and red-eye flights.

Not sure they'd let it clear with miles if they're not letting Y's upgrade automatically.

I agree on this - exit row on CO is way, way better than any coach seat UA offers between SFO and JFK. If you can buy into E+ on SFO-EWR (often a 319/320, which are fantastic aircraft in E+), however, that would be a good choice. I'd probably pick CO if I could get an exit row; UA to EWR with an E+ buy up if not.

Why would a M-up be any more of an occasion than a B-up? They draw upgrades to ZE from the same fare bucket.

Thanks for the feedback. I was able to get an exit row on CO. I will follow up with the outcome of the upgrade request after my flight.

My usual play for transcon is to waitlist for mileage upgrades on both segments at time of ticketing, then cancel the return request if the outbound clears, or take my chances if I ride in Y on the way out. With all applicable bonuses, a EWR-LAX trip will get me about 11,500 RDM, so a 3500-mile net loss is really worth it to me to secure F on at least one leg if I'm lucky.

I've had reasonably good success with this strategy in the past, and it works for me since I don't do transcons *that* often.