Getting upgrades out of EWR
 

I'm new to FlyerTalk, so I hope I'm not posting something which has been discussed to death. I fly EWR-SFO every three weeks or so and have so far received a single upgrade. Is this commonplace for EWR given the large number of Elites? I'd hope that my platinum status gets me more than access to the exit row. Am I missing out on an obvious strategy?

Thanks, all!

It is an often discussed route on FT. The search feature at the top can help you out with some of that. :)

EWR - SFO and EWR - LAX (and their respective return trips) are some of the most elite heavy segments in the entire CO system. It is not uncommon to have sixty or seventy elites, especially on Sunday evenings, Mondays, and Fridays. The fact that you scored an upgrade at all is pretty cool. I'm not elite but I would say get comfortable in the exit rows; you'll be there more often than not.

EWR transcon upgrades are more myth than real.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

If possible, fly on a Saturday, I have had some luck doing this.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, ABSEWR! ^

To elaborate on the previous replies, the transcon routes tend to have quite a few paid F passengers.

An alternate strategy, if changing when you fly is not feasible, would be to look into B/Y Upgrades.

It just depends on timing. I have been batting around .750 this year on ewr-sfo and sfo-ewr upgrades as a plat on fairly cheap fares. But I fly on friday late afternoons or wednesday mornings or other random such times. If you are flying monday morning or thursday afternoon you can probably forget about it.

I'd also look into PHL-IAH-SFO (or even SMF) flights, as I find sometimes the timing works better for me. I do hate getting up so early to drive to PHL, but it doesn't have nearly the runway issues as EWR.

On a similar question, as a non-elite flying SFO-EWR wait-listed for a Series 0 upgrade (15,000 miles for FC on transcon totally worth it IMO), do I have a shot in hell? Flight is about a month and a half out on a Sunday, 13/20 seats in FC are assigned already.

Well, 13 of 20 seats assigned a month and a half out is a LOT. Most business travelers (the ones paying F/R or Y/B fares) don't book trips until much closer to departure, so you can be sure as heck they'll sell 7 more seats in the next six weeks. Thus, chances are slim to none that your upgrade ever clears in advance, unless there are a lot of cancellations a day or two before departure. The best hope would be the standby list at the airport, as you'd normally have higher priority than elites waiting for free upgrades. For this you have to hope for no-shows.

Thanks for the great feedback, all! I guess I was spoiled flying JFK-SFO (not on Continental)...I had 100% upgrade success going back several years. Oh well, the concessions of living in NJ. :p

If the upgrades are more important to you then amassing miles for any other purpose, then you can call the elite desk and waitlist for a millage upgrade. This puts you at the front of the upgrade list. That said, the 'B-up' method is probably the best guarantee. Waiting for an automatic upgrade on this route is not an advisable strategy.

Welcome to FT!

Welcome to FT!

The problem is that, unless you buy a YUP or BUP, you're flying the wrong airline. If you want upgrades on EWR/SFO, Continental is not the carrier for you! If either is convenient for you, I'd switch to either DL or AA. It will mean no more non-stop flights (unless you're willing to use JFK), but once you hit top tier on either of those carriers, your upgrade percentage will increase dramatically.

My red-eye last night from SFO-EWR must have had 50 elites.

Why do they not stagger boarding the plane when there are that many elites?

The whole boarding was a total mess. There were at least 20 platinum elites much less throwing in gold and silver.

They should know how many elites are coming and plan accordingly. -1 for CO in my book. I understand the egalitarianism, but this just slowed the hell out of the boarding process.

you never know... I was on an EWR-LAX flight couple days ago that showed F completely full, and then they upgraded 4 people at the last second. All you can count on is that people who buy real first class seats tend to change their plans last minute.

But before that, I've gotten pretty settled in the exit row for all my flights this year. I'll be back in 16D tomorrow!

I have asked this same question before. I have seen GAs at both EWR and SFO board by Elite status (Plat, Gold, Silver). This cut down on the chaos somewhat. I have seen flights with 75+ elites and all hell breaks loose when they call for Elite Access pax.