MK22

I know there has been a lot of, um, mixed feelings about how diluted the FF program has become but I am excited about the idea of going from Silver to Platinum next year. I travel a lot out of LA for work (domestic only) and I'm wondering how often upgrades happen for my fellow platinum party people. I know it's a privilege I shouldn't expect, but can I hope?

What percentage of the time would you say you get the happy email? And do you anticipate it being the same next year?

Davescj

I'd say 95% or so upgrade. Usually at the 5 day window, but about 40% of the time or so 6 or 7 days out. I don't expect any change.

Dave

kss5555

You do not mention in your post where you are travelling from.

To and from LA from ATL/DTW/MSP hubs are tough, MEM, SLC, CVG much easier. JFK upgrades to Business Elite only clear at the gate for complimentary upgrades.

Best chances for upgrades from hubs to LA are on Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday flights. I have seen Sunday upgrade lists from LA to ATL with over 60 passengers on it.

Depending on where in LA you need to travel and if you are going to have to connect and upgrades are important, BUR/ONT do sometimes work better.

MK22

Sorry. I should have made it more clear that I live in LA and I fly all over the country (from Portland Maine to Orlando to Seattle and Dayton, etc).

Are LAX upgrades hard to come by? Should I be trying to fly out of Burbank or Orange County?

rayraf

About 75% of my flights get upgraded especially if I go out of a surrounding airport other than CVG because of the high ticket ptice in CVG.
Anything going to/from ATL is tough do to high number of DM and PM there.
LAX can be tough. Go out of ONT or SNA.

Davescj

Smaller airports have better odds for upgrade in my experience. That said, you may also want to look at upgrade odds on AS (check on the AS board to see what people think, I've never flown on AS). Depending what your route is, AS may have some good options (which also get you skymiles, and if you're a SC member, you get AS' Board room also).

Dave

OLYflyer

SFO based PM here. I fly on off days mostly for pleasure and almost always on T fares. Have been pro-active using sdc to improve my chances and irrops rebooking via Y has helped as well.

100% on SFO-JFK (6/6).


40/41 for upgrades in 2010 (missed SFO-ATL on a Fri night red-eye).

Pretty decent I would say.

paterwdb

I missed my first upgrade of the year last week due to IRROP, but had it on my original. Even being rebooked into Y, I was one seat shy of making it a 100% year.

That being said, I did use a few PMUs on flights from ATL-LAX or JFK-LAX so don't know if I would have made them.

I do avoid peak flight times (though I have taken a lot of Sunday night flights), and fly primarily through ATL.

I'd have to log in, but I'd say I'm probably close to 39/40 or so...

CarmenOM

In 2010 I've been upgraded 33/34 (97%) on domestic flights. 27 (82%) of those upgrades were at the PM six-day window.

I mostly have flown to and from SEA, MSP, PVD, BOS, JFK, sometimes connecting through DTW. I try not to connect through ATL. I fly only for personal travel, so I can avoid some of the peak business travel times.

Alas, no op-ups on six international flights this year.

ND76

PMs get upgraded 75% of the time across the domestic system.

glafollette

I flew 81 segments in 2010 (done now!!) and, except for those gawd-awful RJ's that really SHOULD be illegal, I'm guessing I was in back fewer than 8 times. Ended the year on a downer though as I did MSP>DFW>MSP last Tuesday/Wednesday and was in 13A both ways. A 70 seat aircraft w/ 12 FC and 38 people on the UG board. It didn't impress me that I was # 2 down and # 3 back ..... bummer!

All in all, a darn good year for 1C (my preferred seat).

gll

javabytes

I'm at about 95%, and that's only because of the BNA-ATL-SFO route. 100% otherwise, and all at the window; substantially all on L/U/T fares.

Been There Before

I'm at 100% this year. Last year I only missed two. Putting aside the SWU's which I've used for TATL travel, I was upgraded at the 6 day window all but three times, and didn't have to play the gate lottery at all.

Here are some suggestions to improve your upgrade percentage:

1. If possible stay out of Atlanta, you have better UG chances at MSP, CVG and SLC.

2. Try to pick 757 aircraft as much as possible, occasionally going to ATL via 757 and connecting for another 757 (you may end up with a two-three hour layover in the SC, which frankly can be relaxing and allow you to get some work done).

3. Fly early or late. I often try to grab 6 am, or 8 pm flights. Try not to fly at peak times 7-9 am or 4-6 pm.

4. Stay away from Thursday, Friday, Sunday or Monday. That is when most business travel occurs. Tuesday and Wednesday are best and Saturday's are mostly leisure travelers. Even when I am on business, I will ocassionally choose an early morning Saturday flight than battle Friday afternoons at the airport.

5. If you are flying over 1500 miles, buy a K fare and ug with 12.5K. As a PM, you will earn about 200,000 miles per year. Giving back 70-80K is no big deal. If you have AMEX, you will earn even more. By way of example, if I buy a K fare for say $250, and fly 2000 miles on the trip, I will earn 4500 miles, thus the UG only costs me 8000 miles. This is best saved for holiday weeks, Friday, Sunday and Monday travel.

6. SDC.

7. For holiday travel, look for A fares, which occasionally can be found for less than an M fare. (I didn't purchase any this year).

8. Learn the routes that are light on Medallions. For example, PBI is very Medallion heavy, as DL operates the largest schedule there. Wealthy Palm Beachers often pay First, so on peak days, there are very few seats available. FLL on the other hand is a larger airport with much more competition and therefore has fewer Medallions per available seat than PBI.

GBadger

You guys are making me feel bad .

SFO based PM here... My upgrade record is below, with details in the "2010 Upgrade Success Thread". Not nearly as rosy of a picture as everyone else here has been painting. I'd like to blame it on ATL, but have only flown through there 4 times this year.

Recently,!this has included being #20 on the upgrade list for a Tuesday night redeye, and #19 on the upgrade list for a Friday night redeye.

srilm

SAN,

As a plat upgraded on all except one flight out of about 20 (SAN-ATL redeye). I have been upgraded on that flight many times before as a plat.

Now diamond, upgraded 100% so far except for the biz elite product from LAX-JFK. On the return JFK-LAX i was #1 of about 25 on the list and got the last seat up front.

SR