Thanks again to all who've commented and helped. I also registered for EF.com and this is what it's showing (I'm pretty sure this is exactly what I'm looking for...also set up email alerts to let me know if a seat opens up on either the SFO-SYD or SYD-SFO legs).

If this is accurate data and the alert system works as advertised, then this appears to be my best bet for knowing if/when a seat becomes available. What do you guys think?

And SBM, thanks for your replies. Understood that I can probably get this info for free if I dig a bit, but if EF works, I have no issue paying for the convenience.



UA () 863 0 SFO
09/06/10
10:58 PM SYD
09/08/10
6:25 AM 744
Unavailable
76% / 33m
Business - Upgrade [NC] I 0

PS - they are still showing 21 BC seats available on SFO-SYD...so hopefully my chances are fairly good :)

No real digging necessary - it's all right on united.com.

Hmmmm...I know I can get reward ticket availability on UA.com...but how can I check economy to business upgrade availability for a particular flight?

Thanks!

Same place, assuming you've set your profile to "expert mode". Just look at the Flight Details and you'll see all the buckets - including NC and NF. It's best to do Standard Award searches so you'll see all flights and not just those with award inventory.

Thanks mahasamatman, I just set my profile to expert (vs. novice) and did a flight search (e.g. SFO-SYD on 9/6-9/10) both the regular way and with redeem miles and all it shows me is the cabins that are available (i.e. first/business/economy)...I've gotta be doing something wrong...

never mind....for some reason, now it's showing me the buckets!!! Thanks again!

Good ..i think you have to "mouse over" the flight details and it shows the buckets! Forgot about this trick!

The EF data will show you what UA is publishing to their own members. There is a chance that they will not make that inventory available to *A partners. Also keep in mind that their alert system is based on their servers running a query for you and sending an email if the results are "correct." It isn't constantly polling such that it will instantly know about a seat coming available. They do not publish the frequency of the polling queries and they happen more frequently as the departure date gets closer, but there is still a chance that the seat could become available and claimed by someone else between polls. There's also a pretty good chance that UA FFers are wait-listed for upgrades on those flights and you cannot wait-list so you're at a disadvantage there.

So long as you're making an informed decision on paying for a service I cannot fault it. I do feel that a number of folks here don't actually understand what the data is and where it comes from and so they often make uninformed decisions. Knowledge is power.

Gotcha...that was my big concern...UA FF's are going to be waitlisted and will likely clear as soon as a NC becomes available, whereas I'm limited to the number of times I can check the damn website a day :mad: Oh well, at least I sprung for E+ so if I don't get it, at least I get a few extra inches of legroom. Thanks again.^

UA has 2 internal sets of booking class codes + 1 external set. For example:

• Internal NF = Internal X => F Upgrade
• Internal XY = Internal N = External X => Y Award
• Therefore, Internal X ≠ External X

That's for awards, not upgrades.

And, yet, for OAL bookings for F upgrades, the OP actually needs UA External O inventory or UA External I inventory for Biz upgrades. It is wholly possible that internal NF = external O at all times but that does not have to be the case and I think it is reasonable to suggest that using the best view into the same interface that other partners will also be using is actually quite reasonable.

We're talking about OAL mile upgrades here, not using Mileage Plus points. I'm pretty sure they're one in the same.

Do you have ANY evidence that CO or any other partner used the UA internal upgrade mappings for *A upgrade inventory? We've already seen evidence that CO doe NOT do that (*A upgrades come out of I, not R) and I'm pretty confident it is the same for United as well.

Man, it's like you guys are speaking a foreign language :) :) :)

In any case, I got the upgrade on SFO-SYD by just inundating continental's *A upgrade webpage (probably about 20-30x a day). As soon as I got the upgrade I checked KVS and it showed CS+ so not sure that answers any questions, but it was definitely showing NC availability.

Thanks again all!!!

Congrats on your upgrade!

Could you now enter your CO PNR Locator Code into [My Bookings] in the KVS Tool and check which class your UA segment was re-booked into?

Congrats jerseyvette!
I am happy you got the upgrade.

Thanks guys!!! Still trying for the SYD-SFO leg :) KVS, can you expand a bit on your question, all my segments are on UA (not code-share). Pardon my ignorance, but what is a continental PNR number?

That's just your Booking Reference code :)