bearkatt

if a ticket is purchased on united ticket stock (016), yet the flight is on lufthansa metal, can you upgrade someone with a gpu? the 1k line person said no. the ticket was full y fare.

SuperFlyBoy

SK staff at CI in CPH will not be able to handle, as per experience there a bit more than a year ago.

However, for the past 3 years LH has had a FM manning the gates - she (the rollerboard Polizistin) might be able to help, if she has access to the LH system. (Pictures?)

(Let us know how it goes!)

kmfdm91

What flight number is it? A LH# or a codeshare? That is the real question, as far as I know.

-jeremy

CASAFlyer

If you wish to use a GPU, you can do so with a paper certificate. You have to call Mileage Plus and ask them to convert an electronic SWU into a paper certificate for use on LH. Before 3/3 they were willing to fedex it to you. You can use the certificate at checkin and you will be upgraded space available.

Whether the flight is purchased as UA codeshare or LH flight number is irrelevant for a paper SWU.

If you wish to use a *A mileage upgrade (possible on full y fare), you are restricted instead to LH flight number (no codeshare allowed). In this case the upgrade can be requested with miles through united, and it will be confirmed if the I bucket is available (business award bucket). Waitlisting is not possible so you need to keep checking and call back if not confirmed.

In case you had purchased a full fare Y as UA codeshare, your ticket could be flexible enough to be refunded and reissued as LH flight number... However there are situations where this might not be possible, for example if the ticket needs to comply for reimbursement with the Fly American Act, or if the full fare Y is part of a special contract with UA (e.g. government fare).

bearkatt

thanks alot. ua will fedex the paper cert. it is for nephew who is a pilot in the air force. just hope he can use it. this is what is great about flyertalk despite how negative it has been on these boards lately. ua bent over backwards to help.

escapefromphl

I currently have a C award reservation on Lufthansa LAX to MUC, I'm thinking of rebooking as a revenue ticket to assist with 1K requalification. At 2.5 weeks out the front cabin seatmap looks about 2/3 full on the way there and 1/2 full on the way back (1 month before return flight). Are these Lufthansa seatmaps at all indicative of how many seats have been sold?

oliver2002

LH loads are an art to predict... they close and open booking classes based on revenue calculations... seats are not always assigned. The best would be to post the details in the guesstimate loads thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ds-thread.html

And the experts will weigh in.

spaceman3

Has anyone had success using miles or systemwide upgrades on Lufthansa flights? I understand they send you a paper voucher that you present at the airport for the upgrade the day of the flight, and it's all about what space is available. I'm wondering if the Lufthansa staff are welcoming with these.

I also heard that they had temporarily stopped this due to some computer issues, but its back on.

SEA1K4EVR

Yes this is how it's been done for years... the LH staff accept them. The only way to upgrade with miles is to do a *A upgrade..and that functionality is not currently functioning for LH flights.

GrillingGreg

I just got my first certificates in the mail that I requested on Sunday. They say "this certificate must be surrendered at check in."

So what happens if I surrender the certificate at check-in and I don't get the upgrade? Do they return the certificate at the gate?

chontz

Just a data point...I called MP and requested a paper SWU certificate to use on an upcoming LH flight. The certificate was sent via snail mail and did arrive surprisingly within a week. The MP rep told me it would arrive in two weeks.

oliver2002

They only keep it and mark it 'Used' once the upgrade is actually done.

ExRSA

As you predicted the folks at CPH were not able to handle the certificate. I tried once I arrived at FRA, but by then F was fill - not entirely surprising as this was a Friday last flight FRA-JFK and was packed to the gills.

Thanks.

megalab

Ordered 4 GPU certs in late April for my May LH flights. UA FedEx'd them overnight. All were booked in H.

1) For LH 598, FRA-ADD, at T-23 flight was C1. while checking my bag in the night before (~T-15) I asked to be put on the grading list. Next day my SWU was already cleared when I got to the gate at T-0.75. Just had to hand them the cert.

2) For LH 599, ADD-FRA, at T-4 flight was C5, O2 (LH bucket for C upgrade awards). Got to the gate at T-1, flight was oversold according to LH GA. Bummer; 9 hrs overnight in a packed Y. Still, I was pleasently surprised they even knew what it was and what to do with it.

3) For LH 432, FRA-ORD, at T-23 flight was C9. Applied SWU at T-3 in LH Tower Lounge. Cleared immediately.

4) It's for my upcoming LH ORD-MUC flight. Still C9 at T-2 weeks.

SuperFlyBoy

O-class is an LH F award class.

Flight overall was oversold?? It should not have been, if there was O2 availability. You should monitor further, closer into flight time to see what was happening last minute.

Also, you should have asked again between T-4 and T-1, because a lot of things happen during that period, where adjustments are being made, so you really could have scored the GPU upgrade.

For business loads, you shouldn't be looking only at the C-class bucket - you should also be looking at all business class loads, together with economy loads - as sometimes Y is zeroed out, meaning that they will be op-upping a lot of people into business.

Further, you should also keep an eye out for the First Class classes - if they are zeroed out, then you have a reduced chance to upgrade from economy to business, if the C-class loads are available, and the other business class buckets are not available - because they won't be able to upgrade one of their own current elites in the business cabin into First to accomodate your upgrade into business.

It's a bit complicated, but if you keep watching the loads you will get the hang of it...