belynch

Was reviewing my flying history on UA/CO for the past year and realized I had a pretty rough year on upgrades. Here's how it shakes out (by segment):

Status: UA 1K / CO Plat
2011 EQMs: 100k+
Upgrades on non-insta upgrade fares (Y/B/M): 16
Sat in Y cabin on insta-upgrade fares (Y/B/M): 12
Sat in Y cabin on non insta-up fares: 60

That's an 18% upgrade rate on segments where I didn't outright buy into the F cabin or weren't upgraded instantly due to fare class purchased.

I'm sure there's worse out there. So who is the Premier of Pain in 2011?

Note: I'm intentionally not breaking this out by UA/CO upgrade stats and it's not my intention to turn this into a "the stickers were better" discussion or have this devolve into a one airline is better than the other.

I paid for the Y cabin every time I sat there, and the airline delivered the product I purchased. I'm not complaining. I'm overall very happy with the operational performance I experienced on both UA and CO flights, which is why I chose to fly them.

Hartmann

Looking at my numbers, I'd say mine are slightly better than yours. I'm around 35% for upgrades spread across both carriers.

Where my stats really stink is the number of times I sat in Y on Y/B/M fares vs. the times I sat in F. Out of 14 instant-upgrade segments only 6 had me in the front cabin.

bmvaughn

As a 1K based in SEA, 60/60 on upgrades (UDU, EUA, CR1, SWU), but twice gave the seats to a family member. I'm going to lose this competition...

UA-NYC

Man you guys have some rough stats - frequent hub/hub flights during peak biz times?

0/0 YBM
12/14 UDU/EUA (all sub-900 miles, most of that on UA) - missed a pair of ORD-LGA flights
35/38 using regionals or SWUs domestically (missed DEN-LGA, LAS-EWR, EWR-MEX)
3/3 on SWUs (two were C to F)

avidflyer

I have only been on UA since October but I am 32/32 with one being a sponsored CR. Domestically I fly LAX-ORD-BOS/MHT for the most part with some ATL and SFO thrown in. Internationally I fly to HKG/ICN/LHR and I am 5/6 for intra-Asia UDUs as well.

OP what routes/times do you fly?

Hartmann

Yes, hub-to-hub for me on work heavy days. My Y/B/M stats are usually last minute on those routes and by then the front cabin is full.

rggale

I'm at the opposite side of the spectrum at about 93% on non YBM and over 95% overall :-)

I've sat in whY on F-equipped CO/UA aircraft (express and mainline) a total of what appears to be 6 times this year out of 84 non-YBM segments. 6x domestic. On YBM, I sat in Y only 1x international (EWR-BCN) and 1 time domestically. 70% of my travel is booked <5 days out. I flew a bunch (about 50) YBM segments and when I book these I usually try to pick flights that still have availability in F so my success rate is largely determined by the flights I choose).

(This does not include times I used mileage to upgrade (once domestic, and about a dozen RTs internationally), or the 3-ish times I gave up my upgrade to loved ones or coworkers).

I wish I had this kind of luck elsewhere in my life...

belynch

Yup. Usually purchase tickets within 5 days of travel (hence a lot of Y/B/Ms).

Ya'll are depressing me!

snod08

At least you get the Y/B EQM bonus

demkr

I missed a few flights, from what I can remember:

As a CO Plat, I missed:
CLE-EWR (#6 on the upgrade list, G fare)
SFO-EWR (#3 on the upgrade list, W fare)
EWR-SFO (#23 on the upgrade list, W fare)
Would have missed IAH-SJC (G fare, used buy-up to 1st from #4 on the upgrade list)


As a 1K, I am 100% on UA metal so far using instruments and UDU.


As a CO Plat flying on UA metal before achieving 1K status, I missed:
SFO-DFW A319, #1 on upgrade list
Several ORD-SFO's
SFO-EWR on UA metal
SFO-SAN on UA metal

I think that's it. We'll see what happens in 2012. I definitely feel like CO metal I had crappy luck compared to what I got on AA with transcons on hub-hub routings.

sbm12

Had to go look up the details...

I had 53 segments on company metal. Seven of those were on single-cabin aircraft. Of the 46 that had a premium cabin available I was up front on 36; 14 of those were instrument supported. Of the 10 I wasn't upgraded 6 were on international routes where I couldn't apply a SWU and 1 was actually an upgrade I received via UDU but gave away once on the plane, so move that into the other column if you so desire.

Of only the UDU/EUA-eligible flights I took there were 31, of which I was up front for 27. I believe 5 of those were covered by SWUs that extended on to the international segments.

All of my SWUs cleared where I chose to apply them and had an eligible fare. Not always at booking but always before I got to OLCI.

halls120

Excluding single class aircraft (AKA The Devil's Chariot), on Y/B/M fares, I was 12 for 15. For other fares, I was 11 for 22. Had I not made 1K before my last five non YBM flights, the total for that category would have been lower.

WineCountryUA

Agree with smb12 that you need to remove single class aircraft, since travel patterns are different

Removing, single class aircraft, I was 85% with a combination of UDU and regionals on 46 upgradeable segments
-- there were another 8 single cabin or non-UA/CO (US) flights
Failures 3 SFO<->IAD flights, 2xA319s and 2 UX flights in/out of RDU (booked on short notice)
Had 0 Y/B/M booked fares
0 international segments this year

zcat18

I'm 1/2 since making 2P(eon) last month.

That's bound to go waaaaaayyyyyy down, starting tomorrow (if you count flights on CO metal).

CMK10

I had a pretty terrible year as a 2P.

UA/CO Upgrade Eligible Flights: 30
UA/CO Upgrades Through UDU: 5

Great Percentage at 16%

The flights weren't even anything special either:
UA E70 IAD-RDU
UA 757 SFO-DEN
UA CR7 RDU-ORD
UA 757 ORD-IAD
UA 320 IAD-RDU

The last two were on Y-Fare rebookings too, so my real stats are probably 3/28.