May 6th - EWR-IAD - $59 offered at OLCI (reg. United flight, not express)
K to P
No status

I am traveling ORD-DCA and at purchase there are no TOD's available at purchase. I find this very unusual. Especially as one cabin has all seats free, and is showing F9, and 4 seats available for an instrument upgrade. But no upgrade available with cash.

TOD buy-up JFK-SFO 5/3/15
 

$319 offered at OLCI on mobile app for 5/3/15 6:30pm flight from JFK-SFO (L fare). Looking at available fare classes J4

Checked upgrade list after boarding. Only 1 of 5 people cleared their upgrades

That's what I'm hearing, too. I am flying PVG-LAX (789!) on a cheap fare in early June. Loads look pretty darn light so far. Was considering locking in J w a miles + copay if/when some R opens, but I'm getting the impression I might get a much better deal if I just wait until day of. Roll of the dice, I guess.

Yeah, may as well keep an eye out. I did EWR-BRU earlier this year...put in for the overnight there and was waitlisted, but the return was waitlisted as well. Ended up waiting until a couple weeks before, they opened up several R slots, and I just took it then.

I feel like most of the good TOD deals are on domestic fares (from what little I've seen so far), but maybe I haven't read far back enough in this thread.

right now the online upgrade offer for me is $201 for MCO-IAH-LAX

for someone who doesn't fly much, and my company paid for this ticket, I don't mind the $200 for a nice seat on what looks to be a packed Economy section for 5 hours of flying.

What I am wondering is if the ToD online check-in offer will be A LOT less than this? Like something south of $150.

Both flights are F9 and the seat map shows about 12 open out of 20 or 24 seats still not selected. I know these will likely get filled by elites as the day gets closer but maybe not every seat.

Any thoughts?

That's a reasonable price -if it upgrades both legs. I'd take it - especially if you don't have elite status. That'll cover your bags, a nicer seat, faster check in (not sure if MCO has expedited security for F yet), and maybe a meal/snack. If you're not in E+, I'd say it's worth it.

I wouldn't pay much more for it than that, though. And I wouldn't if only one leg is upgraded.

It's hard to say whether you'd get a cheaper deal or not if you wait. UA's algorithms don't make much sense.

Yes, the initial view of the offer can be deceptive. It may say "From $201", which means the shorter segment is one price, and the longer segment is an additional charge.

I saw this a lot on my DEN-ORD-SBN flights. I would see an upgrade offer of $109. When I clicked on it, the $109 would be for SBN-ORD (flight time: 21 minutes) and $359 or somesuch for ORD-DEN. :(

Is a ps buy-up usually $249?

it varies, $249 is not uncommon but it's on the low end of typical. $249-349 range is reported pretty often. however, what is often not reported is the base economy fare class, so it's hard to say how good of a "deal" this really is (i.e, on a U or H fare maybe not a steal, but on a K...)

i'd guess that a round trip Q fare is actually around $500, so UA is still "selling" that BF seat for $1000 if they get $249 each way offers. that's low, but on JFK-LAX i've seen plenty of $1100-1200 discount front cabin fares since the introduction of mint.

edit: just priced out a W fare for a random late May date, JFK-LAX, at $539

YES its for both legs which is why I think I am going to jump on it. I'll get a snack on the MCO-IAH leg and Dinner on IAH-LAX and I would be in the back of the plane if not

Correct. There's really no such thing as a TOD (tens of dollars upgrade) on long-haul international.

Someone reported a mistake buy-up offer from SIN-NRT a year or two ago (something like $18), but other than that international buy-ups are almost always $600+. Which can still be a better deal than the miles + co-pay, except they are not predictable. Not uncommon for flights go out with open BF seats and no buy-up offered.

Yeah, I'd do it then.

ORD-BOS on an S fare 6/12/15. Upgrade to F was $129 three days ago...yesterday $100. This morning $37 to an A fare. I probably overpaid but took the bait.

get ready to fight with UA against an overcharge. almost 100% chance you'll be charged 10x+ more than what they said you would be paying. hope you took screenshots, at a minimum, screen shot the pending charge on your CC now

more info:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ly-booked.html