Jul 20, 2013, 6:22 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archived thread, the active thread is UA Upsell Offers to Business/First/PP at Purchase and Day of Departure (TOD)
UA Upsell Offers to Business/First at Purchase and Day of Departure (TOD) [Archive]
Dec 27, 2017, 4:07 am
#3301
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,367
The $xx9 upgrade prices tend to be offered at the time of booking and during check-in. In between, you should be able to ask for (current price) - (price you paid), which would appear to be $151. Refer to “GG BUYUP” if the agent tries to charge you a change fee — you should be able to get it waived when moving to a higher cabin on the same flight.
Dec 27, 2017, 6:58 am
#3302
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Bergen County NJ
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic 1, Amtrak Select, Marriott Plat , AMEX Plat (noted for club access reference)
Posts: 775
I mean, you can call, but you have approximately the same likelihood of success by asking them to give it to you for $19, $1.09, or free. :-) The person you got on the phone would have no authority to make that decision and likely woudln’t have any idea what you’re talking about in the first place.
The $xx9 upgrade prices tend to be offered at the time of booking and during check-in. In between, you should be able to ask for (current price) - (price you paid), which would appear to be $151. Refer to “GG BUYUP” if the agent tries to charge you a change fee — you should be able to get it waived when moving to a higher cabin on the same flight.
The $xx9 upgrade prices tend to be offered at the time of booking and during check-in. In between, you should be able to ask for (current price) - (price you paid), which would appear to be $151. Refer to “GG BUYUP” if the agent tries to charge you a change fee — you should be able to get it waived when moving to a higher cabin on the same flight.
You hit it on the nail, turns out after I called the Webpage went back to the difference between my $189 fare and the current J ticket which is $165 (it's at $355 right now) and that is what is being offered.
$165 per person on a 757-200 INTL EWR-MCO. In all other circumstances I would decline but given I've never been on any flat-bed aircraft before, there's only 2 seats left, we haven't hit T-48 yet for Gold's to clear Or of course a walk on at $355 between now and then, that would leave me SOL.
My guess is if it gets thru all those hoops it would be a TOD OLCI of $89-119.
Decisions Decisions....
Dec 27, 2017, 9:22 am
#3303
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,367
JSloan, this isn't the first time you've helped me so thanks again for your awesome insight, I really appreciate your help..
You hit it on the nail, turns out after I called the Webpage went back to the difference between my $189 fare and the current J ticket which is $165 (it's at $355 right now) and that is what is being offered.
You hit it on the nail, turns out after I called the Webpage went back to the difference between my $189 fare and the current J ticket which is $165 (it's at $355 right now) and that is what is being offered.
To be clear — sometimes the price displayed via the ‘Upgrade Reservation’ will be incorrect. If it’s lower than it should be, it might error out, but if you take a screenshot of the error I’ve seen consistent reports that the Web Support team will honor the prices. It’s more common for the price to be too high. However, for any one-way ticket, and in most cases for other tickets as well, you should be able to get the current price by calling. (The difference comes up because there are times when they have to reprice the entire ticket, and the fare may have changed on the part of the ticket that you’re not touching).$165 per person on a 757-200 INTL EWR-MCO. In all other circumstances I would decline but given I've never been on any flat-bed aircraft before, there's only 2 seats left, we haven't hit T-48 yet for Gold's to clear Or of course a walk on at $355 between now and then, that would leave me SOL.
My guess is if it gets thru all those hoops it would be a TOD OLCI of $89-119.
Decisions Decisions....
My guess is if it gets thru all those hoops it would be a TOD OLCI of $89-119.
Decisions Decisions....
If you’d take the offer at $119, an extra $46 per person, while hardly insignificant, seems like a fairly decent insurance policy to get you up front. Just my two cents, though — it’s your money.
Personally, I’m a lot more likely to pay to upgrade into a lie-flat seat, even for a relatively short flight, than I am to pay to upgrade into a regular domestic first recliner seat.
Dec 27, 2017, 2:39 pm
#3304
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 35
Rant/vent
As a 1K I can’t for the life of me understand why I am continually punished for my status with UA. For about the 50th time this year watch the upgrades be bought up at check in for cheap by people with no status or lower while UA offers me absurd upgrade prices. Just this month alone four round IAD-LAX trips on Y fares dying on the list at #1. My upgrade offer for these 1149 with multiple seats open. Co-workers with lower or no status offered 249. Why Why Why?? Rant over....
Dec 27, 2017, 2:46 pm
#3305
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
It's not that hard to understand: Cheap buy-up offers to people who rarely, if ever, fly upfront are an attempt to give such people a taste of F or J and then get them to start buying higher fare classes in the future.
Dec 27, 2017, 2:48 pm
#3306
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Join Date: Nov 2014
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It's definitely not that simple - as a 1K I have no trouble being offered the "market rate" TODs of e.g. $249 on SFO/LAX-IAD (and I pay for J/F well over half the time). I'm inclined to attribute these reports to random noise (from bad IT) and selection bias, but it's very hard to know.
Dec 27, 2017, 3:00 pm
#3307
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
It would be weird if it was due to bad IT, but I guess anything is possible. It wouldn't make any sense for UA to get its most frequent fliers used to both upgrades and very cheap buy-ups.
Dec 27, 2017, 3:14 pm
#3308
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 35
Guess I question how they expect loyalty from people if I’m not even offered the same buy up as someone who has zero loyalty to them. Have no problem buying up or paying for F, but these situations are perplexing to me and seem to increasingly happen this year.
Dec 27, 2017, 3:19 pm
#3309
Suspended
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You're a 1k; you're already loyal to UA. The airlines don't want F and J to be full of upgraded elites or elites on cheap buy-ups. They'd rather F and J be full of people who fly twice a year but pay for F or J outright.
Dec 27, 2017, 3:49 pm
#3310
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Bergen County NJ
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic 1, Amtrak Select, Marriott Plat , AMEX Plat (noted for club access reference)
Posts: 775
I’m happy to help.
To be clear — sometimes the price displayed via the ‘Upgrade Reservation’ will be incorrect. If it’s lower than it should be, it might error out, but if you take a screenshot of the error I’ve seen consistent reports that the Web Support team will honor the prices. It’s more common for the price to be too high. However, for any one-way ticket, and in most cases for other tickets as well, you should be able to get the current price by calling. (The difference comes up because there are times when they have to reprice the entire ticket, and the fare may have changed on the part of the ticket that you’re not touching).Keep in mind that aircraft swaps are always possible, and it may be difficult/impossible to get a refund if they have to substitute a non-lie-flat plane. (However, this is much more common several months before departure than within 2-3 days). The lie-flat experience on a UA 757 isn’t the same as you’d get on a widebody (the seats are fairly narrow), but it’s still lie-flat and a significant step up from coach — and the chances are that the seats won’t be available at T-24. For one thing, connecting passengers have their TOD windows open earlier than originating passengers, and it sounds like you’re starting at EWR. For another, consider all of the snow across the midwest and northeast right now. All it takes is one first class passenger to have their MCO flight cancelled and rebooked through EWR on your target flight and you’re out of luck. (I’d be surprised, but not shocked, if UA upgraded passengers into one of the last two seats prior to the gate; I’ve seen it happen, but it’s rare).
If you’d take the offer at $119, an extra $46 per person, while hardly insignificant, seems like a fairly decent insurance policy to get you up front. Just my two cents, though — it’s your money.
Personally, I’m a lot more likely to pay to upgrade into a lie-flat seat, even for a relatively short flight, than I am to pay to upgrade into a regular domestic first recliner seat.Given the fact that I've literally flown 100 times in the past 7 years (that's when I started flying) and I've never gotten a lie-flat seat it's one of the those you gotta do it things. I commonly fly EWR-MIA which rarely if ever a 752 route and if it is, it's usually a midday one-off (I generally fly out early and come home late so it negates my ability). I also fly EWR-LAS twice a year for a work convention but it's never anything bigger than a 739 Only reason for the midday trip this time around is the girlfriend is getting out of work early and it made sense to be down in MCO a day earlier than having to catch a 6am flight.
Dec 27, 2017, 6:15 pm
#3311
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 215
It's definitely not that simple - as a 1K I have no trouble being offered the "market rate" TODs of e.g. $249 on SFO/LAX-IAD (and I pay for J/F well over half the time). I'm inclined to attribute these reports to random noise (from bad IT) and selection bias, but it's very hard to know.
Dec 27, 2017, 6:30 pm
#3312
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,944
As 1K, I got an offer of $129 for IAD-ORD during checkin. I had an award ticket that was upgrade eligible. My upgrade was not cleared (#6 when door was closed) although 11 pax were upgraded on 16-seat FC cabin (with RPUs and other methods and higher fares 1Ks). I was okay with this because it was a short flight.
Dec 27, 2017, 8:15 pm
#3313
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And for what it's worth, I really wouldn't categorize 99% of these offers as "very cheap". It seems clear to me that the anchor point for these offers are the route fare differential, and the at-booking offers I see are almost always identically equal to that. While there are occasional cases where the system can be manipulated for the TOD to be an outstandingly good deal (for example, a K fare + $249 for a 3-cabin First seat on IAD-SFO), the vast majority of the time it is more economical to book F at the start, as you earn extra PQD/RDM and have additional ticket flexibility and IRROPS protection.
Dec 27, 2017, 8:25 pm
#3314
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,367
And for what it's worth, I really wouldn't categorize 99% of these offers as "very cheap". It seems clear to me that the anchor point for these offers are the route fare differential, and the at-booking offers I see are almost always identically equal to that. While there are occasional cases where the system can be manipulated for the TOD to be an outstandingly good deal (for example, a K fare + $249 for a 3-cabin First seat on IAD-SFO), the vast majority of the time it is more economical to book F at the start, as you earn extra PQD/RDM and have additional ticket flexibility and IRROPS protection.
Dec 27, 2017, 8:35 pm
#3315
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The main exception to this would be when you’re on a deep discount economy ticket that isn’t paired with an /UPDI type fare. For example, UA will often publish domestic first class fares all the way down to T, but may not go further. If you’re on a G or a K fare, you may realize a significant savings by waiting for OLCI. Of course, inventory may disappear... But, I agree, if you’re of the mind to take an offer and you have the opportunity to pay the route differential up front, that’s normally your best option by far.
Sometimes the TOD is a dramatic discount (a G fare could be $200 less than the lowest matched fare, or you could have F1 A1 Z0 .. Y9 K9), but in my experience this is a small minority of the time. The bottom line for me is that I see the TOD at OLCI as United re-offering "buy F" on slightly worse terms for the same price, and not selling out "my upgrade" for couch change out from underneath me.