HeyJoeyJoeJoe

Thanks man! None of the five possible flights have PZ or will have it. (Economy ticket is $3,500 for B class from IAD to TPE through SFO)
So Plat/ B Class but no PZ means upgrade is unlikely, right?

Cheers

jsloan

Upgrades on IAD-SFO are tough to get for anyone. When you're searching for PZ space, though, make sure to search IAD-SFO, not IAD-TPE. That said, it's extremely rare to see PZ on a hub-to-hub flight, especially in advance. (They may open some up at the last minute when they have flights that don't sell).

findark

Correct. Unless you otherwise have a reason to purchase a B class ticket, lowest Economy and paying for the cash upgrade offers, or sometimes just paying for discount Business, are more effective ways to get into the premium cabin. If you are only interested in an upgrade on the IAD-SFO segment, it is extremely likely you will see an offer for $309 at some point before travel.

As jsloan noted, hub-hub travel will almost never see PZ space in advance, especially on peak days. All of my TCON flights so far this year have been D0 at booking. I did happen to see a Tuesday morning BWI-SFO that had PZ though.

HeyJoeyJoeJoe

Thanks guys. At first, I didn't realize a Y/B has no affect on flights from the US to Asia, and thought if I bought a Y/B ticket, I'd get automatically upgraded to business class fro the SFO to TPE route. Since the contract pays for coach but not business on this trip, I spent alot of time looking for a good Y/B flight under $3,500. What a waste of time, didn't realize it was useless. Thanks for your time guys

jsloan

If you have MileagePlus miles to spare, you can use them to upgrade SFO-TPE with no copay. That upgrade might not clear either, but it's worth considering. Mileage upgrades aren't usually a great deal because discount fares have a copay attached. The cost for a B-class ticket is 30K miles each way, with no out of pocket cost.

symphonicman

Not sure how this is supposed to look or work: have a Lufthansa (220-) ticket booked in E (PE) with two US domestic segments on UA metal booked in M. Should this be eligible for a Y/B/M instant upgrade as a 1K?

PN is not available at the moment on either flight. The reservation says "Complimentary Premier Upgrade Requested" and it will allow me to waitlist an RPU/MUA. That feels wrong to me since the M fare should already be waitlisted as higher priority than either, right? A curt 1K agent told me it's "automatically" waitlisted. Should these segments be eligible for a Y/B/M upgrade and, if so, what do I need to ask an agent to do?

lincolnjkc

If the res is showing that the upgrade has been requested you should be all set if PN space opens (though you may want to keep an eye out for PN inventory periodically from T=Now to T=96 since those don't seem to get swept as frequently and may want to call to clear if something opens up). The terminology displayed isn't always what you expect, but if the res shows an upgrade requested it generally means you're on the right waitlist.

Though it's not explicitly stated, I'm not sure that a YBM is a higher priority than an instrument-supported (GPU/RPU/MUA) upgrade -- in fact I would expect that if you had two 1Ks on the same fare (including Y, B, or M) where PN wasn't available at time of ticketing the instrument applied would be the tie-breaker. IMO, it's a terrible way to burn an instrument, but others may disagree.

wxguy

I bought an M fare BOS-EWR-FLL a few weeks ago. PN=0, so no instant clear. I've been watching daily. This morning (still a week out), I saw that PN=0 on BOS-EWR, but PN=2 on EWR-FLL, yet, no automatic clearance. I logged into the reservation on the app, and for the BOS-EWR it still said, "CPU Eligible." But for EWR-FLL, it said something to the effect that upgrade space was now available, and to "click here" if I wanted to confirm an upgrade. It went through right away, and PN decremented to 1.

The lesson is that outside of the CPU window, one must monitor and grab the upgrade when PN (or PZ) becomes available.

fumje

Isn't this how it always worked? I thought clearing the instant upgrade always required clicking the button when PN is open.

wxguy

I've received notification of auto-clearing in the past. It seems random.

fumje

Interesting. Obviously I never have. Thanks for reporting.

Kacee

Yes, that's correct. There is no waitlisting for Y/B/M upgrades. If an uncleared Y/B/M upgrade appeared to automatically process into PN post-purchase, it was either a GS/1K CPU inside the window or manual intervention by a GS agent.

WineCountryUA

it is actually explictly stated
All reported experiences show the applying of a supported upgrade disrupts the Y/B/M priority -- and should not be done
PN will be clear before PZ upgrades and at the gate, YBM are listed higher than supported upgraders.

thesun

It's been 2-3 years since I've been on an instant upgrade eligible YBM fare.

If PN space opens up, will I be able to upgrade via the app?

And, visually on the app and the webpage, when no PN space is available, does it look exactly the same as if I was on a lower fare? Showing "CPU Eligible" on the app, "Complimentary Premier Upgrade Requested" on the web? I vaguely recall some text, like 1K Instant Upgrade Eligible, but perhaps that was only when there was inventory available? It's been too long...

SFOrunner

The instant part of the upgrade process is nebulous. But yes, if PZ space opens up, you can call and have them push the upgrade through. There will not be an option to do it through the app.