DLPhoenix

I was never offered a buy up on this route (either direction).
Don't hold your breath, the route is elite heavy and you may end up behind quite a few GSs and 1Ks.
Buy an Expert flyer subscription and track R availability on this flight. Your best chance to jump the line is to call UA when R opens and before the system processes the upgrade list.

DLP

OnePassenger

Dear friends

My colleague (non-elite) bought a W fare R/T, traveling DEL-EWR on 13 October 2012, and returning EWR-DEL on 27 October 2012. I applied two of my GPUs to his reservation. I am a GS/1K traveling on the same flight with him (B fare). I also applied 2 GPUs to my reservation. What are our chances for upgrades? And are our chances the same? And if the same, why? If not, why not? Thanks so much. This forum is amazing for getting responses to so many questions.

CO DCA

I was upgraded on this flight on a Saturday in May using a GPU. The upgrade processed the day before. The upgrade processed automatically, I got the expertflyer email of an available seat AFTER I got an email from UA that I'd been upgraded. The cabin had about twenty empty seats until about 5 days before and then they vanished. The flight was PACKED and there wasn't an empty seat in the plane.

RealFan

I was just poking around the UA.com website and I found only for the second time some R/RN availability for an EWR - DEL flight. Tuesday night (6.19) there is R5 RN5. Couldn't find any other R space for Monday or beyond.

mad1

Hi

I'd like to go to India for a 2-2.5 week trip, either leaving or coming back around Thanksgiving. However, I'm having trouble finding R/RN availability on the long hauls - EWR-BOM, IAD-DXB, SFO-HKG, etc (outbound or inbound). Are these particularly high demand routes? Is there a common practice - does UA usually hold on to upgrade inventory until the last minute, or are these just high-demand dates in J?

thanks for any insight or pointers on a search strategy. I'm located near SFO, but am willing to fly out of anywhere in the US for J, am a 1K, and have an EF account

npei

UA generally don't open up R space until several weeks before trip, so you won't likely see R>1 space til early Nov.
Best routing for Thanksgiving travel upgrade chance seems to be IAD-DOH.
Next is SFO-HKG (normally toughest GPU upgrade), but Thanksgiving travel by more leisure passengers.
EWR-BOM already seem to have lots of India bookings, so upgrade probably lowest chance.

RealFan

RealFan

Search is your friend here. There is a treasure trove of information on FT about R/RN availability to and from India.

FlyWorld

I'm on my way to India soon, and I decided to try GPUs on LH rather than trying to UG with UA. R space has been drastically reduced since the CO takeover, to the point it barely seems to exist anymore. And, the UG process can't be trusted anymore. Expectations for UG on LH are low, but it doesn't seem the odds are worse than UA.

1Kin9D

That's an odd strategy. I am a 1K who flies the EWR-BOM and EWR-DEL routes and I am 6 for 6 with GPU upgrades in the last year on inexpensive (upgradable) fares. They often clear within 24 hours, or at the gate, but they have been clearing. With LH, you can't go non-stop and you can't clear until the airport. Sorry, I'll stick with UA. YMMV

FlyWorld

This is my first time flying LH on a flight served by UA, so its a new strategy for me.

There are several aspects to this strategy:

1. The notion of 15 hours in Y hell DEL-EWR followed by another 6 hours in Y hell for EWR-SFO is simply unbearable.

2. There have been several threads with many posts here indicating that DEL-EWR is amongst the hardest routes to upgrade. There was a PAX posting in one of those threads who was supposed to get an UG but didn't get it due to a "glitch" in SHARES.

3. GPU success or failure on DEL-EWR notwithstanding, I'm almost guaranteed to be in Y for EWR-SFO. And, flying through EWR is a less efficient flight path than the more northern route to SFO from Europe.

4. With LH, I've got two decent chances to UG. I chose to fly through MUC, not FRA, and I'm guessing this provides even better odds, since I'm not competing with the massive flow of UA connecting traffic through FRA and, in fact, when I booked, loads through MUC were a lot lighter than comparable options through FRA.

So, option 1, with UA:

- low odds of clearing GPU on DEL-EWR and virtually no chance of clearing EWR-SFO; expected outcome is 21 hours in Y hell

Option 2, with LH:

- more similar and less dire odds of clearing DEL-MUC or MUC-SFO, expect fairly decent shot of getting at least half the trip upgraded if not both legs; more efficient flight path; cleaner aircraft, fewer "glitches" and shenanigans, and food that's probably a notch better

To me, this is a simple exercise in "expected outcome" analysis - multiply the probability of an outcome by the magnitude of an outcome, then make a choice.

Worst case, I'd rather have two equal legs on LH in Y than 21 hours in Y on UA with one of them being a 15 hour leg.

cmhua777

Thinking about taking a holiday to India this summer. Any tips on which route tends to be an easier upgrade, DEL or BOM? It will only be one-way, from India, where this matters. Likely flying on a Sunday, but can fly home Saturday/Monday as well. I tried to find advance R space, but these flights seem to be permanently zeroed out...

imgonnafly

If waitlisting, anyone have experience which is easier to clear?

fabricoftruth

I fly this route often, although mostly for work so I end up with a paid ticket ... BF tends to sell out in the summer and around Dec-Jan on the EWR-BOM/DEL routes. BOM has better upgrade availability when we have tried to upgrade as a family. Another one to consider is LH - they often have better availability. I have used miles and cash to upgrade on LH (BOM-FRA for ~500US is not bad at all).
* As a previous poster pointed out, try flying middle of the week.
* And another option is to fly via DXB or KWI .. the UA flights from there have plenty of availability for upgrade, and it is relatively inexpensive to get to from BOM. The timings of the flight are quite terrible, though.

alex_b

I'm looking at UA83 DEL-EWR on 6th December (as part of a larger India itinerary). It's currently showing: J9, JN9, C0, D0, Z0, ZN0, P0, PN0, R0, RN0, IN0, I0 (although the seatmap is pretty empty for all that's worth). What's the likelihood of R space opening up or me clearing at departure for a 1k on an M fare. The other option is fly via Europe and have shorter legs in Y, which I'd prefer if I know I'll be in the back of the plane DEL-EWR.