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Using miles for BOS-LAX with R9 and waitlisted

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Old Jun 26, 2012, 11:48 am
  #1  
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Using miles for BOS-LAX with R9 and waitlisted

I've not used miles to upgrade for 10 years but I put a request in for me and my wife for July 7th, BOS-LAX with R showing R9, and its waitlisted. 40,000 miles, which of course they already deducted. The seat map is empty in F that day.

How long before the flight should I expect this to clear, or will it?
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 11:52 am
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
I've not used miles to upgrade for 10 years but I put a request in for me and my wife for July 7th, BOS-LAX with R showing R9, and its waitlisted. 40,000 miles, which of course they already deducted. The seat map is empty in F that day.

How long before the flight should I expect this to clear, or will it?
If the flight is R9 and you are using an instrument you should call and have them clear it immediately. Sometimes the waitlist is buggy.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 11:55 am
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Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
If the flight is R9 and you are using an instrument you should call and have them clear it immediately. Sometimes the waitlist is buggy.
This.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:12 pm
  #4  
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
I've not used miles to upgrade for 10 years but I put a request in for me and my wife for July 7th, BOS-LAX with R showing R9, and its waitlisted. 40,000 miles, which of course they already deducted. The seat map is empty in F that day.

How long before the flight should I expect this to clear, or will it?
just checked and both flights are showing R =0

if you havent cleared yet Id say a very good chance if its for the 6am flight as it seems only a handful of seats have been taken.While the 6pm flight Id say looks like you will end up in the back very few seats still left

either way seems they are now using PMCOs 738s instead of PMUAS Airbuses, so if no Up its E- unless you have the Exit Row. E+ on the 319/320 is 36" and Im fine with that
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:23 pm
  #5  
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Originally Posted by craz
just checked and both flights are showing R =0

if you havent cleared yet Id say a very good chance if its for the 6am flight as it seems only a handful of seats have been taken.While the 6pm flight Id say looks like you will end up in the back very few seats still left

either way seems they are now using PMCOs 738s instead of PMUAS Airbuses, so if no Up its E- unless you have the Exit Row. E+ on the 319/320 is 36" and Im fine with that
Its the 6AM and yes a 737, its why I requested the upgrade. Normally my wife and I don't care, on 757s in the past we take up most of a row anyway, but stuck in a 737 for 6 hours, its worth the 40k mi.

My bad though, its showing F9, not R9. What I don't understand is 40k mi have a value of about $600, so to me its the same as using cash, but apparently to UA its more like a CPU?
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:24 pm
  #6  
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Sad thing is I paid cash for both our tickets way back before integration on the hopes we might get CPU. If I had known, I would have just used miles for two F tickets.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:25 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
What I don't understand is 40k mi have a value of about $600, so to me its the same as using cash, but apparently to UA its more like a CPU?
More like an RPU, but definitely not the same thing as cash.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:26 pm
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
Its the 6AM and yes a 737, its why I requested the upgrade. Normally my wife and I don't care, on 757s in the past we take up most of a row anyway, but stuck in a 737 for 6 hours, its worth the 40k mi.

My bad though, its showing F9, not R9. What I don't understand is 40k mi have a value of about $600, so to me its the same as using cash, but apparently to UA its more like a CPU?
It's not the same as cash to UA. But it will be a higher priority upgrade than a CPU even though you'll clear from the same upgrade inventory as a CPU does.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 12:28 pm
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Originally Posted by craz
either way seems they are now using PMCOs 738s instead of PMUAS Airbuses, so if no Up its E- unless you have the Exit Row. E+ on the 319/320 is 36" and Im fine with that
Most of the 738s have E+ now.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 1:28 pm
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
Its the 6AM and yes a 737, its why I requested the upgrade. Normally my wife and I don't care, on 757s in the past we take up most of a row anyway, but stuck in a 737 for 6 hours, its worth the 40k mi.

My bad though, its showing F9, not R9. What I don't understand is 40k mi have a value of about $600, so to me its the same as using cash, but apparently to UA its more like a CPU?
well this Sats flight is R=0 & F=9 which seems to me to be saying if they do UP people they seem to be waiting to the last min to do so, since its sat morn,Id venture to say with using miles you will clear and your flight has its eems only a few people up front for now, so you still can get the seats of your choice

I will leave it to the experts to tell ya if you should pull the Miles Up and wait for CPU instead
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 3:01 pm
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Originally Posted by craz
well this Sats flight is R=0 & F=9 which seems to me to be saying if they do UP people they seem to be waiting to the last min to do so, since its sat morn,Id venture to say with using miles you will clear and your flight has its eems only a few people up front for now, so you still can get the seats of your choice

I will leave it to the experts to tell ya if you should pull the Miles Up and wait for CPU instead
I don't need an expert, after watching my CPU rate go down (see sig) post integration, and having my non status spouse with me to boot, I'd say the chances of getting a CPU for the both of us are as near to zero as they could be, regardless of how many F seats are sold at this point.

I'm not gonna spend 6 hours in 738 economy, with our without E+ if I can help it.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 3:10 pm
  #12  
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Don't count on UA automatically clearing you, even if the R inventory opens up. It simply is not that reliable these days. To be sure you clear if and when R opens up, it's best to call.

What I'd advise instead is signing up expertflyer.com, which for $9/month will send you email alerts if R or other specific seat categories open up, and is easier than united.com for checking most award and upgrade availability. Or I believe you can sign up for a free five-day trial period five days before the flight if you think this is the only time you'd ever use this service (though I'm not certain that the trial period includes email alerts). Or you can simply keep checking as the date gets closer.
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Old Jun 26, 2012, 3:21 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by Dsybok
I don't need an expert, after watching my CPU rate go down (see sig) post integration, and having my non status spouse with me to boot, I'd say the chances of getting a CPU for the both of us are as near to zero as they could be, regardless of how many F seats are sold at this point.

I'm not gonna spend 6 hours in 738 economy, with our without E+ if I can help it.
I hear ya and forgot there were 2 of you and didnt know she had no status, now you simply have to watch the flght like a hawk and pounce on them once you see R>1, which is what I do if I didnt get the UP confirmed at time of purchase
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Old Jul 7, 2012, 5:18 pm
  #14  
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Just to close the loop on this, our miles based upgrades for our 633AM BOS-LAX cleared exactly 7 days before departure. When we arrived at the airport, I was listed as 1st on the upgrade list and my wife was 7th or 8th.

The service on the legacy CO 738 was another thing entirely, letter will be sent about this one , and I virtually never send complaint letters about anything. We were last to have our order taken, they were out of hot food for breakfast, and the purser refused to give me a choice of coach hot offerings or snack boxes to make up for it. No one on that IAH based flight crew seemed at all interested in customer service. Poor all around.
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Old Jul 7, 2012, 5:47 pm
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Originally Posted by SEA1K4EVR
If the flight is R9 and you are using an instrument you should call and have them clear it immediately. Sometimes the waitlist is buggy.
This is one of the reasons it's worth the nine bucks a month for an expertflyer membership
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