The fact set is incomplete. Did you upgrade via a Y/B/M fare, and if you're on one of those fares, why would you waitlist an instrument? The instrument has lower upgrade priority.

Oops, sorry. Yes, I'm on a B fare so this is (and was) before the 24-hour waitlist. I waitlisted for R because it's expiring January. But I'm now—I think—coming to the understanding that R will never have more availability than P, and B upgrades to PN, which tracks to P. So I guess it wasn't going to ever get me any benefit anyway. Is that right??

I now have another flight in January that I could use it on (S fare), so I wouldn't mind getting it back and trying for that one.

Two separate issues.

1. Yes, Y/B/M instant upgrades clear into PN. PN availability is almost always substantially better than R availability (although there have been occasional instances lately when PN=0 and R>0). So that's the first reason the instrument is superfluous - PN is likely to become available before R.

2. Y/B/M instant upgrades that haven't cleared have priority over instruments within five days of departure. So that's the second reason the instrument is superfluous - it comes behind the instant upgrade in the priority queue.

Thanks, and very much. I wasn't aware of 2.—I'd thought instruments were highest on the priority queue—and when I'd applied it I'd not been aware that R>0 & PN=0 was rare or nigh impossible—so I'd been imagining I was hedging my bets.

Called and requested 'retraction' of the instrument, which was granted and the upgrade seems intact. It seems like the agent was seasoned and competent, but maybe that was all more straightforward than I'd understood originally. :p

Yes, because you cleared into PN rather than R. So it was the B fare, not the instrument.

Does anybody have any experience on the EWR - India flights as lower status or non-elites using GPUs? No upgrade inventory available but business cabin is half empty.

if the flight is very soon and the cabin is half empty then it is an acceptable risk. Else, EWR-BOM/DEL flights are usually quite full in BF

My daughter (on an award ticket) and I (Q Fare, GPU applied since booking a few months ago, but still not upgraded) are flying LAX-LHR tomorrow, which shows 15 seats in BF booked + 1 blocked (out of 40). It's now J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN9 R0 RN0. Economy looks wide open too.

When I checked my daughter in, it offered buy up to first on the DEN-LAX leg for $229, but said BF on the LAX-LHR flight was sold out.

What's going on here? It seems insane that a) I haven't been upgraded, and b) that they didn't offer me a chance to buy my daughter up to BF. I assume that my upgrade will come through (which I will give to my daughter) and hope that i can find a way to buy her up at the airport.

check closer to departure (hours) for I avail and R. Flight is PN9 so there should be plenty of space.

I would waitlist the daughter for IN so she can get on the gate list. Good chance UA will not open I/IN (despite open seats), so gate standby list may be the only way to get her in BF using miles.

The GPU should clear, but it may go to the gate.

Not that most folks would want to fly on Christmas, but if you need to burn GPUs, what a good day to do it.

My family of four were going FRA-ORD. J would be expected to be light due to no one traveling for work on Christmas, but Y was full. Full enough that UA op-uped my entire family - I am only a Silver, so it was even more odd that we could have been in line for it. J went out with 6-7 empty seats - what an odd but welcome holiday event!

I'm sure this has to have been asked but:

Since instruments have to be flown by their expiration date rather than applied by their expiration date... and I don't generally fly international:

Is there any advantage to applying a GPU over an RPU for entirely domestic travel (i.e. higher waitlist priority or booking into a bucket with generally more availability)? I assume that they're the same, and if that's the case I'll save the GPUs for last just in case a sudden international leisure trip pops up.

It would be useful to know for sure as I plan strategy for over next year for instruments expiring 1/31/17. (As it currently stands I have ~4 GPUs and ~3 RPUs that I'm not sure where I would use them...)

If both can be used, there is no difference/benefit once applied. Effectively identical.

Good to know, thanks!

Thanks. Both of us ended up in BF.