1K upgrade rates improving?
 

I stopped flying United very shortly after 3/3, realizing that my upgrade rates as a 1K were steeply declining. I switched to USAirways and am now a Chairman's preferred. The upgrade rate has been very good, but overall I'm not a big fan of US.

I'm wondering if 1Ks have seen any substantial improvement since March? Are upgrade rates a little more comparable to last year? I did pretty well last year flying United all year.

I apologize for what is most certainly a duplicate question. I did search the forum, but so much comes back when you search for "upgrade rates" that it's difficult to sift through!

Thanks!

Brian

i'm doing mostly spoke routes, but i've been clearing pretty routinely at 4 days out. i haven't missed any CPUs on the CPU eligible routes apart from an inside 4 day booking for IAD >>> YVR R/T and one IAH >>> LGA post 3/3.

A great success rate post merger for me. Just 1 trans con EWR-SNA missed UG using GPU but CPU clearing routinely on schedule.

Still much worse for me than pre-3/3

Aside from IAD-SFO and IAD-PHX (1/14 on those), I've missed maybe one or two EUAs. Honestly, my UG rates have been basically unchanged at 70% or so.

Still selling FC
 

I don't think so, flew EWR - ORD this pass Friday and when I checked in there were 4 open in F and they offerd to sell it for $189. On ther return yesterday when checking in again 4 empty and the offer was $169. I'm 30,000 from the million mile club and then I'm off to AA to build status. If I have to sit the back of the bus it really doesn't matter which bus I get on. :)

a couple weeks ago i actually managed to clear EWR-LAS on a friday-sunday trip. both fully booked. outbound cleared T-72 and return cleared t-12. surprised me as i've never been able to CPU on this route before and it was fully booked in both cabins. maybe it's just a one off occurrence but it was kinda nice.

I've been clearing pretty regularly as well (knock on wood)... saw inventory was getting tight last week and tried to burn an RPU on an SFO-ORD mid-week flight. Didn't clear; first time in E+. Not bad, I guess...

Silvers get upgraded to Vegas all the time.

I'm consistently upgraded, but usually not at the window.

I did not get upgraded on ORD-SAN next Thur. at the Plat window this morning. My guess is I'll make it at T-24.

Seems to be route specific. I am doing well on leisure/vacation routes but poorly on business routes. From what others have posted in various threads, it appears that corporate sales managers are showering their customers with deep discounted FC tickets and upgrade instruments to hold on to the business. If operational performance doesn't improve, it won't matter how much they give away.....repeated failures to arrive at your destination in time for an important meeting is a deal breaker.

I would add that US's domestic soft product in F class is better than UA's (more WiFi, for example, and better food); the only thing UA has to really offer is DirecTV on sCO planes.

The US Airways clubs are better than United clubs.

I got more upgrades last year as a US silver than I did last year as a UA/CO silver, gold, platinum, and 1K.

If you're looking to jump ship from US, AA is probably the logical choice.

I can't complain, see my signature.

I have only had one CPU since 3/3. Before 3/3 I was 100% on 757s and about 30-40% on AirBusses. One the started listing cleared pax, right after the merger my flights showed anywhere from 5-10 people clearing, lately there are 0-2 people clearing. So the rest must be paid or award. The people who take ToD offers don't seam to appear on the upgrade cleared list. My AirBus routes are not on 737-800s with 16 seats, and still no upgrades.

For me it completely depends on ticket price and day. If I buy a relatively expensive fare (e.g. M or V) my upgrade percentage is almost 100%. If I buy the cheapest fare in advance my upgrade percentage is decent Tue/Wed/Sat but almost zero on Sun/Mon/Thu/Fri.