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Old Sep 3, 2012, 4:44 pm
  #1  
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Buy-up vs GPU

I am looking to see where a miles + buy-up ranks compared to GPU. I hesitate to call it TOD since the buy-up is $600 + 30K miles. Also, not really a TOD since it's not a check-in offer, but I digress.

Long story short, I really, really want to fly C to SIN and my company has booked me in L class seats. I could call in, buy-up to W so I could use a sponsored SWU but that ranks me pretty low I suspect whereas it sounds like from other threads that buy-up + miles clear before SWUs.

Honestly I've read so much conflicting information I can't sort it out and would appreciate a pointer (as long as it is not to a thread with 600+ replies)
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 5:37 pm
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What is your routing? CMH-ORD/SFO/EWR-HKG/NRT-SIN?
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 6:01 pm
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GPU=Miles + Copay in terms of clearing.

The things that determine rank are Status of sponsor/member and fare class.
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 6:28 pm
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Originally Posted by garykung
what is your routing? Cmh-ord/sfo/ewr-hkg/nrt-sin?
cmh-iad-nrt-sin (ua 803)

Originally Posted by RockinRon
cmh-iad-nrt-sin (ua 803)
That was weird - I typed it in with proper case...

Last edited by iluv2fly; Sep 3, 2012 at 9:25 pm Reason: merge
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 7:57 pm
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unless the buy-up to W is dirt-cheap, I'd say miles+copay, because at least you'll get everything back if it fails to clear

but beware that the rules say "refunded if BF segment doesnt clear", but since you have 2 BF segments, I don't know what would happen if only NRT-SIN clears.
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 8:23 pm
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I would only request the ord to nrt segment. If that clears then WL the next segment. The nrt or hong kong to sin segment can be purchased in the lounge in Asia for a nominal sum and miles. If you use a SWU and only the second portion clears- what a waste of a SWU!
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 10:02 pm
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Originally Posted by 787fan
unless the buy-up to W is dirt-cheap, I'd say miles+copay, because at least you'll get everything back if it fails to clear
+1 The GPU lottery is annoying. The alternative is to check for R space before calling in for the buy-up to W.
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Old Sep 3, 2012, 10:20 pm
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10A5376e Safari/8536.25)

If OP is flying RT then up-fare to W and GPU would be cheaper RT assuming R space is available.
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Old Sep 4, 2012, 4:24 am
  #9  
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Originally Posted by 787fan
unless the buy-up to W is dirt-cheap, I'd say miles+copay, because at least you'll get everything back if it fails to clear

but beware that the rules say "refunded if BF segment doesnt clear", but since you have 2 BF segments, I don't know what would happen if only NRT-SIN clears.
That's a great point about getting it all back if ti doesn't clear. As for the segments, would that apply since it is the same flight number end-to-end? 803 covers IAD-NRT and NRT-SIN though in my PNR it shows as IAD-SIN as a direct flight rather than 2 non-stops.
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Old Sep 4, 2012, 4:41 am
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Originally Posted by RockinRon
That's a great point about getting it all back if ti doesn't clear. As for the segments, would that apply since it is the same flight number end-to-end? 803 covers IAD-NRT and NRT-SIN though in my PNR it shows as IAD-SIN as a direct flight rather than 2 non-stops.
Then it's one segment the way the computer looks at it. That makes getting an ug harder. As others have mentioned, your best bet is check for R space & keep checking. If it opens you can do what's faster before it is gone (either buy up to W & use a SWU or use cash & miles
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Old Sep 4, 2012, 8:39 am
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Originally Posted by chinatraderjmr
Then it's one segment the way the computer looks at it. That makes getting an ug harder. As others have mentioned, your best bet is check for R space & keep checking. If it opens you can do what's faster before it is gone (either buy up to W & use a SWU or use cash & miles
Thank you all for the tips. I'm doing cash + miles and we'll see how it plays out.
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