WineCountryUA

At least potential issues could be at play
first, the fare rules are not being meet for the K fare Fare Class has Inventory - Not Able to Book into?

and there are strange things that are happening in pricing and fare class display (prior to the Expert Mode issue)
United Continuous Pricing Pilot (?) are you search for 4 tickets?

seawolf

Fares rules should be met AFAIK. No time/flight restrictions. Only date restrictions (not applicable in late November); fare is valid for Nov 12. Actually for my set of desired flights, it prices with that fare if 2 passengers but not for 3 passengers despite K4 being displayed in iOS.

Lux Flyer

Based on the second part of WineCountry's post, due to the continuous pricing implementation - K4 in iOS "expert mode" display doesn't necessarily mean there is true 4 seats of K availability and you need to look at the flight in a GDS (or provide the specific flight/date you're looking at and others can look for you) to see the true inventory allocations. Due to continuous pricing UA's system might be willing to overbook the K class and sell a continuous priced fare for 4 people at a price differential above the actual K fare filling (which is why it is showing K4), but if you're only getting the actual fare filing/price when you search for a max of 2 people it is likely the actual booking inventory is K2. Again, there are plenty of people who could check this, but would need to know the specific flight/date in question, otherwise we're just guessing at the actual cause based on the limited information we have.

seawolf

Thanks. Would a subscription to ExpertFlyer show true inventory?

Lux Flyer

Yes as it gets its info via GDS

HGFNJ

I am a 1K and trying to qualify for the same next year. However, after going thru all the forums, I still cant figure out what the "Expert Mode" is important.

I have 700 plus points and all of them are getting wasted as I don't see any upgrade availability on any of my searches (esp. for transcontinental flights).

How will expert mode help? Are you saying if the "plus point u[upgrade" option during booking is saying waitlist/unavailable, there is still a way to get upgrades by looking at expert option?

pmarrsouth

some of us do not have any pluspoints...

fumje

It tells you the rest of the inventory, not only yes/no for pz (upgrade space). If you see j5c0, flatly no chance. If you see pn9pz0, might get it. Then if you are picking which flight to book, and one shows the first case and the other the second, which do you pick?

WineCountryUA

Folks use Expert Mode to find flight more likely to clear -- not a perfect assessment but may increase your selection odds. Exactly how is discussed in [Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight

The thought is UA reveals in its inventory decisions if UA thinks the flight will sell out or if there is a chance upgrades could clear.
If only J or C, chances are poor but if Z/P/PN are available, your chances are better -- see the above thread for more discussion on specific cases.

HGFNJ

Ok. This is helpful. So, the system is accurately showing me a waitlist but chances are higher for plus point upgrade, if many are available.
For e.g. I am looking at an option from EWR to Milan. I see the following:

• J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN0, PZ0, IN0, I0, O9, ON9, A9, R0, RN0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V0, W0, S0, T0, L0, K0, G0, N9, XN0, X0

Per you message, due to P9, do I have higher change of getting cleared? The flight shows only 2 out of the 40 seats booked and all are open but cant get guranteed plus point upgrade. Kind of annoying that inspite of having so many, I can never use them.

Thanks,

Lux Flyer

Yes in theory. If the flight is P9, it means UA is willing to sell deeply discounted J seats to try and get the cabin filled with paid passengers. If they aren't able to get people to buy deeply discounted tickets then increases the chance seats will go out empty. Comparatively to when a flight is PCDZ 0 then that would inidcate they expect the demand to be at a spot that they don't even need to discount the fare to get paid passengers in seats.

kevino

Everyone has or can get miles.

kb1992

I have used all my PP. Only 40 left.

I don't have enough of them.....

You can upgrade using miles plus possibly co-pay.

pmarrsouth

And vouchers/certs

katan

Is that the reason I can't currently see Expert Mode on the UA site? It would seem somewhat logical to affect that access early since it really isn't an operational requirement.

As a soon-to-be former GS that was a casualty of the pandemic, I'm looking to maximize my exit into being a general member. My new employer all of sudden wants me to travel domestically like crazy, and that seems like a great opportunity to burn down my points and status.