yyzprincess

I have been doing this route on UA several times a year for at least 9 +years.
IMHO both Thursday & Friday are not good from LAX or SFO.
Many US based Multi nationals have corporate contracts with United. Thus even middle Management fly Business. Typically on Friday to be in OZ by Sunday, and ready for work on Monday.
Many even have employees fly on Thursday, giving the employees’ weekend to rest.
BTW, these Business travel bookings are typically firmed up 2-3 weeks prior.
For October too early.

Large percentage both Business & Leisure travellers, will cough up $$$$ for LMU . Even leisure travellers. Especially Aussie based. More so in past couple of years due to strong A$.

I never waitlist this route. I only book if there is R available.

My observations having monitored this route for past few years : R space opens up months ahead 12-10 months or 1-2 weeks prior on this route
Nor do I travel this route on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

dmc225325

I posted this on the GPU thread and would be interested in thoughts.

I'm booking a flight for 2 with my wife from BOS to SYD in October and my dates are fixed b/c I'm meeting friends, etc. I have two options:

1. I'm 1K on United with a bunch of GPUS. I could book a E or M fare (E = ~$2900; M = $3400) connecting through SFO and hope for an ugprade. So just looking at SFO-SYD-SFO

From SFO to SYD (on a Sunday) the inventory shows: F9, FN9, A9, ON6, O0, J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN9, R0, RN0, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U0, H0, HN0, Q0, V0, W0, S0, T0, L0, K0, G0, N0, XN0, X0

FROM SYD TO SFO (on a Wed) inventory is: F9, FN9, A9, ON9, O0, J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN9, R0, RN0, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L9, K9, G0, N0, XN0, X0

Problem here is I'm rolling the dice with getting an UG and it sounds like its pretty tough (at least for a a Sunday for SFO to SYD)

2. Or, I can book premium economy on Quantas for about $3700 b/c of a sale they are running. I could get PE on either a 747 or their A380. Not as great as getting UG with United, but at least its a certain thing.

Would you guys take a chance on United or take the certain thing with Quantas?

mmack

How far in advance do you look? This year R availability seems all over the place. From Feb to April this year nothing, then suddenly sporadic R opens up for Sept, usu Sunday, Tues, Wed.
I have Expert Flier alerts out...

rgrunnah

My two cents: if you have to fly in Business, don't chance a GPU unless you can get it with R inventory at booking.

I barely, by the skin of my teeth, cleared SFO-SYD recently on a Friday flight, and if I hadn't called the 1K line to have them manually do it, I wouldn't have cleared at all.

mmack

We have found availability on Sundays: it gets you there Tuesday. And Wednesday should be doable: middle of the week....so there is hope. Have never done Qantas. Have you looked at Air Newzealand? Reports are that their premium economy is really great, tho you do change in AKL, and that may make it too long a trip?

zigenbock

I have a flight in two weeks from SFO-SYD that I am wait listed for BF on a GPU. Problem is that there are not too many seats in BF available (no surprise...)
I spoke with UA and, although they could not tell me the exact number of BF seats available, they suggested that I change to the LAX-SYD flight as it had over double the number of seats in BF available.
I know that the seat map is not accurate to tell the number of seats available, but looking at the two flight, there does seem to be a lot more on the LAX flight. Would you gamble and change flights?

Often1

You've answered your own question. The seat map and $3 gets you a 20oz coffee at a well known chain. But, you've spoken with UA and been told useful information. Why not use it?

mre5765

I have had more upgrade luck LAX to SYD than SFO to SYD.

yyzprincess

If LAX-SYD seems to have more paid availability IMHO I would go that route. In 2013 Australian School Holidays 25June-20th July.
LAX-SYD route if your travel dates are during the Australian School Holidays Odd are not good. SFO-SYD odds are better.

johnnyfive

Just to clear any doubts in my mind. Is this true as long as your domestic flights are on Domestic First? If you connect onto a p.s. transcon it's considered BF which means you wouldn't get the refund, right?

Also, what are the average prices for an LMU on SYD-LAX/SFO?

Cheers.

aacharya

Interesting question. I would say p.s. would still be Domestic Business for GPU "counting" purposes, as a GPU isn't needed to upgrade, only an RPU. Kind of like HNL.

docbert

The exact rule is :

So the question is, is p.s. "Business" or "BusinessFirst". Officially, on the new 2-class planes it's BusinessFirst, but on the older 3-class it's still Business.

So officially at least, if the upgrade clears on a 2-class p.s. flight, then your GPU is considered used, even if the over-water segment didn't. You could probably talk them into swapping the GPU for an RPU after the fact...

But not for CPU, and in effect them returning the GPU to you is the equivalent of them admitting that you likely would have got the upgrade with a CPU.

Kacee

They do call it "ps BusinessFirst" on the website (http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...mservices.aspx), so I agree, they're going to burn the GPU if it clears.

WineCountryUA

PS is presently sold and booked as business not BF - no protection under the BF upgrade rule.

sogboulder

There's a fairly strong possibility that I may have to make some business trips to Australia later this year/early next year. Since my company won't pay for business class fares, does anyone have any advice about which *A carrier and/or which airport combinations might offer the highest possibility of being able to snag an upgrade with miles (Gold for now, so no instruments)? That's a pretty long haul, even in E+ ;-). Any advice on aircraft to be avoided (;-)) would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!