Boarded fine, but disappointingly it's the old style F. Oh we'll, service seems like it will be good.

Well, shucks. I finally got the MP desk to admit that if I had printed the darn thing and left it at home, somebody could scan a PDF to me and I would be fine. But the desk says they have no way to issue it and send me the darn PDF.

After spending 12 hours sitting in HKG, thanks, United, for allowing me 12 hours in economy LH to contemplate your cancellation. That's great.

Frankly speaking, UA has successfully transported me across the pacific ocean at 600 mph twenty nine out of the last thirty times i've paid them to do so. So I still regard them as nothing short of magical. But come on folks, the last time I needed a paper certificate mailed to me to get something done was in 2004 and I was in India. Get with the program.

Cleared at the gate ?
 

I got to the airport at11:00am. That's when flysfo said the LH counter opens. It's actually 11:45. And reality was about ten minutes earlier. I was told I had to wait and get cleared at the gate. Went to the wonderfully appointed UA lounge and while waiting decided to take a look at seats and saw that I was already upgraded. I'll be in 12D in the luxurious upper deck of the A380 from SFO to FRA business class.

I've heard these seats are funky angled flat seats. Still better than cabbage.

:cool::cool::cool:;)

Nope, LH needs the actual paper cert. If you scan it, the image will have void void all over it as the paper has copy protection on it.

There is now a wiki post.

Success!
 

I thought I'd share my recent success using the new system-

June 16 Sunday SEA-FRA: My travelling partner and I walked into the LH lounge in SEA, asked for upgrades, and the very pleasant GA typed away, asked for our certs, and cleared us on the spot, even though the flight looked booked fully in C the night before. ^

June 26th Wednesday FRA-SEA: I was on a tight connection from IST but once again the very pleasant GA in the Senator Lounge typed away, took my cert, signed it dutifully, and gave me my upgraded BP. ^

The only odd thing was the outbound BP was good to go, but my return BP was stapled to the cert (like they used to do) then when I got to the gate the GA had to reissue the BP and file the old BP+cert.

All in all a very satisfied customer;)

Exact phone number?

Called MPSC, transferred to another department and the agent did not know what I was talking about.

Called Star Alliance Desk and the agent worked as a middle man to handle my request. He could even see the itinerary once I told him LH PNR. It saved both of us some time:)

I make the same flight every 2 months, while i dont have them booked will they issue me a paper cert for my GPU if I provide the flight details without a confirmation number?

Try giving them a fake confirmation number. Or, if your corporate travel agency supports, make an unticketed (held) booking, and then cancel after your electronic GPUs are deducted.

Make a LH.com booking and cancel within 24h for free ;)

Experience on SFO to BLR
 

I flew SFO-FRA-BLR-FRA-SFO over the past week and my success rate in upgrading from business to first was 3 out of 4. I used the old style paper certificates in all cases (the ones without the flight details).

Here are the details:

SFO-FRA
Arrived two hours before flight on a Saturday. Upgrade was processed directly at the check-in counter. New first class on A380. First class was about half full.

FRA-BLR
Was upgraded in first class lounge in FRA on a Sunday, about 90 minutes before flight. Only 3 out of 8 seats taken in first class. New first class on 747-8.

BLR-FRA
Friday morning flight. The ground crew in BLR was making the most fuzz about upgrades and kept delaying their decision until less than 60 minutes before flight, being cryptic about the process and chances of success. In the end, 2 of the 3 folks with a paper certificate got upgraded to first, I was the one who did not get upgraded. I think first class was full (8 out of 8) so I accepted my fate and was happy to try out the new business class on the 747-8, which I found pretty good as well for sleeping. I am not sure how the two other pax were prioritized over me, but I am "only" 1K and maybe they were GS. It is also likely they asked for it first. They also had the new style certificates, not sure if that played a role.

FRA-SFO
Arrived at the gate 30 minutes before flight (on a 60 minute layover) on a Friday. Was told there was one passenger who had not picked up his ticket, and they had to wait for another few minutes. After 5-10 minutes I was given my first class boarding pass. There were 6 out of 8 seats taken, so I wonder why they did not process it right away (maybe they only had accounted for six meals?). New first class on A380.

Summary
The new first class is simply awesome. Also, new business class seats are a great step up from the old business class, but a clear step down from first. Upgrades on LH are still the best use of GPUs in my opinion. In general, I found ground crews in SFO and FRA to be low key in processing upgrades, while BLR ground crew tried to be a bit mystic about it. I did not have any issues with my old style paper upgrade certificates.

Any thoughts on upgrade chances on UA vs LH with GPU from ORD to FRA (or MUC)? At the moment the day I'm looking at looks like flights on UA are:

F5 A4 J9 C9 D9 Z0 P0 Y9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G0 N0

and flights on LH are:

F6 A4 J9 C9 D9 Z9 P9 Y9 B9 M9 U9 H9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9

So right now looks like LH seems more promising but a bit more annoying to use the GPU there. Any experience on how their flights tend to fill up across time? The UA codeshare of the LH metal flight (which is easier to book through united.com) shows a bit less availability, but this doesn't matter for gpu chances right?

Are you trying to upgrade from economy to business or from business to first?

Oops, sorry. Trying to upgrade economy to business.

Also does anyone have experience with the hours at the LH desk in ohare? If I go with the LH flight, can I go to the airport the day before to get on the upgrade list with the paper cert? If not, if I take the 10:15 PM flight, can I go in the morning to get on the list and then go home and come back a few hours before the flight? And if so, what time does the LH counter open?

Am I more likely to be able to get on the list the night before if I take the 3:45 flight? If they can't immediately upgrade me and I go on the grading list, do I need to hang around or will things just be processed at the gate before the flight?

I have two old style paper certificates that I would like my wife to use. She is traveling BLR - FRA - EWR on business class. Want her to upgrade to first. I'm not traveling with her, she has no * status and the paper certificates have my name printed on them. Can she use these certificates to upgrade?