I always travel on short notice as well. I believe that what UA isn't telling you/US is that Fedex isn't the bottleneck, UA is. IME they take at least a business day to send it out. For example, my latest request I called on a Tuesday, it arrived via overnight Fedex on the Thursday, showing a ship date of the Wednesday (the agent even built in more cushion saying it wouldn't arrive until Friday). The time before that I called on a Thursday for travel on a Sunday and was told it wasn't enough time.

I don't find this surprising. Same day processing and shipping would be pretty impressive for an organization like UA. Amazon can do it, but an awful lot of online retailers can't.

The real problem here is the ridiculous paper GPU process. It penalizes exactly the pax UA should be trying to make happy - business travelers making last second purchases of long-haul tickets.

UA and LH w;)uld rather that these passengers purchase business class fares instead of upgrading from coach.

There was a solution in process but appears issues at LH have delayed it -- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...lufthansa.html

Question for the experts as I just ordered my GPU paper voucher for a LH upgrade from business to first class.

The wiki states that the request at the airport should be submitted ~3.5 hours before departure for upgrades into F class. I am flying out of IAD with the first (18:05) LH-metal flight of the day to Frankfurt. My understanding is that LH check-in counters do not open until 3h before departure. Will this be a deal-breaker? Or any other way to get on the list before this?

Thank you!

Not a dealbreaker and shouldn't be a problem. I have a perfect record upgrading C to F at IAD...I've never arrived earlier than 3 hours either.

Tim

I returned paper GPU's to be credited to my account - it has been 2 weeks but they have not shown up in my account yet.
I am getting a bit nervous - any experience by others how long it takes for paper GPU's to be back in the account?

Thank you!

They should show up a couple of days after they arrive at UA. The last time I returned one I sent them the FedEx tracking number and when they verified it was on the way they credited my account and applied it to a UA res then and there.

When it did finally arrive a couple days later someone errouneously recredited my account but they pulled it before I had a chance to alert them.

I'll be booking a flight for ~January 9th from Europe to SFO in biz D class. Will I have a better chance clearing a paper GPU for upgrade to F via FRA or MUC? Thanks!

MUC will be better usually - less connection's to fill the plane

Are LH Premium Economy Fares (N, E, G) eligible for paper GPU's? The UA website doesn't seem to have been updated yet.

Hi,

I have never requested a GPU on LH, I do have a few questions.

1) How do I book a V class ticket on LH on the web?
2) What are the chances of an upgrade from
FRA to HND/NRT on Dec 9th?
HND/NRT to FRA on Jan 20/21/22?
3) So I need to show up at the airport at to do this upgrade?

Thanks. The only problem with MUC is no FCT. I'm leaning towards going big or going home - try for FRA + FCT and if I don't get it, no biggie. Maybe I should book FRA to SEA or something less popular than SFO...

the LH GPU i have in my possession right now states that N and E are ineligible fare classes for upgrade. G is not explicitly excluded, but, i personally would not risk it on a G fare given that information, YMMV.

The FCL in Munich is perfectly nice.