CPUs improving ?
May 3, 2013 | 11:04 pm
#421
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
Upthread, or in another thread, there was some discussion that I'd like to re-open. People make a lot of cheap corporate Y fares, TOD's, etc., but posts like this about enormous lists -- and there are many such posts -- suggest that part of the problem is good old fashioned swelling of the elite ranks.
I think there's a colorable argument that the merger has permitted people to concentrate more of their travel on UA, and that's part of why people are feeling so much pain in terms of CPU's.
I think there's a colorable argument that the merger has permitted people to concentrate more of their travel on UA, and that's part of why people are feeling so much pain in terms of CPU's.
So why is revenue performance so bad? UA trails everyone in yield/PRASM growth? Only explanation I can give is that while the number of folks able to hit an upgrade list (silver...) swelled, many folks who were GS/iK and spend lots of money have fled UA. Those who paid more, or were not captive, and therefore able to move have left. Leaving the IAH/EWR/CLE folks stuck with the "new UA"
May 6, 2013 | 7:28 am
#422
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DEN
Programs: UA GS, UA 2.5MM, HH LT Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium LTG
Posts: 2,485
Not for me. DEN-ATL today on an ERJ-170. 6F/64Y seats. F is "sold out" with 1 upgraded and the Upgrade list is 37 people long. I'm #6 on a W fare.
May 6, 2013 | 7:37 am
#423
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 12,529
To run an ERJ essentially cross-country is insane.
To expect CPUs with only 6 F seats is also asking a lot.
To run such a small plane when more than half of the flight is Elite is also insane.
May 6, 2013 | 7:52 am
#424
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DEN
Programs: UA GS, UA 2.5MM, HH LT Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium LTG
Posts: 2,485
I didn't expect a CPU.
Just posting my experience today. Not sure why I bother, really.
May 6, 2013 | 8:00 am
#425
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Landrum, SC
Programs: UA 1K and 2MM, HHonors Diamond,Hertz PC, Marriott Rewards Gold
Posts: 1,129
1K not all that nifty anymore
I'm starting to realize that unless I use a RPU or GPU, upgrades are pretty much a non-starter anymore. Hub to hub I'm getting nowhere on mainline aircraft. As an EXP on AA I virtually never missed in 2012 during the challenge as a status-matched EXP. last week 319 ORD to DFW, missed one way by one rank (1st on list no availability). Return- 4th. Today 737-800 with 16 seats, 17th on the list.
A few more months of this and going to make the final move to AA.
A few more months of this and going to make the final move to AA.
May 6, 2013 | 8:22 am
#426
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K2MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,318
Let me try and re-phrase so this sticks - if you want to fly into an OAL hub these days, you should fly the OAL - DL has ~8-9 mainline flights on your route today, UA has 3 RJs. Same goes for CLT, DFW, MSP, etc - the OALs will have the mainline flights at greater frequency; UA will have RJs at lesser frequency.
May 6, 2013 | 9:02 am
#427
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 12,529
My experience is in my signature. I think it's great to inform others.
May 6, 2013 | 10:07 am
#428
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near SEA
Programs: UA MM, AS MVPG75K, Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 7,990
May 13, 2013 | 10:52 am
#429
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Globalist, Amtrak peon, Colbert Lifetime Platinum, Walk Score 100
Posts: 4,553
I had a very nice battlefield CPU experience on MSP-SFO (L fare).
F on the 737-700 was booked 10/12 before the upgrade windows. At the GS window, a couple was upgraded and F was booked full. It remained that way until about T-48, when someone changed/canceled and it went to 11/12. The buy-up offer then appeared as follows:
Within booking: $537
OLCI: $429
Kiosk: $429
I was #1 on the waitlist and stayed there, waiting with bated breath for someone else on a higher fare to bump me or for someone to bite on the buy-up. Another thread discussed how the EUA process might run within 3 hours of departure now, whereas it wouldn't before. I was very pleasantly surprised for my upgrade to clear 50 minutes before departure. ^ 14 names were left on the waitlist at boarding (including a few non-revs), so it wasn't the most elite-heavy flight. Still, I considered the upgrade to be quite a bonus.
Moral of the story: Even if F is booked full before nearly anyone gets upgraded at the windows, anything is possible!
F on the 737-700 was booked 10/12 before the upgrade windows. At the GS window, a couple was upgraded and F was booked full. It remained that way until about T-48, when someone changed/canceled and it went to 11/12. The buy-up offer then appeared as follows:
Within booking: $537
OLCI: $429
Kiosk: $429
I was #1 on the waitlist and stayed there, waiting with bated breath for someone else on a higher fare to bump me or for someone to bite on the buy-up. Another thread discussed how the EUA process might run within 3 hours of departure now, whereas it wouldn't before. I was very pleasantly surprised for my upgrade to clear 50 minutes before departure. ^ 14 names were left on the waitlist at boarding (including a few non-revs), so it wasn't the most elite-heavy flight. Still, I considered the upgrade to be quite a bonus.
Moral of the story: Even if F is booked full before nearly anyone gets upgraded at the windows, anything is possible!
May 13, 2013 | 11:01 am
#430
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: DL Platinum, AA Lifetime Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Radisson Premium
Posts: 6,733
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350 Safari/8536.25)
Ugh I hate that flight- especially on the 319 which is the normal aircraft for the route. On a regular basis, the upgrade lists run from 30-40 people and the seats sell out before the windows open.
There's typically a "decent" P fare for that route too
Originally Posted by GoAmtrak
I had a very nice battlefield CPU experience on MSP-SFO (L fare).
F on the 737-700 was booked 10/12 before the upgrade windows. At the GS window, a couple was upgraded and F was booked full. It remained that way until about T-48, when someone changed/canceled and it went to 11/12. The buy-up offer then appeared as follows:
Within booking: $537
OLCI: $429
Kiosk: $429
I was #1 on the waitlist and stayed there, waiting with bated breath for someone else on a higher fare to bump me or for someone to bite on the buy-up. Another thread discussed how the EUA process might run within 3 hours of departure now, whereas it wouldn't before. I was very pleasantly surprised for my upgrade to clear 50 minutes before departure. ^ 14 names were left on the waitlist at boarding (including a few non-revs), so it wasn't the most elite-heavy flight. Still, I considered the upgrade to be quite a bonus.
Moral of the story: Even if F is booked full before nearly anyone gets upgraded at the windows, anything is possible!
F on the 737-700 was booked 10/12 before the upgrade windows. At the GS window, a couple was upgraded and F was booked full. It remained that way until about T-48, when someone changed/canceled and it went to 11/12. The buy-up offer then appeared as follows:
Within booking: $537
OLCI: $429
Kiosk: $429
I was #1 on the waitlist and stayed there, waiting with bated breath for someone else on a higher fare to bump me or for someone to bite on the buy-up. Another thread discussed how the EUA process might run within 3 hours of departure now, whereas it wouldn't before. I was very pleasantly surprised for my upgrade to clear 50 minutes before departure. ^ 14 names were left on the waitlist at boarding (including a few non-revs), so it wasn't the most elite-heavy flight. Still, I considered the upgrade to be quite a bonus.
Moral of the story: Even if F is booked full before nearly anyone gets upgraded at the windows, anything is possible!
There's typically a "decent" P fare for that route too
May 13, 2013 | 11:13 am
#431
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 12,529
Fixed. It was PHL-IAD-SEA.
A thought - upgrades (yes or no) are easily noted on our activity on united.com - it won't give you information as to 'when', but I would be all in favor of uploading an xls.csv file with my united.com information versus typing in each flight. Then I could possibly note "when" or other information.
All flights with "Z" were upgraded (without using RPU or GPUs) - I removed the UA Express flights.
5/8/2013 United 376-ZG class
Chicago (ORD)-Philadelphia 678 0 678 1,356 678 1
5/7/2013 United 507-G class
Philadelphia-Chicago (ORD) 678 0 678 1,356 678 1
5/7/2013 United 1512-ZG class
Chicago (ORD)-Portland 1,739 0 1,739 3,478 1,739 1
5/7/2013 United 360-ZG class
Portland-Chicago (ORD) 1,739 0 1,739 3,478 1,739 1
5/1/2013 United 816-G class
Washington (IAD)-Seattle 2,306 0 2,306 4,612 2,306 1
5/1/2013 United 1696-ZK class
Seattle-Washington (IAD) 2,306 0 2,306 4,612 2,306 1
4/30/2013 United 1496-G class
San Francisco-New York/Newark 2,565 0 2,565 5,130 2,565 1
4/27/2013 United 722-ZG class
New York/Newark-Los Angeles 2,454 0 2,454 4,908 2,454 1
4/20/2013 United 264-ZG class
Denver-Philadelphia 1,557 0 1,557 3,114 1,557 1
4/19/2013 United 383-ZG class
Honolulu-Denver 3,365 0 3,365 6,730 3,365 1
4/15/2013 United 445-G class
Philadelphia-San Francisco 2,521 0 2,521 5,042 2,521 1
4/15/2013 United 300-ZG class
San Francisco-Honolulu 2,398 0 2,398 4,796 2,398 1
4/3/2013 United 1581-K class
New York/Newark-Seattle 2,401 0 2,401 4,802 2,401 1
4/3/2013 United 1444-ZK class
Seattle-New York/Newark 2,401 0 2,401 4,802 2,401 1
Thanks! 
I am hoping to grow the user base beyond FTers. The initial seed for the vision on how statistics should be collected had to come from here, since this community combines all of the experts who know best the topic. But there is another community of frequent flyers who are not here, who are still interested in keeping such tabs. The blend of both worlds should un-bias the results, at least to some extent, provided we can reach out to them.
I am hoping to grow the user base beyond FTers. The initial seed for the vision on how statistics should be collected had to come from here, since this community combines all of the experts who know best the topic. But there is another community of frequent flyers who are not here, who are still interested in keeping such tabs. The blend of both worlds should un-bias the results, at least to some extent, provided we can reach out to them.
All flights with "Z" were upgraded (without using RPU or GPUs) - I removed the UA Express flights.
5/8/2013 United 376-ZG class
Chicago (ORD)-Philadelphia 678 0 678 1,356 678 1
5/7/2013 United 507-G class
Philadelphia-Chicago (ORD) 678 0 678 1,356 678 1
5/7/2013 United 1512-ZG class
Chicago (ORD)-Portland 1,739 0 1,739 3,478 1,739 1
5/7/2013 United 360-ZG class
Portland-Chicago (ORD) 1,739 0 1,739 3,478 1,739 1
5/1/2013 United 816-G class
Washington (IAD)-Seattle 2,306 0 2,306 4,612 2,306 1
5/1/2013 United 1696-ZK class
Seattle-Washington (IAD) 2,306 0 2,306 4,612 2,306 1
4/30/2013 United 1496-G class
San Francisco-New York/Newark 2,565 0 2,565 5,130 2,565 1
4/27/2013 United 722-ZG class
New York/Newark-Los Angeles 2,454 0 2,454 4,908 2,454 1
4/20/2013 United 264-ZG class
Denver-Philadelphia 1,557 0 1,557 3,114 1,557 1
4/19/2013 United 383-ZG class
Honolulu-Denver 3,365 0 3,365 6,730 3,365 1
4/15/2013 United 445-G class
Philadelphia-San Francisco 2,521 0 2,521 5,042 2,521 1
4/15/2013 United 300-ZG class
San Francisco-Honolulu 2,398 0 2,398 4,796 2,398 1
4/3/2013 United 1581-K class
New York/Newark-Seattle 2,401 0 2,401 4,802 2,401 1
4/3/2013 United 1444-ZK class
Seattle-New York/Newark 2,401 0 2,401 4,802 2,401 1
May 13, 2013 | 11:16 am
#432
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Globalist, Amtrak peon, Colbert Lifetime Platinum, Walk Score 100
Posts: 4,553
If you're booking o/w, the P fare is often cheaper than the cheapest Y. (UA often matches SY for r/t fares, but UA and DL are oligopolists in the o/w market.) Might explain the scant CPUs in some cases.
I've had decent luck even with the A319, but I'm usually flying on Sundays and not Mondays, Thursdays, etc.
I've had decent luck even with the A319, but I'm usually flying on Sundays and not Mondays, Thursdays, etc.
May 13, 2013 | 12:39 pm
#433
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 18,104
I am 0/6 (0%) as a 1K traveling SFO-IAH and vice versa. Much worse than PMCO. 
Just too many GS now on the merged carrier and too many passengers connecting to international C/F.
On the plus side I was only 4th on the list the last 2 flights, which is better than the mid-20s on the IAD flights
Just too many GS now on the merged carrier and too many passengers connecting to international C/F.
On the plus side I was only 4th on the list the last 2 flights, which is better than the mid-20s on the IAD flights
Last edited by Boraxo; May 16, 2013 at 5:03 pm Reason: more flights added
May 13, 2013 | 1:10 pm
#434
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,825
Most of the HVF's have left UA (which would include GS' and Int'l C/F flyers...)
May 13, 2013 | 1:13 pm
#435
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K2MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,318
- one of the theories was that there were extra GS' in IAH this year...many observed qualification criteria that seemed quite low there relative to other markets. Could have been to hold onto legacy PMCO traffic.