What fare class do I check in EF to know if there is complimentary upgrade availability? I am flying 6/23 from EWR to SJO and a Plat who will probably book into H or M class.

R. But united.com Expert Mode does the same thing.

What difference does it make in your situation? Instead of #2, you'd then be 6th or so. Same outcome.

Not that this really matters for this purpose, but one or two R slots may be kept from being used for CPU's. Maybe more, depending on who you ask.

Would you please say more?

Right now EF shows R=0 for 6/23 (EWR-SJO). Doesn't this mean that chances of upgrade on this flight are very low?

I usually fly DL to SJO and even now EF has DL upgrade availability. Switching to UA to build up UA miles but not sure if for this route, this makes sense for me. Or does UA open up R slots closer to departure dates...?

Both flights down to J4 (so 4 seats out of 16 available). Your chances would look better on the earlier flight, as that flight is also P4 (meaning, they'll sell those seats, so you'd have a better chance of clearing). Evening flight is P0, so they forecast higher demand basically.

Either way, prepare to ride in economy and maybe you'll get a nice surprise.

Looking at R right now is not very useful. Look, at it's core, here's how it works: UA tries everything it can to get someone into those seats in some other way, and if they ultimately fail at that, they let people get CPU's.

R goes up over time. But R being positive doesn't guarantee a CPU at the window.

I was probably 7 or 8 out of 10 last year. I'm about 3 out of 10 this year. 1K both years. To be honest, at least part of this has to attributed to smaller planes DEN-WAS.

I have noticed huge improvement in my CPUs since May. I booked away from United in early part of year due to my CPU upgrade rate dropping to 25%. I started booking United again after I got the 50% EQM bonus promotion in May. Since May 10th, I have flown 15 segments and I was upgraded on all, 2 were upgrades due to fare class, 1 was a mileage upgrade and the remainder were CPU. 3 of the segments were regional and the remainder mainline domestic.

Part of this may be my being a little strategic in avoiding Monday travel and 319/320s.

I am 7/7 over the last two months, including 6 SFO-ORD or DEN (or reverse) that were all early to mid morning flights. Most of my flying is international, so I don't usually do a lot of domestic legs. This never happened before this year (since UDU were implemented). Couple that with the clearing of international waitlists I have seen and I truly believe UAs elite ranks have shrunk noticeably. Although I am 1K, I fly cheapest fare class available.

Cleared DCA-IAH-LAX flights on a Wednesday morning.

DCA-IAH: cleared at 72 hour window, 738, W fare
IAH-LAX: cleared at 48 hours, 739, W fare

I continously fly that a no luck. Always 4th and below at Gold! :(

Silver and their companion cleared the CPU on a 757 SFO-SEA with an L fare ^

Wrong. R availability does not equal complimentary upgrade availability. A flight can be R=9 and they will not clear any CPUs at specified windows. Or a flight can be R=0 and CPUs will ultimately clear to fill empty F seats.

Tomorrow will end a most excellent streak I've had of 10 consecutive CPUs, the best since 3/3 of last year. Those included 3 hub-hub flights, plus an award ticket. ^

Cleared DCA-ORD, 6am departure, E70, L fare, at my 72 hour window. Traveling on July 4 though- so clearly not a elite-heavy travel day.

Hoping to SDC to a evening departure on the 3rd anyway.