I am a "Bronze" elite. Tallying the PQMs for flights I've already flown with those I will earn for paid reservations, the total is 14,444 PQM. I could so easily use my Flex PQMs to be Gold. But why? All I hear anymore is people singing the CPU blues. Why should I bother?

RNE, glad to be off the treadmill.

Understood

I think the problem is I've only been an elite for a few years since I graduated from uni so I don't know how good things used to be. It's certainly not as good as pre-merger but E+ is so much more tolerable than E-. Smaller sample size for me maybe.

Im 16/17, the one I missed was a LAS-SFO and it was booked F full at booking (seemed like a group of wealthy italians probably connecting from SFO onward)

wish CDN's were able to get a CC to try for UG's on awards....

Wow, Mitch, you have much to learn.....

Others have explained it quite well. But think about it for a moment..... 4 of 6 seats on a 2 hour RJ went to friends of a 1K with a credit card. Offering CPU's to Premiers on award tickets is nice. Offering them to anyone on Premier miles is just another example of how CO really can't manage SHARES -- I can't believe they actually intend for it to work this way, but they seem powerless to reprogram the logic. There's reason why many airlines outsource this aspect of the operation.

CPUs have been pretty good to me this year. I've only missed two out of 20+ (A319s on PHL-SFO and SFO-LAX). Most flights have cleared at 96 hours (even IAH-DEN on a K fare) and some HNL flights have cleared at 120 hours. I managed to get CPUs on several SDCs too.

All this really indicates is that the flight had literally zero elites booked, right?

My understanding is that the award ticket / Credit Card holder upgrades are prioritized below every other potential upgrader? (I admit, my understanding may not be correct. The process, at UA, is opaque. )

PS mitchmu: If you don't have the card, get it. Especially if you will be burning more of your miles...

edit: I take that back. with your luck you won't get upgraded anyway...

Responding to the OP's original question -- 2/16 this year SFO-IAH and v.v. -- so NO.

Generally I fly Mon noon-ish to IAH and Fri 2:30-ish to SFO.

I don't think you're understanding is correct. I believe they are below every 1K, but above most Plats.

Or, maybe the end of the world is stopping and we're getting a better world back. As you know, I've been involved in conversations at the highest levels of UA, and a lot of very senior people have been poking around my account records. All of a sudden, the problems have stopped, and I'm no longer being treated like an enemy combatant. I won't even begin to speculate on what happened. But, there are some early signs that things might be less screwed up now.

I don't know anything about this part of the business because I've never intentionally flown with miles. It takes everything I've got just to fly 100K to qualify for 1K. By the time I'm done with that, I'm worn out. Thus far, I've used miles primarily for family members to fly in saver F. Hence, I've never paid much attention to the upgrade scenario that I've learned about here.

One thing I'm learning is that SHARES does a lot of things that a lot of people at UA don't understand. In almost every instance where I've raised a serious question about details of SHARES operation, it's required an escalation and a lot of research. I'm finding it to be universally the case that everyone at UA is concerned with doing their job, and I'm not sure if there exists anyone who truly understands the specific behavior of SHARES on a comprehensive basis and who has vetted and worked through that behavior the the policy stakeholders in each department.

It's as though we've got a bunch of IT people just running wild.

neither / incomplete -- award tickets eligible for upgrades are prioritized at the bottom of the appropriate status group.

Man, you got the 'We love you' flag turned back on in your profile?

Lucky dog...

WineCountry - you are an asset to this community.

What levels of elites is this benefit available for? All levels? Or is it just 1K, PP?

So, with your correction, hobo13's friends (with hobo's 1K status inherited) are prioritized above all PP's, Gold's, and Silvers awaiting CPU's?

Worst ratio for upgrades in a long time for CPU and GPU :-(

I knew someone would be along to improve my answer. Thanks, Wine!

All levels

yep

And thus they cleared at the 1K window. Perhaps the end of the window, but still the window.....

Everybody should want to be my friend! But not fly WITH me. Cause I don't actually get CPUs (much) anymore.