CPUs improving ?

Yeah, I'll get buy-up offers. They just rarely reach the tens of dollars others get. I always print my BP at the airport, but it tends to be like garkster. I also check the mobile site as the buy-up price does seem to be dynamic. Of course I don't have a lot of data points since I'm usually in the premium cabin already, or F is full by check-in.

I still very much believe the system is a disjointed hunk of garbage UA doesn't really understand and elites en masse don't get the real lowball offers.

Thanks for the website. I really implore everyone posting here to put your flight data into this website. There are not enough entries yet to get a good idea on certain times/day of week. I think the overall percentages are useful but we need more data!

Got a very rare transcon (LAX - EWR) CPU last Friday 3/29 on the later red-eye. Cleared sometime Thursday evening, I think (about T-24). I was pleasantly surprised as this has only happened about once before in my many years of flying this route. I'm assuming a lower elite load because it was the Good Friday holiday, but if not then maybe just because the ranks are thinning?? Anyway got a decent sleep (if you can call it that for a 5 hr flight)....so things worked out.

I think this is what we need to readjust our expectations to.

A CPU, especially on a hub route, is an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

2 for 28 this year on flights now as Plat. I love loyalty based programs. I even try to book the 763 and 753 trans and still booked full before I even check-in. I have noticed a lot of same last names in F. The TODs are way too cheap.

Doesn't mean we have to like it, though.

I don't like it...

Although, dropping to Plat and flying out of SFO my expectations are not high anyway.

YBM ups, Miles Upgrades, Instruments are your friend. Maybe a cheap buy up offer now and then.

Noticing the same. I also notice the behavior of these type of pax is not typical of F class passengers.

I feel like half the cabin sometimes knows eachother and talks to eachother. This is really a pathetic way to treat people who are loyal, while we're sitting in back families of 6 upgrade for pennies on the dollar.

Usually flying between ORD and SFO I use an instrument to upgrade and I have a pretty good track record. But I saw my SFO-ORD flight for tomorrow was R9 from the time I booked it so I thought maybe a CPU would come through for this one and I would take a chance. I know R doesn't correlate to CPU but there were lots of F seats open. The CPU didn't happen at T-96 and by T-95 it was R4, then R2 at T-72 and R1 yesterday and remains at R1 today. Meanwhile the buyup offer has remained steady and I get constant reminders. Not sure if the CPUs ran out before reaching my fare class (S) or others are taking the buyup or applying instruments or whatever. Whatever it is, it's not working in my favor. I'm going to resist the urge to take up the offer and see what happens after T-24. I predict the result will be a trip to ORD in E+.

In what form are these constant reminders?

Is this UA approaching you? (if so, via what channel?)

Or is this you logging in to UA 3 times per hour to check your upgrade status?

Let us know how it goes...

Fair enough, some of the constancy is my fault for providing UA with the opportunity to remind me. However, UA has also sent me unsolicited emails with the buyup offer.

I loathe those e-mails. "Hurry up! Only three upgrade seats left! Buy now to confirm your upgrade! There are lots of people ahead of you, so act now!"

This is what I totally hate. Its just so classless. Constant upsell, contantly changing prices for the upsell, this airline has no respect for those who have kept it in business and provide the constant load to make staying in business possible, and appears to not understand the long term impact of every communication asking for more money. Never a thank you, always a "buy miles, buy an upgrade, buy elite access, buy e+, buy it now or someone else will."

No major airline has ever been this out front about selling everything and doing so dynamically. If (as it appears they are not) many HVFers are gone and stay gone, it may be a cautionary tale to other airlines. [noting AA and DL have taken the opposite approach, and US says they will do as AA has done.]

I agree. Spin88, thanks for speaking the truth, and what you've said above are simply facts.

Some people keep saying things like "Its the new reality of the industry now" and it really isn't. DL and AA a totally different story.

This airline simply does not care about overall loyalty. CPU "if available" for 1K means if after every attempt we could not sell it, oh, and only if there's not a mileage kettle waiting for the seat. And by the way, they sent emails to my GM travel companion like crazy "Upgrade now with miles!" etc I mean, it's the priority that's ridiculous if anything.

The claim for UA in Q3 and Q4 was that the HFV's left because of bad operations in the Spring/Summer of 2012. If they haven't come back a year later, maybe they should consider other reasons as to why, such as diluting benefits and having an insane upgrade priority that values the occasional flyer who happens to redeem some miles over someone who flies 100-200K a year.

People aren't idiots, and lots of people recognize that the combined airline doesn't care about loyalty one bit beyond paying lip service.

i don't trust the CPU process to work even as advertised. There are so many exceptions and other 'programs' running at the same time that you could be #1 with 6 seats left at T-23 and still not get the upgrade.

upgrade rates for 1K's of 75%+ on UA on non-'impossible' routes (SFO-BOS, PS, SFO/LAX-IAD) were pretty common, and on the CO plat side, 75% was a pretty reasonable rate, again, for non-hub-hub and transcon) Given my own observations, and anecdotal evidence from others, I'd say the same routes, even excluding the new hub-hub routes, experience at LEAST a 50% drop in CPU/UDU/EUA upgrade success.

I have seen little evidence that this is a problem that management A) recognizes exits, or B) would even care about fixing.

and as an additional observation, they've made the domestic dining experience so lousy lately that I wouldn't be surprised if it even pisses off the kettles who upgrade for $39 ahead of a 1K. "I paid $39 to get this greasy piece of junk, I paid 99c for something just like it at the 7-11"