sbm12

It can clear at any point from booking to departure. Or it might not clear at all. There is no way to guarantee it unless the space is available at booking and you confirm it then.

UAPremExecflyer

Your question is beyond vague and largely impossible to answer as currently written.
Suggest you set yourself up in "expert mode" and check flights for upgrade availability.
Try this reading this thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ght=fare+codes

bcard519

What code am I looking for? R? I know how to use expert mode, just not sure what fare code I need to look for.

Thanks

WineCountryUA

R is what inventory is needed for upgrade

azzurro

Yes, but note - UA's site often misquotes R inventory by showing zero when there is actually space available. (I have never found it to misquote a number larger than zero) You will see this when you search flights and in some searches one segment will show R0 and then in a different search, that exact same segment will show R=x (1-9), most often when comparing direct vs. connecting portions of segments. I haven't been able to identify the exact parameters when it does this, but perhaps someone here knows that tidbit?

Recently I booked a TATL and was expecting to be waitlisted as it said R0, but when I applied my GPU 2 minutes later I was confirmed, so R was not zero (as it was highly unlikely, although not impossible, that inventory management added R class at that exact moment).

WineCountryUA

Not a misquote but a misunderstanding of how fare inventory works.
Always search for R segment by segment, not end to end

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...h-flights.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...st-flight.html

emcampbe

It's when you are booking a connection on a through fare. Inventory will show the lowest amount available on any of the flights for all flights.

So if a CR7 is your first segment, F on the longhaul will always show no more than 6. If R is 0 on the first segment, and 4 on the longhaul, you'll see R0 for both flights on that connection, but if a different connector is R6 separately, you'll see R4 for both.

Note this doesn't apply if there is a fare break (I.e. If you book lowest economy and the first segment books into, say, L and the second into, say T, then they will independently show the numbers for the individual flights).

As mentioned above, the best way to control this is to look up each segment individually first. But as you also found out, whatever it shows, R will clear segment by segment when booked, even if the married segment connection shows R0.

azzurro

Ahhhh, thank you both. Excellent info. ^

TENYKS

what are the chance of upgrades for Gold members on SFO-RDU(Raleigh) nonstop flights?

is it better or worse than other 5 or 6-hour domestic nonstop flights?

WineCountryUA

CPU or RPU? What day of the week?

CPU is likely poor at peak business travel times, maybe better on Saturday - decent number of elites on this route.

TENYKS

all 20 first class seats are open, according to the UA seat map. not sure how many are actually booked, but at least nobody has selected a first class seat yet, with almost 1 month to go until date of flight... Only 5 Economy Plus
seats have been selected, all other E+ seats are open.

WineCountryUA

As 2015 has started, there is a http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...y-flights.html. So time to close this one.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator