Yes indeed. I sat next to an off-duty FA and she said every TPAC flight to the US today was full or oversold, as well as the last few days. She was thrilled to be in coach on the flight. I was hoping for a 773 with the new premium eco cabin, but no such luck.

Yes, it's a brutal time of year for upgrading the eastbound TPACs. NRT-SFO last Wednesday had over 20 revenue pax die on the waitlist.

I am waitlisted for SFO-TPE next week (week-day) and it is not looking good. (Using an expiring GPU, sadly.) In the past this has been a easy upgrade, but clearly no longer. So westbound TPACs are difficult too. It is not Chinese New Year or school holidays! :)

Yes, I recall approx. five years ago I needed to change my return from Asia the week after new year's, and had my choice of flights with R available.

UA 871 SFO-TPE
1/14/19
V fare
Booked 2 weeks prior.

So I learnt my lesson here, after spending 14 hours in E+. Weekday bookings on this route are not a guarantee of clearing. At the gate, business class was FULL, and I was #5 on the upgrade list, of about 20 (although some were non-rev, I think.). 1K on a V fare. Actually it was 15 hours, as we sat on the plane for over an hour, waiting for ATC clearance to use runway, due to bad weather in SFO. I thought middle seat might be free, but it was filled by stand-by at the gate.

Sorry that you did not make it. However for me, the good weekdays for upgrading are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Mondays, I still consider it to be like a week-end day for the travelers that don't want to sacrifice week-end family time.

Bummer!! This is precisely why I stopped using GPUs on these ultra long runs. I have been burned just like you tooooo many times now. I can't do that in an E+ seat and hit the ground running when I arrive in Taiwan (or for that matter SiN/ICN/FRA). I bite the bullet and pay for Biz, it has been horrific at times and I am self employed so ultimately it is out of my pocket but it is what it is.

nomad420 - I completely agree with you. You can't do SFO-TPE in coach and be productive the next day. But business class is $5K+ on UA P fare. Some folks here discuss $3K P fares to (mainland) China, but I don't see those to Taipei (ROC). If those exist, someone please let me know, because I'm not able to spend $5K+ for business to Asia. :)

EWR-FLL
Jan 24, evening flight
#10 on upgrade list, 1K but T fare.
FAILED to clear

:rolleyes: Tried to use an expiring GPU on a crappy domestic route that typically clears CPU - too many wealthy NY'ers/snowbirds flying south. No chance. (Side note: Amazing crew; in true SoFL fashion pre-boarding was enormous - tons of People Needing Extra Time, GS, 1K, kids, dogs, you name it :D)

Domestic segment SFO-IAD on a Tuesday night redeye (!) ... Currently #4 on the list and still more than 24 hours out, cabin booked full. I have not cleared an instrument on a transcon in at least 2 years!

Yes, Tuesday has 1 less redeye than usual (1 instead of 2), but it's also been full for a week or more. A month and a half ago when I checked on buying up, they wanted $800.

Sorry; I can suffer 4.5 hours in Y after a 16.5 hour Polaris flight in J; it's not worth $800 that doesn't go toward my PQD for that. But I'm really annoyed at the inability to clear transcon upgrades *at all* these days, even on non-peak travel days & times.

The redeyes on SFO-IAD have remained stubbornly popular, despite the downgauge from 788 to 738.

It would be less painful if UA offered combinable domestic-P/Z fares and international W+ fares. In other words, book and pay for front cabin on the domestic segments, and economy + instrument on the international. I book P and Z all the time (and even some C and D) on transcons; I'm willing to pay for it. But there's no way to do so in combination with an international economy segment, at least on 1 ticket that I can tell.

All of my international segments have cleared. None of the domestic ones have. In two freaking years. Traveling mostly on Tuesday/Wednesday. Good lord; it's not like I am competing against 2 dozen GS's on these flights!

I've bought up a couple of times, but the loss of PQD is really annoying, particularing when giving UA hundreds for the buy-up. I can suffer a transcon redeye in Y; I mean, it's hardly worse than a transcon redeye in domestic F (just an ambien and drowse for 4 hours, with maybe 2 less inches of recline; it's not like the food or booze is worth the extra $$ on a redeye.

SFO-HND
3/15/19
Applied GPU for no status friend on a W about three weeks out.
Died at #6 . At least five cleared inside T-24.
Thursday 3/14 was PZ9, but the Friday flight was much more popular.

I also would love this - or at least have the buyup count towards PQD!

GPU gone bad - your experience?
 

Hi,

A disgruntled 1k member from Australia. I don't know whether 2019 has been just a sheer bad luck for me so far (three GPU upgrades that did not go through) or whether there are some structural problems that I am not aware of (new policy for international 1Ks, new policy for more monetization of revenue fares, new policies regarding the priority between GPUs vs miles + copay, etc). I saw a thread where people post their success stories with GPUs, but it would be equally useful to see how people do not get their GPUs honored.
For me this year, here are some of my sour experiences with GPU.

1. Flight:UA863 SFO-SYD
Date: Feb 2019
Purchased: Sep 2018
Fare class: W

2. Flight: UA863 SFO-SYD
Date: March 2019
Purchased: Jan 2019
Fare class: W

3. Flight: UA101 IAH-SYD
Date: May 2019
Purchased: March 2019
Fare class: W

Given these experiences, I decided to use GPU for Lufthansa flights, all of which got instantly upgraded.

Anyone else with similar bad luck this year?