A thread for good fares we can use our GPU
 

I was wondering if we could start a thread when people find a good fare that we can use our GPU's. (Not seeing if there is also space just a decent fare).

If one exists, it should go in the MR "good deals" forum, not here. We get enough fare posts in the "why is this flight so expensive" thread.

Disagree. The task of finding a cheap W fares is ill-suited for the MR forum. I think this is a great idea for a thread.

+1

Great idea
 

I think a GPU fare/space thread is a great idea. For example - I had pretty bad luck IAH/LHR and switched to IAH/AMS - and I am 100% on that route. Cheaper too I believe. Any ideas posted may save us some time.

I predict now that scope creep will cause thread locks, RBPs, and overall "chaos".

You don't really care where you go as long as you can use a GPU at a reasonable price? Seems backwards somehow. There's also the danger that you'll simply highlight the routes for UA where they should increase the spread to W fares.

It's not so much we really don't care. There are many ways to get to Europe or Asia - then onward. I can get to ABZ (for example) via LHR or AMS (or others). If there was a post that said "found a great W fare to FRA" it may work for some. Your point on increasing the spread on W fares is noted - but I don't think they read this site that close. Could be wrong though.

Fair enough. Back when I played the GPU game, I found it necessary to check many routes on every trip because a generally-lower W fare won't guarantee availability on the particular days you'd like to travel, let alone good upgrade space. Start with a W-only search on the whole route (and be sure to include V and at least a few buckets above it) and you may get lucky, but will probably also need to do searches on various subsets of the route (while trying to avoid search bugs and misdirections, especially with multiple-destination searches — helps to specify the 50-flights option). In my own experience, this approach often uncovered better options for my specific trip than trying to conform to any particular "good deal" I might have heard about.

I have mixed feelings about this idea.

I will note that I recently stumbled on relatively cheap Ws SFO-HKG ($1304) and SFO-LHR ($1106).

So the idea here is not without merit. I do tend to think this is more of a mr topic though.

Why? Many of us have lots of flexibility. There are many destinations we've visited that I probably never would have considered if it weren't for upgrade availability.

Yes, I suppose my initial reaction was skewed towards my own situation, buying tickets mostly for business and using awards for long-haul vacations. Someone doing mileage runs or buying leisure tickets they hope to upgrade would see things differently. In that case, bargain W fares would indeed be relevant.

My suggestion to the OP, then, is to create such a thread within the Mileage Run forum, rather than the UA forum, because IMO you'll find the highest concentration of bargain hunters there, many of whom will be looking at UA anyway and are probably thinking about upgrades themselves. Your criteria are not quite what they're reporting now, but such a thread would encourage them to do so.

I really think other UA flyers are far more likely to notice and be interested in this stuff than the MR folks. This is relevant only to UA. W fares are almost never low fares in the grand scheme of things.

i think it's a decent idea for a thread, provided that some sort of hard number or CPM threshold is used and there isn't updates permitted about "flight X on day Y has R space open at $Z".

i would rather not see a thread of "R space open on such and such a date" but knowing that AAA-BBB has a W fare that is pricing reasonably could be valuable.

^^^

I'll add this thread to the UA wiki once it gets decent traction and this discussion moves beyond the meta, to where folks are actually posting and discussing some solid W fares. :p