Akulashark

I called because I couldn't get this instant upgrade to clear.

They told me "right, there is no PN on this flight, its only Global First"

LAS to ORD? Global First?

Do you think someone loaded the inventory incorrectly?

PV_Premier

did you check the buckets on expert mode? my guess is that PN=0 and F>0, you have to double check this at the time of purchase, though IME on .bomb it will not note "instant upgrade fare" notation associated with YBM if PN=0.

jpc83

Yup, keep watching, if PN ever goes >0, call in or see if you can manually upgrade online.

boss315

These "instant" upgrades are a misnomer! Increasingly, these are never available at time of booking, just another sign that what is advertised is not reality as UA hangs on to these seat for buy ups or just plain hoarding.

mgcsinc

K but United's website doesn't show them as instant upgrades unless PN is available.

Often1

Have never had a problem with this. If you are logged in, when you select flights, you will see a gold "U" indicating that the -UP is available. You book, select your UG and a seat in F and you are done. If the "U" isn't visible, there is no inventory and you go into the waitlist for UG just after GS, but before the certs & CPU's.

It's neither misleading nor difficult.

Akulashark

The flight had 0 seats taken in F. I called and they said "There is no PN for this flight, not that it is all taken but I can't see PN for the flight." Looked like inventory was setup wrong.

I got it fixed because, as I said, there was room in F for there to be PN>0 but it was listed wrong.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

If the B or M fare is associated with an instant upgrade, it says so when you're booking. I'm not sure why this is an issue. I've bought several M-ups with no problems in last year or so and I have no problem telling which M fares get instant upgrades and which don't. It's the most obvious/direct/hassle-free upgrading methods provided by UA.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Nothing is "setup wrong". UA has to make PN available for the B or M instant upgrades. If they don't make PN available, there are no instant B or M-ups available, although you still can buy the B or M fare if you want to. Just because there is F available, it doesn't mean PN is available.

mgcsinc

Hrm??

PN can be zero even if F is empty. There is no such thing as enough " room in F for there to be PN>0"...

dank0014

Just curious, but what dates are you looking at?

I just did a whole bunch of random dates for June and every B fare was at least $650 more compared to just purchasing a ticket in first?

Akulashark

I want to say LAS - ORD on Aug 9 or 10 at around 10am.

I don't book via ua.com, corp travel rules. My position with the company allows for Y or B Fares (no First, even if cheaper).

This year have had, not including this, 9/10 B fares clear as I booked them. I then have to log into UA.com and confirm instant up and select seats. Yes, I am the 1K that is trumping all these people for FC. 1k+B Fare. Hope it works out for London in June (GPU applied to B).

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Are they refundable F fares? Plus some companies don't pay for 1st, even though a coach fare may be more expensive.

mgcsinc

That is unfathomably stupid.

dank0014

Completely get that, and a lot of times what I do is the same as you. Our company makes us book internally and can't sometimes book F if it doesn't meet the rules, but I book the Y,B,M and you can then call UA up and switch to an F. They have sometimes charged me the change fee because you can only cancel / change with UA within 24 hours if booked on their site, but truthfully, a $600 difference in the fare easily can cover the change fee difference and I say the credit for later and just eat change fee myself. That 10:47 UA432 is around $1775 for a rough guess on the return date. I've had some luck just asking the agent to change the fare class within 24 hours and not get charged a change fee.

I know some will bash about is this ethical or not, and I'm not here to debate that, but it is an option if you feel getting into first is important?