Old Feb 12, 2019, 1:21 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is the archive thread, the active thread is Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic (How to use, will it clear?, issues w/flight credit,...)

For general information on upgrading ANA or Lufthansa flights with a GPU, see Upgrading Flights Operated by ANA or Lufthansa. You actually request the upgrade through the online form, here: Request a GPU for a Select Partner Airline.

Per United web support, you only need to fill in the required* info.

**The LH flight you are upgrading must be an LH flight, not a UA codeshare flight. If you have a UA codeshare flight, you can call websupport and they will (put you on hold and] change your itinerary to one with an LH flight#.

Note that UA websupport might give you a new ticket # when you do the above, but if the original ticket # was 016 UA stock, it will remain so, and thus you will still be earning RDMs at the UA rate (11x for a 1K), not the *A rate. In case of a $6000 biz fare for LAX-FRA that you are trying to upgrade to F for example, as a 1K you would earn 66,000 UA RDM if booked as a UA flight. And even though after booking you get them to change the UA flight # from a UA codeshare flight to an LH flight, the 016 ticket stock sticks, and you earn 66,000 RDMs.

(FYI, had the ticket stock been an LH stock, the RDM's earned would be 5790 miles x 150% = 8685 RDMs. Big difference)

Note that sometimes the online upgrading does not work, and you may get an error message to call an 877 number, which is now defunct but still resides on .bomb...Ignore it and just call web support. They might put you on hold while they call LH but they will get the job done.

Eligible Economy Fares to Apply a GPU

Upgradeable to business fares include U/H/Q the lowest eligible economy fares. G&E the two top premium economy fares and Y/B/M the most expensive economy fares. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24219165-post205.html)
While UA has not changed their T&Cs, LH appears to have expanded the potential fare classes
Originally Posted by oliver2002
For C->F upgrade, J, D, C fares are eligible, Z and P fares are not.
Originally Posted by andywaw
Effective April 20th, 2018, all Lufthansa revenue Business Class fares, including P and Z, are eligible to be upgraded to First Class using miles or eVouchers. ...
LH booking class P, Z upgreadable for miles and eVouchers
Appears this also applies to use of UA GPUs IF booked as native flight number on LH or UA ticket stock.
Presently UA is not converting codeshare to native flight numbers, as required for this process, if P or Z fare
From April to September 2018 it was possible to confirm and waitlist P ,Z-class LH flights with a GPU. Confirming and waitlisting is no now longer possible, but previously waitlisted segments will continue to clear as/if available.

Checking for Upgrade Availability

Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24861289-post342.html)

In case of upgrade clearing but eticket refresh problems:

Originally Posted by oliver2002
Both longhaul LH segments cleared into I after being on waitlist . The first didnt get stickered, so the DCS ( amadeus altea ) rejected online and agent checkin . The eticket helpdesk had to manually update the first coupon for the DCS to accept the coupon. My seat in C was safe, since the PNR was updated correctly, just the ticket was not updated completely to the satisfaction of the DCS. Everyone looking at the booking agreed the upgrade was legit, so you will not be denied boarding or downgraded, just budget enough time
Originally Posted by oliver2002
The LH GA must have called the eticket helpdesk and pointed out the * SSR remark in your reservation that shows an upgrade was applied and the e-ticket just needed a fix/sticker. See my experience above.
Checking for availability prior to calling
Originally Posted by oliver2002
Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too.
Use ANA or even united.com to see availability.

To check if C/F upgrades may open up, ask in this thread: Determining LH Y/C/F loads? [the help me guesstimate loads thread]

Regarding ticket stock, Oliver reports:
Originally Posted by oliver2002
Any ticket stock will do.
Each LH flight segment requires a separate GPU
A single GPU can be used to only upgrade a single LH flight segment, And that GPU cannot be extended to include another LH flight segment or another UA flight segment.


Problems getting mileage credit for upgraded LH segments

Numerous reports of denial of mileage credits (RDMs, PQMs, PQSs, PQDs) for upgraded tickets. This issue is probably due to LH uses the same fare bucket for mileage awards and upgrades. It seems patience, persistence, and documentation of the originally paid fare are needed to get credit.

You probably won't get credit by simply submitting the online form or asking a CSR to do so for you. A CSR needs to submit a System Issue Form, together with the mileage request, explaining that you flew in I class, but you paid for a mileage-earning booking class.

T-10

While the original system did not allow the upgrade waitlist to carry on past t-10 hours, the have been multiple reports that this is no longer the case. If not cleared in advance - the upgrade wait-list will last all the way until the door closing. UA has not updated the text on the LH GPU upgrades to reflect this change.

Archive Thread: Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic {Archive}

Related Thread
How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers
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Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic {Archive}

Old Oct 1, 2018, 4:57 pm
  #1591  
 
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New United 1K here , and hoping someone with some experience can help me guess, as I know it is a guess

Flying SEA-FRA on LH on U class on Saturday 10/20 Was able to sort out how to apply the GPU and officially on waitlist . Success!

Currently 12 seats available for purchase on LH website . Who has any experience or guesses on upgrade success based on above info
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 5:03 pm
  #1592  
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Originally Posted by Mogreen
New United 1K here , and hoping someone with some experience can help me guess, as I know it is a guess

Flying SEA-FRA on LH on U class on Saturday 10/20 Was able to sort out how to apply the GPU and officially on waitlist . Success!

Currently 12 seats available for purchase on LH website . Who has any experience or guesses on upgrade success based on above info
How do you know there are 12 seats available? That kind of information is generally not available. There are 9 or more seats still available, that is what you can definitely say. A 744 TATL on a Saturday should not be too difficult to clear IMO. U-class will help too.
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Old Oct 1, 2018, 5:30 pm
  #1593  
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Originally Posted by Mogreen
New United 1K here , and hoping someone with some experience can help me guess, as I know it is a guess

Flying SEA-FRA on LH on U class on Saturday 10/20 Was able to sort out how to apply the GPU and officially on waitlist . Success!

Currently 12 seats available for purchase on LH website . Who has any experience or guesses on upgrade success based on above info
Uncertain. SEA-FRA is a great route for GPUs, but Saturdays are not the best and with only 17 unassigned in J (a very hard upper bound for number of unsold seats) the specific flight doesn't look great.
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Old Oct 2, 2018, 6:20 am
  #1594  
 
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I was able to apply a GPU on a Lufthansa W ticket and got upgraded successfully.
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Old Oct 2, 2018, 6:25 am
  #1595  
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Still no experience with Z? Ill probably know in a few days otherwise.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 9:34 am
  #1596  
 
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Originally Posted by Pseudo Nim
Still no experience with Z? Ill probably know in a few days otherwise.
My partner was cleared Z->O at the gate.
At boarding - to be precise.
What's interesting was I tried to apply a GPU for my partner's colleague, traveling on the same flight, same fare class (Z) but issued by LH (220-) and got an error saying "fare class ineligible"
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 11:06 am
  #1597  
 
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It was fun while it lasted. Cleared two P->O upgrades but tried applying another GPU to a P fare and got the fare class ineligible message.

It would have been to most amazing GPU redemption option. Business Class is never going to be the same again after LH F.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 3:48 pm
  #1598  
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Originally Posted by kittiyut
My partner was cleared Z->O at the gate.
At boarding - to be precise.
What's interesting was I tried to apply a GPU for my partner's colleague, traveling on the same flight, same fare class (Z) but issued by LH (220-) and got an error saying "fare class ineligible"
Doh. Was your Z applied much earlier, into a waitlist?

My flight is on Sunday - cleared - but I have to reschedule ... doh.

What stock was the ticket that cleared?
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 7:12 pm
  #1599  
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Originally Posted by FTLexMUC
It would have been to most amazing GPU redemption option. Business Class is never going to be the same again after LH F.
yeah, I started buying A fares. Guess it worked
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 9:04 pm
  #1600  
 
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Originally Posted by Pseudo Nim


Doh. Was your Z applied much earlier, into a waitlist?

My flight is on Sunday - cleared - but I have to reschedule ... doh.

What stock was the ticket that cleared?
Ticket issued 20 Aug, GPU applied 24 Aug, Ticket Reissued 29 Aug (to change a flight), the waitlist was not dropped. Flight was on Oct 9th
Yes, it was 016 ticket

Originally Posted by cfischer
yeah, I started buying A fares. Guess it worked
LH has some amazing BKK-FRA "A" fares available, RT for less than 5K. When it is available for the dates I want, I don't bother with GPUs
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 9:10 am
  #1601  
 
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So is the "P" class being no longer upgradeable a glitch, was it a fix for a glitch, is it a change of policy?
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 9:32 am
  #1602  
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Originally Posted by klausa
So is the "P" class being no longer upgradeable a glitch, was it a fix for a glitch, is it a change of policy?
A fix for a glitch. P/Z fares are not upgradeable with GPUs per policy.

Perhaps UA and LH will re-negotiate their agreement, but until they do so, everyone who upgraded a P/Z fare -- myself included -- were getting away with something that was outside the bounds of the published rules.
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 11:53 am
  #1603  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
A fix for a glitch. P/Z fares are not upgradeable with GPUs per policy.

Perhaps UA and LH will re-negotiate their agreement, but until they do so, everyone who upgraded a P/Z fare -- myself included -- were getting away with something that was outside the bounds of the published rules.
So enjoy it while it lasts!!!
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 12:16 pm
  #1604  
 
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Originally Posted by kittiyut
So enjoy it while it lasts!!!
Wrong tense. Its over.
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Old Oct 15, 2018, 6:40 pm
  #1605  
 
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Checking Miles & More website it maybe that P class isnt allowed on LH either. Am I reading it wrong?
  • Business Class (P,Z) to First Class only possible on SWISS International Airlines (+20,000 miles)
  • Business Class (J,C,D) to First Class
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