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}

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

Old Feb 20, 2019, 9:40 pm
  #1771  
 
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I have asked 1K res about 5 different times in the past few weeks and each time they told me to look for A inventory. Is there a chance 5 different agents are misinformed? Sure. I have not booked a D fare and upgraded into A yet.
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Old Feb 20, 2019, 10:30 pm
  #1772  
 
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Originally Posted by Clarkcc1
I have asked 1K res about 5 different times in the past few weeks and each time they told me to look for A inventory. Is there a chance 5 different agents are misinformed? Sure. I have not booked a D fare and upgraded into A yet.
I hope that's the case as I was checking on an awards using LH miles and don't see any first class awards on a specific day and route, but I do see A class as available.

Do waitlist usually clear before they allow other partners to access first class awards?
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 1:01 am
  #1773  
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
 
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Originally Posted by Clarkcc1
Looks like the wiki needs to be updated to show that Business to First upgrades on LH book into A, not O.
The Lufthansa F awards & upgrades book into O. A is the booking class for discounted revenue F.

Now what could the reason for the confusion is that United abandoned the use of A and O for first because those fare buckets are now used for their premium economy cabin. This has led to some confusion since O and A now show up on UA codeshares op by LH because they map to G&E.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 21, 2019 at 5:44 pm Reason: Using symbols, spaces or other methods to mask vulgarities is not allowed.
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 1:48 am
  #1774  
 
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Originally Posted by TomMM
Call in and have them redeposit it. Last month I waited 14 days for a GPU to be redeposited. I called in and it was done within minutes.
Originally Posted by cfischer
it's either immediate or you have to call to get it back. Once you get the confirmation that your UG did not go through it should come back to your account, at least on a 016 ticket.
thanks. It was a 016 ticket and did not go back immediately. Called and the agent said typically you have to wait until the return ticket was used before they will manually credit back, but shell do me a favor and do it for me now. Then I asked what happens if my return is not for a month or so, do I have to wait until the return trip to finish? She didnt answer and thanked me for being a 1K member and hung up on me . (But she did process the return so thats good).
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 2:11 am
  #1775  
 
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
The Lufthansa F awards & upgrades book into O. A is the booking class for discounted revenue F.

Now what could the reason for the confusion is that United abandoned the use of A and O for first because those fare buckets are now used for their premium economy cabin. This has led to some confusion since O and A now show up on UA codeshares op by LH because they map to G&E.
I just talked to a sixth agent and she went so far as to pull up a specific ORD-FRA flight and requested a J-F upgrade with a GPU and her system said it would book into A class. I said this appears to be a change from the past, and to continue verification, I asked about coach to business. That still books into I - India class same as free/award ticket business class.

My pure guess here might be that from the United side, the lowest eligible business to first booking code is D. I believe Miles and More can book as low as P papa class to upgrade to First, right? Well it seems quite clear as of now if us United'ers buy D class on LH we can upgrade with a GPU into A class.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 21, 2019 at 5:45 pm Reason: quote update to reflect Moderator edit; Removed response to deleted content
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 3:19 am
  #1776  
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If A class is the new O then it will bring more transparency into the system as everyone can see if A is available. Currently LX has this A system to use for upgrades and awards which are only open to SEN/HON. On OS the O class is used for deeply discounted economy fares. As far as LH is concerned O/I/R/X are the F/C/E/Y award and upgrade inventory buckets. M&M allows you to upgrade P&Z into O which is the same for J/C/D.
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 4:56 am
  #1777  
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Originally Posted by Clarkcc1
Nein, nicht BS. I just talked to a sixth agent and she went so far as to pull up a specific ORD-FRA flight and requested a J-F upgrade with a GPU and her system said it would book into A class. I said this appears to be a change from the past, and to continue verification, I asked about coach to business. That still books into I - India class same as free/award ticket business class.

My pure guess here might be that from the United side, the lowest eligible business to first booking code is D. I believe Miles and More can book as low as P papa class to upgrade to First, right? Well it seems quite clear as of now if us United'ers buy D class on LH we can upgrade with a GPU into A class.
I just waitlisted one yesterday and it clearly shows waitlisted for 'O' on the LH side. UA agents make up stuff all the time ... and I am not even sure I understand what 'her system' means since this is all handled by the LH backend system.
So unless you can produce a screenshot showing a confirmed upgrade on LH booking into A ... I'll say it is MOLAs making up stuff.


Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 21, 2019 at 5:47 pm Reason: Using symbols, spaces or other methods to mask vulgarities is not allowed.
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 8:29 pm
  #1778  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Questions for the experts in applying GPUs on Lufthansa. I got a Premium Economy (R) on a UA codeshare operated by Lufthansa (SFO-Europe). I called today to attempt to apply a GPU since the reservation has to be moved to an LH coded flight. The agent is clueless but transferred me to the supervisor, who said you cannot do that because there is no mapping from a United Premium Economic (R) to a Lufthansa Premium Economy fare class. Any advise if that's correct and to what fare class does R map to?

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 21, 2019 at 11:29 pm Reason: Using symbols, spaces or other methods to mask vulgarities is not allowed.
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 9:28 pm
  #1779  
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Originally Posted by 1KHI
The agent is clueless but transferred me to the supervisor, who said you cannot do that because there is no mapping from a United Premium Economic (R) to a Lufthansa Premium Economy fare class. Any advise if that's correct and to what fare class does R map to?
Bad news.

The mapping is UA O, A, R -> LH G, E, N.

However, LH N fares are not eligible for GPU upgrade.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 21, 2019 at 11:30 pm Reason: quote update to reflect Moderator edit
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Old Feb 21, 2019, 11:07 pm
  #1780  
 
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Thanks!

Originally Posted by jsloan
Bad news.

The mapping is UA O, A, R -> LH G, E, N.

However, LH N fares are not eligible for GPU upgrade.
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Old Mar 6, 2019, 2:44 pm
  #1781  
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
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Help with GPU upgrade possibility on LH

Would someone be able to guide me with the possibility of getting an upgrade from a purchased H class fare on Lufthansa using GPUs for three members of my family traveling IAH - FRA - BLR on LH7600 (June 18) and LH754 June 19) respectively. Thank you so much!
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Old Mar 6, 2019, 6:06 pm
  #1782  
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Welcome to FT!, Zzsun

Originally Posted by Zzsun
Would someone be able to guide me with the possibility of getting an upgrade from a purchased H class fare on Lufthansa using GPUs for three members of my family traveling IAH - FRA - BLR on LH7600 (June 18) and LH754 June 19) respectively. Thank you so much!
The process steps are described here and here

A key point is you will need a separate GPU for each LH flight (so six GPU for three people on two LH flight)

As for chances, the availability of award space is the best external indicator (check on united.com). Three spaces may be tough but not impossible
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Old Mar 6, 2019, 7:53 pm
  #1783  
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Also note that LH7600 is operated by United, so you would upgrade it like you would a United flight. However, since LH754 is an LH flight, you still need two GPU per pax for the whole distance.
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Old Mar 6, 2019, 8:42 pm
  #1784  
 
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ouch, 6 GPUs one way (assuming the 3 family members are going by themselves... if OP too that's 8!) At that point personally I'd consider rebooking into an itinerary with UA as long haul maybe EWR-BOM and connect from there
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 2:35 pm
  #1785  
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
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from these responses, it looks like i'm a complete dunce for wanting to use up my GPUs in this manner. that may very well explain why i've never been able to use them in the past. is there a place online where someone can help me book a roundtrip ticket and use my GPUs. in this particular case, my itinerary is entirely flexible, so there should be a decent chance of being able to find some way to use these GPUs and get an upgrade. i just don't seem to be able to find it. i recall seeing somewhere that there are websites where, for a small fee, folks can help people like me...
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