rebyang

A question. Now family of 4 on waitlist using mileage upgrade for international flight on this coming Saturday. I am Platinum member. Now only see 3 vacant seats on business class. Shall I separate the reservation into 2 (1 adult + 1 kid) to increase the chance? or just wait at the gate?. My concern is that if there are only 3 seats for upgrading after check in, would 3 of my family be upgraded?

WineCountryUA

Things can change to misconnects and/or changed plans. But it does not look good.

It might help a little BUT generally UA will go to the gate of an international flight will 2 seats open. As not to close out last minute high priority elites.

There are unlikely to be any upgrades cleared except perhaps for GS before check-in. At check-in, your reservation will be split into 4 individual PNRs and perhaps any one or more may clear at the gate. If you do not want to be potential split up, you will need to remove your party from the upgrade waitlist.

dnp987

Cleared all 4 segments of my EWR > SIN weekend jaunt using GPUs. I was the very last person to clear the waiting list on both EWR > LAX and LAX > SIN (both at the airport), then cleared about 15 hours before for both legs of the return. Couldn't imagine doing it in Y, those are two very, very long flights.

macdonaldj2

Sitting on a Q reservation GRU-IAH-GRU - Departing on a Wednesday, returning Friday night, both currently waitlisted, P9 makes me believe GRU-IAH is good, but return = not so good:

GRU-IAH - J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN0 R0 RN0 IN0 I0
IAH-GRU - J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z8 ZN8 P0 PN0 R0 RN0 IN0 I0

jjmoore

I'm thinking you have a better shot than not... as it stands right now I'm also on a Sunday SIN-LAX flight this weekend, and there are 18 seats still available.... the GS agent on the phone told me that every single upgrade certificate that is currently waitlisted will clear if no more seats sell. I fully expect my upgrade seat to clear within the next 48 hour, and if not, will call in to see if I can have it pushed.

My sense tells me that Jan 7 is too close to the holidays to be a real busy business travel day, and that you have a higher likelihood on this particular date vs. going a week later.... let the thread know how it turns out.

jsloan

1 - They're quite likely to sell additional seats in business class this week. Depending upon how many instruments are listed, I wouldn't be surprised if a few people failed to clear.
2 - You're GS. :-) Mere mortals don't get to call and get upgrades pushed through. ;-)

I'm not saying that it's impossible for a Platinum to clear on that route, but the fact that they are nearly full on the SFO flight on that day means that they're likely to sell some additional seats through LAX that they otherwise wouldn't have. Also, your flight is J9 C9 D9 Z2 P0, which means they're at least open to selling some discounted inventory.

As for the date -- leaving aside the large population of Singaporeans who don't hold any particular reverence for Christmas or Western New Year, even a US firm could well decide to have a big meeting the second week of January after people are back in the office.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of your upgrades. :-) but I'd be nervous about the January trip personally.

steveman518

The PS flight is now PN4, so there is some hope for R. Regarding an international itinerary I'm only seeing the upgrade "price" for the whole thing instead of just the domestic segment. Am I correct in assuming that you have to call in if you want to just do the domestic segment?

Berlin_traveler

I just looked through about 52 of the 79 pages in this thread trying to find the answer to my request so my apologies if it's been answered a hundred times. Wondering what are the odds of a GPU clearing on a W fare for a 1K, FRA - SFO flight Sunday April 8 and return is Sunday April 22 also on a W fare from SFO - FRA. I'm waitlisted, and expert mode is showing R0. Is it worth it to wait it out as there is so much time from now until April, or just call and try to find other alternatives? Thanks in advance!

Kacee

Sorry, this far out, that's like asking whether the roulette wheel will land on black or red. It might clear and it might not.

findark

But for Sunday travel SFO/FRA I'd happily lay money against a GPU clearing.

nomad420

+1 Fly that route several times a year and outbound from SFO to FRA I have never had one clear. Seems like a lot of suites and GS international business travelers head out on Sunday. Just my 2 cents.

NoDestinations

Maybe change the flight to Monday or Tuesday. I have one booked SFO/FRA in January and it cleared already into PN. There is still R available though, on most Mondays/Tuesdays in the next few weeks.

Kacee

December/January is not April.

Never pay a change fee for an upgrade unless you can confirm into R.

NoDestinations

Yes! Always! But, if there is R, you can change and clear.

NoDestinations

I am flying DFW -> LAX on a Wednesday in January. I have a GPU applied. United First is completely empty, with fare classes showing as F9 A9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN9 R0 RN0 IN0 I0. According to the Premier Desk, I am number 3 on the Upgrade waitlist. Chances?