Kmxu

jsloan

Better than the inventory number would suggest. I've noticed that on that particular route, UA doesn't use advance purchase requirements to the same degree that it does on a lot of other routes. Instead, they try to control the fare mix by restricting the discount inventory.

If nearly half the cabin is available, a little better than a week out, I'd say you have a reasonable chance on a Y fare, despite the fact that it's a Saturday. It may go to the gate, though, depending upon how sales do at this price point.

mattg85

Anyone have any experience of GPUs clearing on EWR-MAN?

I booked today for a quick trip in October (actually IAH-EWR-MAN) 10/3 returning 10/6 and was waitlisted using other half's GPUs. Waitlist was also available for 20,000 miles + $550 co-pay.

I've been watching the route over past few weeks and looks like most flights go out either with open seats in J, or are full in J after having, for example, 22(+12 blocked) because of overbooking in Y presumably.

Metal is 767-400ER - appreciate it's a fair way out right now but 6/39 booked in J outbound and 5/39 booked in J on return. Looks like no E+ seats booked outbound and 2 booked return right now so presumably not a long list of people waiting to upgrade I would think?

findark

I don't know the decision behind the upgauge, but a 764 is a ton of J seats for what was once a 752 route. At least during May/June, I was seeing loads of I space on the route, so I imagine your odds are decent. That being said, Sunday is a peak day and it's far too early to guess at loads.

mattg85

I agree - though seeing as Y seems to be oversold a lot of the time on the 764, perhaps the decision was made to switch from the 752 to fill those extra 50 or so seats in Y...

stmvanc

I'm trying to put together a trip that would involve an FRA-SFO leg on Saturday, 7 September. Ideally I want to use a GPU to upgrade to PZ, but of course it's now showing PZ=0. As a backup it would be nice to at least reserve an upgradeable PE seat (better than being stuck in Econ if the GPU fails, and would improve my upgrade chances). When I try this on the website it shows a column for "Premium Economy (upgrade-eligible Economy fare)" with a fare on some options, but under details it becomes clear that none of these are actually PE fares, just various Y fares; indeed, the listed PE+GPU fares are a bit lower than the non-upgradeable PE O fares shown in the PE only column, and identical to the Econ+GPU fares. It appears that the problem is that (at this point) the flight shows R=0, and I'd need R > 0.

1. Is this correct?
2. How likely is it that this would change to R > 0 in the next few days?
3. More generally, isn't United's website basically lying by listing this fare under a PE heading?

findark

I think you are misunderstanding the column. It is for flying in Premium Economy with an upgrade-eligible Economy fare (that is, buy Economy and upgrade). If you want to fly in Business there should be a column like "Business (upgrade-eligible Premium Economy fare)" but even if there isn't such a column, any revenue Premium Economy fare is eligible to be upgraded on United metal. Your bigger problem, assuming you need to fly on UA59 on 07-Sep, is that the flight is O7 A0. Only seven seats remain for sale in the PE cabin and UA will only take full-fare for them at the moment. If you want a PE ticket on that flight, it will cost you.

September is one of the hardest times to clear an upgrade to Europe, and you're flying on a non-holiday Saturday. I would say your odds are extremely poor.

jsloan

No.

You're looking at the wrong thing. For UA-operated flights, all PE fare classes are upgradeable.

It looks like you've searched for economy fares that can be upgraded to PE, which is an entirely different thing entirely.

Mostly, the "upgrade" options in advanced search don't work well at all. I never use them. I search by fare class. If you want to upgrade from economy to PE (and then to Polaris, if possible), you need RN space. If you want to just buy a PE fare and waitlist for an upgrade - - the only path that would improve your upgrade chances, which you said was a priority -- as long as the flight is operated by UA, you can buy any PE fare.

stmvanc

Thank you jsloan and findark for setting me straight about this. I now see that I should have been looking at the far right column, which gives fares for buying PE, upgradeable to J using GPU. However, in all my searches this column never showed any options, despite that "all PE fare classes are upgradeable". I figured that jsloan knows the system better than the United website, so I called the 1K helpline. After a 35-minute call where I had to be passed to a more senior agent and a lot of grumbling from both agents about how complicated all this is and how slow their computers are, I was indeed able to change my Econ+GPU reservation to a PE+GPU reservation, at the "correct" extra cost of what the website was charging for PE only.
Even the more senior agent was confused at first by me wanting to pay more to have a guaranteed PE seat, but still apply the GPU in hopes of getting upgraded to J. It appears that this is a relatively rare thing for them to see.

nomad420

I suspect they will be seeing more of this. I may be doing this myself later this year. Most my international flights this year are/were already purchased J but will probably go PE with GPU later.

jsloan

Happy to help. You're making me blush, though.

FlyerTalk (not just me) definitely knows the upgrade system better than the agents do. It's a tiny part of their job, but a major point of emphasis for many of us.

I agree. PE is new enough that this probably hasn't come up much yet. But, if the fares stay where they are, I think it's going to be more common.

In your case, I assume you'd just buy PE straight out. Y->PE and then list GPU is likely to be more common among passengers where the employer will only pay for Y and they're willing to eat the difference out of pocket.

Also, while reports are hit-or-miss on the change fee being waived to upfare to W to use a GPU (after purchase, when PZ comes available, to avoid the lottery), I'd expect that GG BUYUP would unambiguously apply to a P+ purchase. So, if you're the "book the cheap fare, then wait for PZ" type, it might wind up to be cheaper to change from, say, a K fare to an R fare (change fee waived) than to a W fare (if the agent refuses to waive the change fee).

nomad420

Not sure yet as I have yet to purchase a Premium Plus ticket but I am leaning to buying the R ticket and applying the GPU directly. If I don't get the upgrade I at least guarantee the Premium Plus seat. As stated previously I won't play the W lottery any more, even now as GS where I must admit instrument upgrades have become easier.

PsiFighter37

jsloan

It doesn't make any difference once way or the other. They're willing to oversell Y, and that's exactly what they'll do. (They already have, base upon the 2 +4).

BigE

What do you think my chances are of clearing DEN-HNL-GUM-MNL on a Friday in October as 1k with a GPU on a W fare? Would I have a better chance through SFO instead?
And what about returning on Sunday night MNL-GUM-HNL-IAH? Or is HNL-SFO easier to clear?
Alternatively I could go through TPE, which is a pretty easy upgrade with great seats, but then I'd need to add an economy segment to get from TPE to MNL.