djmp

I'm looking at SFO-LHR around the holidays and as usual there's nothing in R available for GPU upgrade. But I do see quite a bit of PN9. Any sense of an upgrade waitlst on a PN >0 flight clearing in advance for a 1K?

sannmann

Probably high chance it will go through.

Also, if I recall correctly, PN is the GS upgrade bucket. So, a GS would get that upgrade right away.

kb1992

I've never failed GPU upgrade when it's PN9 at booking.

The only exception: EWR-SFO p.s. flight

PsiFighter37

Flying EWR-SFO on Thursday, 12:30PM departure. 10/28 seats showing available on seat map, fare buckets at the top showing J7 JN7 C7 D7 Z6 ZN6 P5 PN3 R0 RN0 (so probably really only 7 seats available). Think there's a shot for a Platinum? Was hoping a mid-day flight might have better odds...and given this is literally a turnaround trip (going to SFO for a short work event and then coming back on a redeye), hoping that the RPU clears...

Kacee

It's the best potential indicator of R opening. It also means there are no GS on the waitlist.

Of course no guarantees. And SFO-LHR not the easiest route.

EWRMAN

cleared today

exerda

I had 3x RPUs waitlisted on LAS-IAD for 10/5 (Wednesday). I had waitlisted them ~6 weeks ago when I booked the flights on 2 PNRs (as mine involved paid F on the outbound).

Sunday afternoon, the flight was F5 A5 PN0 R0 RN0.

Mine cleared Sunday night.

On Tuesday morning, I checked and found R2 RN2. My wife's and mom's u/g had not cleared yet. I called and they cleared both for me. I hate that there's still this stupid "stuck" upgrade bug with processing. As it was > 24 hours from departure, anyone who applied an instrument would have cleared.

In the end, they cleared 1 u/g at the gate. F went out full, and my wife and mom were happy to be in F for the trip home.

decillion

I have recently paid for my family (3 of us, no status but long-time frequent flyers) with miles and dollars to be on the waitlist for a BusinessFirst upgrade for our trip from EWR to TPE with a layover in SFO.

I was just wondering if there was a way to estimate the likelihood of getting off the waitlist (I think it just started in the last couple of weeks), or if some frequent flyer experts can weigh in on past experience.

The flight info is:
Dec 20, 7:35 AM flight from EWR to SFO (3 seats out of 29 in Business Class are currently taken, with 14 people in E+)

Dec 20, 12:20 PM flight from SFO to TPE (3 seats in First Class out of 10 are full, 25 seats out of 52 in Business Class are full, ~26 people in E+)

Business Standard awards are available on both; Business Saver awards are not.

If there are seats open in business class when we make it to the gate, are there any soft factors involved (like us asking the flight attendants if our seats can be moved there, etc.) or will they let seats go unoccupied despite there being a waitlist? I'm not sure how this works or if there's anything I can do. Any tips or thoughts would be great!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Asking a FA to move up is pretty much useless. UA's gate agents are pretty good (IMHO) about making sure those due upgrades get them and FAs are not supposed to move people up on their own (and I haven't seen a FA do it in a long time). It's way too early to use seat maps as indicator of anything. Your flight to SFO is more likely to be in coach on a Tuesday. A lot of business travelers make their plans closer to flight date. Lack of status is going to hurt. I can't comment on TPE flight.

mduell

Approximately zero for both segs.

Current seatmaps are entirely irrelevant.

Flight attendants don't clear upgrades.

euslaner

As IAH-OIL-TRASH wrote, it is too early to see anything about flights in December. And I don't know much about either route. But:

(1) While I don't know anything about the EWR-SFO route, the IAD-SFO route has lots of people on the upgrade list. I've seen as many as 60 people listed either on the website or on the monitor at the airport. Without status, this will be very tough.

(2) Again, I don't know anything about flights to TPE in December, but upgrades to mainland China are very tough in December even for people with status.

WineCountryUA

Waitlisting can start at any time there is no upgrade inventory -- some have reported being waitlisted as far as 11 months before departure.

Waitlisting will clear based on a priority system WHEN (and if) upgrade space is made available.
The prioritization is based on status, fare class and lastly time of request. So any elite, even if waitlisted after you, will go ahead of you on the waitlist. UA will holdoff clearing the waitlist to encourage cash purchases of BF and allow late booking elites to still have a chance.

UAPremExecflyer

In a nutshell: hub>hub (EWR-SFO); TPAC ex SFO (SFO-TPE) and No Status = really, really long odds.

Kacee

Despite the naysayers above, SFO-TPE is one of the easiest long-haul upgrades in the UA system.

The wildcard here is the proximity to Christmas. But that's not typically a heavy premium cabin travel period, so I'd say there's reason to be hopeful.

Not really. Currently booked 23/52, so seatmap pretty close.

Booked a bit heavier than you'd like to see 9 weeks out if waitlisting for the upgrade.

laxmillenial

I agree. I've upgraded numerous companions who have no status flying on a separate PNR as myself. They've always gotten upgraded to BF.