findark

Yes. A lot less free than an op-up though

I believe the crew rest on the 787s are bunks above 1DE, on both the -8 and -9.

Kmxu

UA890, PVG-SFO, Monday, both cabins are full, but there are 14 unoccupied Polaris seats. What is my chance as 1K?

StuckinITH

I had to remove my comment because I did not realize that your flight was leaving at 12:15 AM. I guess that it's not so surprising that the map in Economy was already showing full as the flight was leaving in one hour. Polaris Business was not so full: 38 seats booked out of 48 so I do hope that you got lucky.

RobOnLI

Flight went out with an empty seat in coach and business wide open. No OpUp on this flight for the OP.

-RM

StuckinITH

If it was me (I started flying United 15 months ago so I'm still learning all things United), I would have taken a TOD if offered when Coach is fully booked. Coach is OK if it's not fully booked and I have a bulkhead or exit row seat.

I never hope that I would get an OpUp. But I did get many of them when flying BA and one time on United. The one time on United, I was already in my coach seat on a ORD-CDG flight when they asked me to move forward. I did get an extremely good seat: 6J on a 772. But, since it was unexpected, I never checked if coach was full on that flight.

Kmxu

Obviously, I took my E+ seat on UA890. I monitored the seat map and upgrade standby list for 2 hours after checkin. There was no indication that anyone was op-uped. I just wonder that United does not oversells the coach cabin at all for flights out of China after the Dao event based upon my own experiences flying out of PVG. United certainly loses some revenue because of this new practice.

TomMM

In order to oversell a flight UA needs people to buy the seats.

laxmillenial

I've flown out of PVG on full economy flights (and not full business) post Dao. While I haven't been op-up'd (not putting that to chance), I've seen people op-up'd. Dao didn't change anything. TomMM below has it right.

BasedinCLE

I'm scheduled to fly UA952 (ORD-MUC) on Monday, March 12 on a 3-class B772. I'm a 1K booked on a Z fare. As you can see below there is wide availability in all three classes of service.


Does anyone have any insights into this route? Given this flight is on a Monday, I'm expecting a lighter elite/business traveler load, meaning less of a need for op-ups. When I flew this route in reverse about a year ago on a Saturday, I was upgraded from business to first as a gold on a D fare. My coworkers, who were gold and silver (!) at the time, were also upgraded. I assume this upgrade was an op-up as we didn't use any instrument (we obviously we didn't have any) or do a miles + co-pay.

WineCountryUA

Op ups are rare in the first place and should never be counted on plus it is far too soon to make any speculation -- look at the loads a day or two before travel. Monday, eastbound TATL still has significant business traffic -- Tuesday, Wednesday are the lighter days

BasedinCLE

Thanks for the insight. I would never bet on an op-up - and really don't care given the difference between business class and first class on UA is relatively marginal.

eng3

2/14/18 UA 851 ORD-PEK.
F8FN8A7ON7O0
J9JN9C9D9Z9ZN9P9PN9R9RN9IN8I0
Y9YN9B9M9E9U9H9HN9Q9V9W9S0T0L0K0G0N9XN0X0

My mom is on this flight in E+. Y is full accroding to status but Y9. J has 15/40 booked, 10 checked in. F has 0/8 booked.
She wants to upgrade using miles on an H fare, 30K + $450 copay. R=9.
She is Gold.
She asked about opup. I told her that Y is full (though Y9) but there is no one on the standby list so probably not unless someone gets added but that is still a gamble. No way to know if it is overbooked

I've never upgraded this late in the game, but I told her she should be able to do it at the counter. However, I mentioned that opups are typically done at the gate so she may want to wait to speak to the gate agent instead and maybe they will opup her or at least give some indication on chances. However the gate mention usually doesnt show up til shortly before the flight. I did mention that if she upgrades early, she should goto to the polaris lounge and not the regular one and she might even get a meal in the lounge. I've never even been in there so I'm not clear about it. And also reminded her of asking for the PJ's, matress pad, and gel pillow.

Was this good advice?

jsloan

UA has zeroed out economy. J shows 15 booked with 21 blocked, so they're planning to upgrade at least 21 people. Whether or not there are 21 passengers with higher status on the flight, or instruments already applied, who can say? That's the biggest risk you're taking. I don't know whether or not UA will still process mile+copay upgrades at the gate; buy-ups are definitely possible. I'd think the Premier line could do it as long as the flight hasn't gone to airport control.

I will say that ORD-PEK two days before CNY is definitely a good choice as far as op-ups go, though.

Good luck!

eng3

Where do you see the 21 blocked? I dont see that on the status page. I see the standby lists all empty. I saw R9 so I figured the mileage+copay would go through for sure. But yeah, its always a gamble with an opup. I figured if my mom actually spoke directly to the GA, and the GA saw she wanted to use miles+copy, the GA may just opup her. I figure that is easier than processing the mileage and charging the money. I wasnt sure if the checkin counter ever does opups. It is just a little disheartening to pay for an upgrade then see many people get upgraded for free 10min later. Ofcourse I guess that is the price of not playing the lottery.

laxmillenial

Mobile app via the status page shows 21 blocked.