Jul 24, 2016, 4:23 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Operational Upgrades - Op-ups -- are upgrades that occur when there is a need by the airline to move passenger to the higher cabin: could be due to overbooking of the lower cabin, could be a weight and balance issue, could be a broken seat, ....... whatever the reason, it is an airline driven reason, not a customer request.
If the issue still exists after all upgrades have cleared, then the common approach is for passengers to be selected based on status or status/fare but the GA has discretion and may make a selection for other reasons.
Overbooking is the most common reason, as there is no available / allowed seat for all the passengers in the cabin. If the cabin has available seats, there will be no op-ups except for some special corner cases (such as weight & balance).
Asking for an upgrade because of a special occasion or you are dressed especially professional, or you have a suave manner does not work, those often repeated "upgrade secret hints" will just get you a chuckle or a "go away" look.
pmUA FT classic thread on Op-ups - Operational upgrades from a gate agent's perspective
Related threads:
2014 Thread - Are Discretionary Complimentary (Operational) Upgrade Common on UA?
Chances of Operational Upgrade on International Flights (Honeymoon)? ..
Consolidated United Operational Upgrade (OP-UPs) Experiences
If the issue still exists after all upgrades have cleared, then the common approach is for passengers to be selected based on status or status/fare but the GA has discretion and may make a selection for other reasons.
Overbooking is the most common reason, as there is no available / allowed seat for all the passengers in the cabin. If the cabin has available seats, there will be no op-ups except for some special corner cases (such as weight & balance).
Asking for an upgrade because of a special occasion or you are dressed especially professional, or you have a suave manner does not work, those often repeated "upgrade secret hints" will just get you a chuckle or a "go away" look.
pmUA FT classic thread on Op-ups - Operational upgrades from a gate agent's perspective
Related threads:
2014 Thread - Are Discretionary Complimentary (Operational) Upgrade Common on UA?
Chances of Operational Upgrade on International Flights (Honeymoon)? ..
Consolidated United Operational Upgrade (OP-UPs) Experiences
Consolidated - Chance of Operational Upgrade (Op-Up) on my flight?
Feb 1, 2019, 3:19 pm
#436
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 812
2 or 3 misconnects, a few upgrades clear, a check-in cash upgrade or two -- no overbooking or op-ups.
And very doubtful you can purchase a new ticket below Q or V or even higher. To purchase a new ticket you need fare class inventory and a fare rule for which you meet all the conditions. Advance Purchase required will generally eliminate the lower fares. You can potentially SDC ( or irrops rebookings) onto the flight at a lower fare class, but you are not going purchase a new ticket for those fare classes.
And very doubtful you can purchase a new ticket below Q or V or even higher. To purchase a new ticket you need fare class inventory and a fare rule for which you meet all the conditions. Advance Purchase required will generally eliminate the lower fares. You can potentially SDC ( or irrops rebookings) onto the flight at a lower fare class, but you are not going purchase a new ticket for those fare classes.
Available fare classes: J3 JN3 C3 D3 Z3 ZN3 P3 PN3 PZ0 IN0 I0 Y0 YN0 B0 M0 E0 U0 H0 HN0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N0 XN0 X0
App says : capacity 36, booked 25 (+8 blocked)
So perhaps this has moved from impossible to merely improbable. 2nd tier China is very elite light and passengers on these routes tend not to pay for upgrades. But given the weather in SFO, misconnects seem highly likely.
Feb 1, 2019, 8:31 pm
#437
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And very doubtful you can purchase a new ticket below Q or V or even higher. To purchase a new ticket you need fare class inventory and a fare rule for which you meet all the conditions. Advance Purchase required will generally eliminate the lower fares. You can potentially SDC ( or irrops rebookings) onto the flight at a lower fare class, but you are not going purchase a new ticket for those fare classes.
Feb 12, 2019, 9:38 pm
#438
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
Edit: I may have chosen the wrong thread. I’m referring specifically to an op-up. I’m on a K fare so can’t apply a GPU. mods please move if I posted in the wrong place
I’m on flight UA32 LAX-NRT on Thursday 14th.
currently appears to be 16 seats oversold in Y. 16 J seats are blocked, and Y is showing as full. Not sure if I’m looking at the right place in the new app, but they appear to be selling upgrades for $6,286!
this combination seems too good to be true. If it stays this way, assuming there aren’t a massive number of misconnects I should be pretty safe for the op-up as a 1K right??
I’m on flight UA32 LAX-NRT on Thursday 14th.
currently appears to be 16 seats oversold in Y. 16 J seats are blocked, and Y is showing as full. Not sure if I’m looking at the right place in the new app, but they appear to be selling upgrades for $6,286!
this combination seems too good to be true. If it stays this way, assuming there aren’t a massive number of misconnects I should be pretty safe for the op-up as a 1K right??
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 15, 2019 at 4:43 pm Reason: moved to Op-up thread
Feb 12, 2019, 9:58 pm
#439
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,405
I would like my chances, yes. I see the same thing you do -- J4 Y0, 28 booked +16 blocked. Definitely an oversale in Y. But, yes, a spate of misconnects is definitely the risk you're running.
Feb 13, 2019, 6:43 am
#440
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
Edit: I may have chosen the wrong thread. I’m referring specifically to an op-up. I’m on a K fare so can’t apply a GPU. mods please move if I posted in the wrong place
I’m on flight UA32 LAX-NRT on Thursday 14th.
currently appears to be 16 seats oversold in Y. 16 J seats are blocked, and Y is showing as full. Not sure if I’m looking at the right place in the new app, but they appear to be selling upgrades for $6,286!
this combination seems too good to be true. If it stays this way, assuming there aren’t a massive number of misconnects I should be pretty safe for the op-up as a 1K right??
I’m on flight UA32 LAX-NRT on Thursday 14th.
currently appears to be 16 seats oversold in Y. 16 J seats are blocked, and Y is showing as full. Not sure if I’m looking at the right place in the new app, but they appear to be selling upgrades for $6,286!
this combination seems too good to be true. If it stays this way, assuming there aren’t a massive number of misconnects I should be pretty safe for the op-up as a 1K right??
Feb 13, 2019, 8:50 am
#441
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,405
It's now J4 ... PN4 PZ3 ... Y1...W1. At this moment, someone could book a one-way LAX-NRT seat for $604, become the 17th oversold passenger in Y, and then immediately apply a GPU / miles + copay to get a confirmed seat up front. 
Barring misconnects, I still like your chances... with PZ3, it's likely that they've already cleared all instrument upgrades, so the question is whether or not there are 16-n other GS/1K passengers in Y who didn't use an instrument, where n is the number of TODs they sell. That still seems like a lot...
If you get really lucky, they'll sell a couple more tickets and completely block J inventory; if it goes to J0, they won't sell TODs.
Barring misconnects, I still like your chances... with PZ3, it's likely that they've already cleared all instrument upgrades, so the question is whether or not there are 16-n other GS/1K passengers in Y who didn't use an instrument, where n is the number of TODs they sell. That still seems like a lot...
If you get really lucky, they'll sell a couple more tickets and completely block J inventory; if it goes to J0, they won't sell TODs.
Feb 13, 2019, 8:55 pm
#442
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Feb 14, 2019, 7:47 am
#443
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH, YYC
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 753
Just about to leave the gate on my connecting flight from Denver. At T-4 there are 14 blocked, seemingly 2 non standbys who will clear GPU’s 5 seats in inventory all the way down to G.
Weather in LA is apparently poor, but SFO is supposedly a mess. Fingers crossed some likely misconnects at SFO might get put onto my flight to offset any misconnects in LA.
Still hopeful this one will come through. But starting to sweat it a little bit. Upgrades are still going for about $900
Weather in LA is apparently poor, but SFO is supposedly a mess. Fingers crossed some likely misconnects at SFO might get put onto my flight to offset any misconnects in LA.
Still hopeful this one will come through. But starting to sweat it a little bit. Upgrades are still going for about $900
Feb 14, 2019, 11:10 am
#445
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,958
Open seats?
After checking in “full” for this flight, there are still 7 seats with gold color. This may mean that there were 7 op-upers. Hope that Op got one of them!
Feb 14, 2019, 2:50 pm
#448
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Feb 14, 2019, 3:06 pm
#450
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An op-up is specifically an upgrade needed for operational reasons -- they oversold the Y cabin. Their choices are to move somebody to J or to put them on another flight and give out denied boarding compensation. The upgrades make much more sense.