krazykanuck

If it makes you feel any better, had I been on that flight I'd probably 103rd on the list

JDS747

My ORD-SFO Monday morning flights have been similar to this. F was only for those who paid and maybe a GS or two upgrade. E+ feels like the 1K section on those flights. The reason for having a list so long (besides what was already mentioned) is because if someone didn't see their name on the list they would undoubtedly call/email UA to complain about it.

Kacee

102 on a 739 is pretty crazy (as is 35 as a 1K). Definitely worth posting:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...er-seen-4.html

Sulley

Google's annual global travel spend is over a BILLION dollars. Of course they have negotiated rates with their preferred carriers.

Their travel team in Dublin is amazing.

8MiHi

To make me feel good about making the first page?

BBSHOPSINGER

I flew on a couple of flights on Frontier over the weekend. I swore I would never fly them again, but I had last-minute travel, and the price was less than 1/5 that of United (even though the corresponding United flights were 3/4 empty - a topic for another thread).

Anyway - both flights were completely full, but when they offered early boarding for elites, exactly zero people boarded when they were called. No loyalty there. The fact that United has these long lists certainly points out the difference between the airlines, and the fact that despite the inability to upgrade all the time, the perquisites are more enticing at United.

KeaneJohn

docbert

There's an entire thread of such long upgrade lists that this will probably be merged with, but...

Lets presume nobody had been upgraded in advance, so lets just forget F. This was a 737-900, so it has 159 people in Y. A few of the people on the upgrade list were potentially NSRA (staff after a "free" flight), or people booked in F on a later flight that were standby for this flight, so lets just guess 97 actual passengers on the upgrade list.

That's about 60% of passengers that are Silver or higher status. On a Monday morning hub-to-hub flight. Which really isn't all that high a ratio given that the vast majority of them are likely frequent business travelers.

So why show all 102 names when clearly they aren't going to clear? Because if they didn't then they GA's would be pestered by Silvers on a G fare asking why they aren't showing on the upgrade list when they should be!

naumank

I agree we should buy a premium cabin ticket if we want to fly in the premium cabin. Occasionally, on a not-so-busy route on an off-peak day, you may get an upgrade (like my friend who got upgraded LAX-SFO on a Tuesday as Silver), but in most cases, don't count on it.

In EU, you are welcome to pay for a premium ticket in an intra-EU flight, except that you will sit in the exact same seat as an economy seat.

drewguy

Yeah, there's really no "point" other than UA has designed an upgrade list to rank everyone and display it. Sometimes it's short; sometimes it's long. The alternatives are all worse, right? The only thing I could imagine is a list that shows only the number of people equal to the remaining J/F seats and then shows everyone else on their BP that they've been added to the list. Personally I'd rather see I'm 105 than simply "in an irrelevant place on the list" - at least there's humor value.

LIH

I would take it as info that you need to buy a P/Z/A/C/D fare to be up front on the consulting run from Chicago to SFO. I'm on a D fare to LAX tomorrow mid-day on a Thursday with F booked full and zero upgrades clearing. I, for one, much prefer the list on my phone to the old days of having to stand nervously at the gate waiting for the magic click of the PA system and hearing your name paged.

david_oz

cova

One issue is that more people are flying and over time more people are earning elite status and Lifetime elite status, but the size of the aircraft used are smaller. In days bygone, UA would have been flying a DC10 on this route, and there would be fewer Elites, and F fares would be much higher.

Boeing made a blunder by discontinuing the 757 with no follow on. At lease UA does have (from CO) some 753s which have 24 F seats.

I agree with a poster above, you need to see the upgrade list - so you know you are on the flight roster. All Elites on UA get on the list. AA can have large lists, but many lower elites don't make the request, since it costs coupons (earned or purchased) - so less show.

Collierkr

KeaneJohn