BOS not a hub, but might as well be in terms of elite traffic.

Unlimited upgrades are an expectation set that cannot be met.

Absolutely, and even more bad news:

1. It is even worse with hub-to-hub routes that are elite-heavy.

2. Most people on that flights are either paid F or paid upgraded F.

Even before the merger, it was not uncommon to see an IAD-SFO flight on a A320 with so many elites that the GA's boarded the flight by rows.

I had 108 on a recent IAH-DEN flight.

Very normal for a Thursday night. It may end up in the 70's before the flight leaves.

UA has a lot of elites. Everyone makes the list, even Silvers and Golds who have a very low chance of upgrades. Not sure why people continue to be surprised that the upgrade list may contain half or more of any given flight to major airports. It's only noteworthy, IMO, if you're a 1K and and number 40 on that list (as an example).

Worst Elite Overload Ever...
 

A320, SFO-ORD... boarded by rows because 120 people on board were elites.

For reference, the plane has 150 seats.

Barratt

That really depends on your expectation.

I'm a Platinum and I clear my upgrades 80% of the time and when I miss I barely miss...

But I also fly off-peak hours like late Monday, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, mid-day Thursday/Fridays.

I have a couple employees who are gold/silver and they get upgraded fairly regularly on certain routes as well. (They both fly out of DL hubs which helps I think as the elite travelers there are not United.)

Wow! When was that? Don't often see A320 on SFO-ORD.

As a Silver, I do occasionally get upgrades (I'm based in DEN), but never when traveling on business. My upgrades have always come when flying for personal travel, in off-peak times, and/or to non-business locations. When traveling on business, I'm usually somewhere around #45 on the upgrade list. When traveling for pleasure, the upgrade list is sometimes only 4-5 people.

We talk about this at least once a year.....but not sure if the OP was asking where we all site on upgrade lists on average, what UG lists are on average etc.

Hence we are now talking about long lists (have a thread on it), no upgrade chances (have a thread per status on this).

As a Silver, in the bottom 10%.

I saw 107 people on the UG list last week on a 777 from DEN to SFO. Insane. The week before (SFO to DEN, also on a 777 for some reason), I heard the GA say that there were 51 GS members flying.

?! :eek:

While I believe the SFO area probably carries a higher than normal amount of GS, 51 sounds like the GA mis-spoke. Or perhaps there was a big GS conference in DEN? :D

The most I've ever been aware of was around 15...solely based on the number I've seen board when GS was called. And that, of course, included a couple companions.