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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:03 am
  #1  
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Will UA bump J to F to process J GPUs?

Next week I have a friend flying from HKG to SFO on a W fare. I have applied one of my GPUs to his reservation. R = 0 so he is waitlisted. (He has no status so he will be at the bottom of the upgrade list - I've set his expectations low for the upgrade).

Currently J = 9 and F = 9. The seat map shows J almost full (one seat open) and F pretty much wide open (one seat taken).

I understand this since UA is happy to oversell J and just bump people to F as needed.

My question is: at the gate will they bump paying J customers to F in order to process GPUs from Y to J?
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:05 am
  #2  
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Originally Posted by Toronto1970
Next week I have a friend flying from HKG to SFO on a W fare. I have applied one of my GPUs to his reservation. R = 0 so he is waitlisted. (He has no status so he will be at the bottom of the upgrade list - I've set his expectations low for the upgrade).

Currently J = 9 and F = 9. The seat map shows J almost full (one seat open) and F pretty much wide open (one seat taken).

I understand this since UA is happy to oversell J and just bump people to F as needed.

My question is: at the gate will they bump paying J customers to F in order to process GPUs from Y to J?
No. You will need to sponsor a GPU at the gate for a revenue J customer into F.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:15 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by mre5765
No. You will need to sponsor a GPU at the gate for a revenue J customer into F.
Hah, that would be an interesting way to have to sponsor an upgrade, paying twice.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:16 am
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Hmmm.. not quite. If J is oversold they will bump J pax to F but to accommodate J pax. I have seen Y to J upgrades get processed for any remaining J seats... but your friend has little chance due to status.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:19 am
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Originally Posted by NH_Clark
Hmmm.. not quite. If J is oversold they will bump J pax to F but to accommodate J pax. I have seen Y to J upgrades get processed for any remaining J seats... but your friend has little chance due to status.
UA will op-up to handle the oversold situation but not to create space for upgraders. If J is oversold, some may get 3 class F but not Y passengers will get J if all J is filled.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:23 am
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No. Never. Here's what will happen (you can watch it all on the app):

1) 1 or 2 paid J passengers will upgrade to F, allowing one or two to move up from Y.

2) The remaining F seats will all be filled with non-paying United employees or their "buddies."


I see this over and over, to HKG and to Europe. The entire Non-rev standby list gets flushed straight into Global First, while lots of paying customers sit in Y with their W fares and their worthless GPUs. I can't remember a 3-class flight where at least half the F cabin wasn't non-rev.

Welcome to United, where employees always come first, and customers last!
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 11:48 am
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Originally Posted by porciuscato

1) 1 or 2 paid J passengers will upgrade to F, allowing one or two to move up from Y.

2) The remaining F seats will all be filled with non-paying United employees or their "buddies."
I am a little unclear; can you recommend a different strategy? Would it be better to leave an unlimited amount of unsold J inventory available for upgrade?
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 12:04 pm
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Originally Posted by mre5765
No. You will need to sponsor a GPU at the gate for a revenue J customer into F.
Originally Posted by TA
Hah, that would be an interesting way to have to sponsor an upgrade, paying twice.
I once asked United whether I could do this -- several years ago now, ex Switzerland, iirc on ZRH-IAD. Agents were not interested in doing this (but mildly amused by the idea), and ultimately my waitlisted SWU cleared at the gate.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 12:44 pm
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Originally Posted by runner450
I am a little unclear; can you recommend a different strategy? Would it be better to leave an unlimited amount of unsold J inventory available for upgrade?
Get rid of the ridiculous $400 copay and fare class requirements so that paying J customers can upgrade to F with a GPU or miles alone. That would free seats for Y passengers to upgrade into.


[Off-topic discussion edited by Moderator.]

Last edited by Ocn Vw 1K; Nov 17, 2016 at 3:03 pm Reason: See note above.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 2:39 pm
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Originally Posted by runner450
I am a little unclear; can you recommend a different strategy? Would it be better to leave an unlimited amount of unsold J inventory available for upgrade?
The alternative is to upgrade J to F to create space for Y pax with upgrades to J pending. The non-revs can take the Y seats that they would receive anyway if premium cabin space is full.

Put more clearly - United should take the cash/miles/upgrades instead of giving the space to NRSAs for free.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 2:47 pm
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Originally Posted by drewguy
The alternative is to upgrade J to F to create space for Y pax with upgrades to J pending. The non-revs can take the Y seats that they would receive anyway if premium cabin space is full.

Put more clearly - United should take the cash/miles/upgrades instead of giving the space to NRSAs for free.
There is also another thing that could happen: instead of allocating F seats to NRSA pax, it might happen that there is *no* eligible NRSA pax waitlisted for an F seat. In that case, UA would let the GlobalFirst cabin go out with empty seats while coach-class passengers remained waitlisted for upgrades (leaving UA perhaps to refund the miles&money or instruments).

To the extent that this situation represents a problem, the "solution" is to eliminate GlobalFirst. Good news -- Oscar is on it!
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 3:07 pm
  #12  
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Moderator note

A growing discussion about the salary and relative pay and benefits of those who travel as non-revs has been deleted or edited. Those posts can find a home in one of many apt, general threads about non-rev travel.

Let's keep this thread more finely focused on the moving up of J to F in order to process those in Economy who are waitlisted for a J upgrade. Thanks, Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 3:13 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by porciuscato
No. Never. Here's what will happen (you can watch it all on the app):

1) 1 or 2 paid J passengers will upgrade to F, allowing one or two to move up from Y.

2) The remaining F seats will all be filled with non-paying United employees or their "buddies."


I see this over and over, to HKG and to Europe. The entire Non-rev standby list gets flushed straight into Global First, while lots of paying customers sit in Y with their W fares and their worthless GPUs. I can't remember a 3-class flight where at least half the F cabin wasn't non-rev.

Welcome to United, where employees always come first, and customers last!
This. Happened to me on SIN-NRT. GF was virtually empty the night before departure, and suddenly full the next day. A GS customer on paid business wanted an instrument supported upgrade, and he was shafted as well so that non-revs could party.
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 5:12 pm
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
This. Happened to me on SIN-NRT. GF was virtually empty the night before departure, and suddenly full the next day. A GS customer on paid business wanted an instrument supported upgrade, and he was shafted as well so that non-revs could party.
Do you mean at time of departure?

I find it difficult to believe that a GS, on paid J, on the upgrade list could be bypassed for NRSA travel. This is simply untrue and not how the system works.

Can you provide the flight date?
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Old Nov 17, 2016, 7:36 pm
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Originally Posted by runner450
Do you mean at time of departure?

I find it difficult to believe that a GS, on paid J, on the upgrade list could be bypassed for NRSA travel. This is simply untrue and not how the system works.

Can you provide the flight date?
Yeah - whenever I've seen this the NRSAs are on the WL until they clear it at the gate. Perhaps they were some positive space folks?
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