narvik

^
There's a whole thread on it: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...atus-tool.html

areale

Maybe I'm doing this wrong but I have used advanced search to search and search but I can't find ANY guaranteed (ie not waitlist) GPU availability. Tried different dates, routes etc and no dice.

Again maybe i'm not understanding but why would I buy up to a more expensive fare for the privilege of getting on a waitlist? Seems like you could spend ALOT more for the upgradable fare (several hundred dollars) only to not be granted the upgrade?

They seem to have very little value

ContinentalFan

ReleaseTheFlyingMonkeys

I've never had a GPU clear at booking on any GPU fare eligible transcon.

Kmxu

StuckinITH

It all depends on where you want to go and when. Flexibility is the key word. Last year, I could not find upgradable availability at booking on my TPAC or TATL flights so had to waitlist. Only missed the upgrade once. But I tend to be able to book midweek flights which are easier for the upgrade to finally clear (even if sometimes United makes me sweat and only upgrades me when I'm already sitting in my Economy+ seat). This year, for my TATL trip, I did find PZ>0 at booking and the cost of the W fare was only $40 more. However, I will be leaving the meeting one day earlier than the end of the meeting. My thoughts: if they want me to attend the last day, they should pay the business class ticket. As I said, flexibility is the key word.

narvik

GPU cleared at 47 out of 50 booked, about 16 hours before flight.

nomad420

I am sure I will be corrected if wrong, but wouldn't it be nice if they would show you ONLY flights with PZ>1, I thought I had heard (on FT) there was a paid service that would do the search for you but UA blocked them somehow. Agents seem to be able to pull up that data as when I call I have often been told "I see no PZ space on that route for 3 months", or something similar to this depressing responce. The GPU search is just as ridiculous as many stated above. You keep on thinking the flight is available for "instant" upgrade but after a few clicks you relize you are just basically getting on the upgrade list again. The green upgrade arrows are Unicorns, that's what you want though. I know frustrating....

Per other comments flexibility is key, I have never had a GPU clear at booking and for that matter rarely in advance but I don't have much flexibility in my travel times (ie. rarely fly TCONs mid week). I have basically zero flexibility as to where I am going.

CLE_Traveler

How can I know before booking an upgrade-eligible, economy ticket, that I will be able to apply a RPU/GPU after booking and immediately confirm the upgrade rather than be wait listed? I've been a 1K for the past 5ish years, but I've never been able to figure this out. I believe the secret may be in using the 'Expert Mode' (which I've done) to search and view available fare classes. The problem is, I don't know which fare classes to look for that would indicate an auto-upgrade is available. PZ seems the most likely since that's what Platinum and 1Ks are upgraded into. It doesn't tell you the % of open seats though and I don't see a published threshold for auto upgrade when using a GPU.

For example, I'm looking at flying EWR > ATH (Athens, Greece) on 9/10/2019. Focusing in on flight UA124 (EWR > ATH), I can see availability in the following fare classes:

J9, JN9, C9, D5, Z0, ZN0, P0, PN0, PZ0, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S9, T9, L0, K0, G0, N9, XN0, X0

I would be booking with cash into the W fare class and then looking to use the GPU to upgrade to what I think would be PZ0. Is there any way to know before booking that W fare economy ticket that it is immediately upgradeable to Business? I called the 1K line and the agent didn't know. She called up another person who also only had basic information like which economy fare classes are upgrade-eligible, etc. Help!

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

It appears that you have the process correct. PZ is the inventory bucket that you need. You have to search the nonstop by itself, which it appears that you've done.

Because PZ is zero, your upgrade would be waitlisted. If you saw PZ >= the number of people traveling, your upgrades would clear immediately.

nomad420

Welcome to FT!
You can play the W fare game (as it appears you are) and it looks like a good number of F seats remain but you are still a few months out. EWR to ATH in the beginning of September could be tough. Curious as to what others think your odd are. I'll go slightly better than 50%.

iapetus

While I won't be so bold as to even hazard a guess at odds, I will point out that CLE_Traveler is flying on a Tuesday. That's gotta help significantly.

nomad420

Ahhh, didn't even look at the day but oh yeah that will definitely help. Perhaps that now raises me up to 75% success rate :-).... Thanks!

StuckinITH

I don't know. There are too many 0s: Z0, P0, PN0, PZ0. September is still high season for travel to Greece. Three months and a half to go and Business is sold 20/39. And with those numbers there must be some GS and 1Ks already waitlisted.

jsloan

If it's booked 20/39, this far in advance, the chance for a waitlisted 1K upgrade to clear is near zero.