Kmxu

If your company buys you premium economy (Premium Plus) ticket, it will greatly enhance your upgrade chance. What are the days of week that you will travel? Tuesday/Wednesday is easier.
Good luck.

Doppy

Or buy yourself up to premium economy if the difference isn't that much, which sometimes it isn't. Then the worst case is a domestic first -like experience

evol

Aloha folks,

Booked on
12/2 UA 396 B fare J is 42/60 (iʻm #17)
12/3 UA 990 R fare (CSR told me iʻm #3 currently)
*edit* i just spoke with a very kind CSR who looked it up for me, I am in fact 17 on the list on UA 396 with 16 GS & 1Ks ahead of me. So that leg is off the table.

I could buy up on 396 for $700 currently or re-fare the whole outbound into J for +$1178. Seeing as tho I have very good chance of the intl segment clearing I may as well just grin and bear the first leg in Y. Or should I just cancel the PP req on the domestic leg and watch the paid upgrade offers as they come down towards day of departure.. ?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

The redeye HNL-SFO definitely will see people in back buying up, so the PP upgrade at your position is unlikely (I’ve been there - it probably won’t even be close - seats will slowly disappear w/o any upgrades being processed). The upgrades might go down to $400, if UA is generous in next couple of days. There’s also likely to be some PremPlus seat abandonment/shuffling as people move up, so grabbing a window PE seat if you can is not too bad a fall back.

Bonne chance…

Mike Jacoubowsky

I'm almost in the opposite situation. UA 869 (HKG-SIN) 12/7, bought PE to get a better chance of upgrading to Polaris for the long flight. But flight is so lightly loaded it almost makes sense to downgrade to Y (travel credit of $500/ticket x 2) for the outbound... seatmap wide open and mirrors all-9s across the board (other than upgrade categories). Even if every single person in PE was 1K or GS it looks like I'd still be safe in Y.

If it were just me, a downgrade would be a workable strategy. I'm going to stay the course and go with the almost-guaranteed upgrade (already have Polaris for return from Singapore due to really cheap fare that popped up for that leg), since my wife really needs a nice trip (not-so-good news at her last PET scan).

evol

Mahalo! I’ve got my window PE so I should just relax into that. I don’t want to spend another dime on UA this year if I can bear it! My last thought on this would be: Please let my Polaris upgrade clear at T24 so I can use the lounge 🥺

creaturecomforts

The problem is, if your leg is the initial leg, then the price of coach could be quite high due to repricing of the entire ticket close to the departure date (my recent experience), sometimes the Econ fares can be more than PE if you seek Econ in W code up. However, for a sureshot as the one you describe, I would do it if the pricing worked and I could do PP upgrade with 40 points on a long int'l flight.

Mike Jacoubowsky

I've been watching the pricing daily, playing with the "change flight" option to see what shows up. That's how I scored a Polaris seat on the return- the upfare from the original was just $585. Couldn't pass that up. So far, for the outbound, still seeing $2500 for the upfare, but if something inexpensive shows up, I'm there.

I do have 40 plus points to get rid of (quickly!) and would love to use them on the outbound, but only way that would work would be to split the PNR, since I don't have enough for my wife as well. Not too comfortable doing that, but if the upgrades do come through, I'll see if day of flight I can split the PNR and use the 40 plus points for her, and the miles + $450 for me.

Flyingsquirrel1

Hi. I'm booked Dec 17 MUC - SFO in economy (T class). I'm Platinum and waitlisted for a Mileageplus upgrade (points) to both PP and Polaris.

What are my chances of the upgrade coming through?

Available fare classes: J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 O5 ON5 A1 R0 RN0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G0 XN9 X9

malgudi

I've heard a few (!) times that seat map isn't a good indicator of available upgrade space ...

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Probably no chance for Polaris. GSs and everyone in PP w/ requests in are ahead of you. All 1Ks in coach and Plats in coach on higher-than-T fares ahead of you for Polaris and PP. 50/50 for PP as those people move up.

Mike Jacoubowsky

Often true but when you've got all-9s across the board, and you track earlier flights nearly off of which are leaving with empty Polaris seats, things look pretty good. Seatmaps are likely most unreliable in economy, since many aren't choosing seats at time of booking, or 2Ps who can't get into E+ until 24 hours to go. 9+ in economy thus doesn't mean a whole lot.

Could be an issue with a plane change, but there aren't too many planes they can sub on a 15 hour flight. If they swap in a 787 instead of the 777, you'd lose a few seats in Polaris.

big V

T minus 4 hours, 1 Polaris seat available, #1 on u/g list and holding steady. When will that seat finally be released for upgrade? Would the Polaris Lounge let me in/help me get that into my hot little hands??? Or would I have to beg the gate agent?

jsloan

No, you will not be allowed into the lounge due to position on the upgrade list. "Begging" the gate agent isn't likely to help either.

Upgrades are processed sometime after check-in ends -- after every passenger has turned down UA's offer to pay cash for it.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Earliest will probably be just after the podium at the gate is staffed for that flight. Latest, just before door is closed. And no, the Polaris lounge agent will not help you. #1 - you don't have access at this point. #2 - clearing the waitlist is not their job. The gate agent is your friend - you might let him/her know of your position and ask when they might clear it. Don't demand to be cleared - you never know when an agent might take offence and to decide to hold onto the upgrade until just before door closes. If you do clear at the gate early enough, do not feel obligated to board right away - Polaris has plenty of overhead storage, so you can make use of lounge until last boarding.