Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Archive thread
[Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight {Archive}
Related thread -
Ways to search for upgrade space at booking?
Understanding the United Upgrade List Comprehensively
Decoding the alphabet soup - fare buckets for UA
Expert Mode Update: better upgrade visibility and opt-in to see fare bucket data.
[Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight {Archive}
Related thread -
Ways to search for upgrade space at booking?
Understanding the United Upgrade List Comprehensively
Decoding the alphabet soup - fare buckets for UA
Expert Mode Update: better upgrade visibility and opt-in to see fare bucket data.
[Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight
#256
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 506
Flying SFO - TPE this Friday (12/15). I see:
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
#257
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: NJ
Programs: UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 511
Flying SFO - TPE this Friday (12/15). I see:
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
#259
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 562
Flying SFO - TPE this Friday (12/15). I see:
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
PN4 PZ3
I'm considering throwing some miles/dollars at an upgrade. If I do so, I'm not sure about my odds. I see 15 seats open on the map right now, and moreover am curious how I interpret the upgrade waitlist and if that reflects people paying/waitlisting for upgrades via miles/points/dollars?
#260
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 506
Ok that was really helpful. My apologies for not being super straightforward. I actually applied money/miles last week or maybe even the week before. I kinda forget. It's been one crazy month of work I've lost track of time. I wanted to treat my partner. But it was waitlisted. As I looked over the past few days, I saw so many open seats that it made me wonder if it would sometime clear. Then after doing a crash course on expert mode, I was confused when I saw PN/PZ > 0 and us not being cleared yet.
I called to cancel the upgrade and because I had some leftover PP from previous failed upgrades from Thanksgiving travel, I applied PP to my partner's upgrade (cleared immediately), and threw money/points at myself. Better to have used the PP than to let it go to waste, so that was a good idea.
So maybe the lesson is not to apply upgrades too early? Or only do it when upgrade space is available?
I called to cancel the upgrade and because I had some leftover PP from previous failed upgrades from Thanksgiving travel, I applied PP to my partner's upgrade (cleared immediately), and threw money/points at myself. Better to have used the PP than to let it go to waste, so that was a good idea.
So maybe the lesson is not to apply upgrades too early? Or only do it when upgrade space is available?
#261
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 562
Ok that was really helpful. My apologies for not being super straightforward. I actually applied money/miles last week or maybe even the week before. I kinda forget. It's been one crazy month of work I've lost track of time. I wanted to treat my partner. But it was waitlisted. As I looked over the past few days, I saw so many open seats that it made me wonder if it would sometime clear. Then after doing a crash course on expert mode, I was confused when I saw PN/PZ > 0 and us not being cleared yet.
I called to cancel the upgrade and because I had some leftover PP from previous failed upgrades from Thanksgiving travel, I applied PP to my partner's upgrade (cleared immediately), and threw money/points at myself. Better to have used the PP than to let it go to waste, so that was a good idea.
So maybe the lesson is not to apply upgrades too early? Or only do it when upgrade space is available?
I called to cancel the upgrade and because I had some leftover PP from previous failed upgrades from Thanksgiving travel, I applied PP to my partner's upgrade (cleared immediately), and threw money/points at myself. Better to have used the PP than to let it go to waste, so that was a good idea.
So maybe the lesson is not to apply upgrades too early? Or only do it when upgrade space is available?
You should always apply the upgrades as soon as possible but at the same time monitor PN/PZ availability. Think of it as if there are two systems - revenue management and upgrade automation systems. RM decides when to release what inventory while upgrade automation processes upgrades in batches. There's usually a time delay in between as they each have their own schedule and are not synchronized. If you were to wait a few hours after upgrade automation has been run, you would not have been able to skip the waitlist and PN/PZ would have gone to 0.
basically you were lucky to catch the PN/PZs that were recently released by RM and that have not been consumed by upgrade automation
Last edited by leftysauce; Dec 14, 2023 at 1:29 am
#262
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 506
Got it. All these years of flying and I probably didn't know what I was doing. Yet when it comes to restaurant reservations, I've run auto reload on Resy to find me openings on the day of--sometimes I'd tell my friends "don't worry, I don't have a reservation yet, but I know next Thursday night I can snag us a spot within 30 minutes of our target." Had I known this is how it works, I probably could've made many of those PP upgrades work. A lot went to waste with the pandemic.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
#263
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,405
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
#264
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 562
Got it. All these years of flying and I probably didn't know what I was doing. Yet when it comes to restaurant reservations, I've run auto reload on Resy to find me openings on the day of--sometimes I'd tell my friends "don't worry, I don't have a reservation yet, but I know next Thursday night I can snag us a spot within 30 minutes of our target." Had I known this is how it works, I probably could've made many of those PP upgrades work. A lot went to waste with the pandemic.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
#265
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,958
Got it. All these years of flying and I probably didn't know what I was doing. Yet when it comes to restaurant reservations, I've run auto reload on Resy to find me openings on the day of--sometimes I'd tell my friends "don't worry, I don't have a reservation yet, but I know next Thursday night I can snag us a spot within 30 minutes of our target." Had I known this is how it works, I probably could've made many of those PP upgrades work. A lot went to waste with the pandemic.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
I didn't realize that's how the system works, but it totally makes sense reading your explanation and seeing a few other posts talk about the sweep system. So basically keep an eye out. I was super nervous asking the agent over the phone to cancel the upgrade since I didn't know what would happen at all.
And just for my understanding, prior to jumping the queue, I was number 20 or so. Does that mean there are 19 other people who did PP/Miles/Money upgrades and are waitlisted as well? What convinced me to try was that with 15 openings, and number 20, I'd never get there, so might as well cancel, and if there are no good miles/PP/money offers, I'd still be in the same place in the end anyway.
#266
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: COS
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 39
So I am curious to get your opinion on my chances of an upgrade. Flying Sunday, January 14, UA 953 ORD-MUC. Currently booked in R, a 1K friend applied PP to waitlist for two seats to Polaris. Currently Polaris is booked 17/44 and we are spots 3 & 4 (of 9) on the Polaris waitlist. PremiumPlus is currently booked 16/21, and it looks like United is willing to oversell by 1.
We have no status on UA anymore 🙃.
Open relevant fare buckets are:
We have no status on UA anymore 🙃.
Open relevant fare buckets are:
- J9
- JN9
- C9
- D9
- Z9
- ZN9
- P9
- PN0
- PZ0
- IN0
- I0
- O6
- ON6
- A3
- R0
- RN0
#267
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 38
So I am curious to get your opinion on my chances of an upgrade. Flying Sunday, January 14, UA 953 ORD-MUC. Currently booked in R, a 1K friend applied PP to waitlist for two seats to Polaris. Currently Polaris is booked 17/44 and we are spots 3 & 4 (of 9) on the Polaris waitlist. PremiumPlus is currently booked 16/21, and it looks like United is willing to oversell by 1.
We have no status on UA anymore 🙃.
Open relevant fare buckets are:
We have no status on UA anymore 🙃.
Open relevant fare buckets are:
- J9
- JN9
- C9
- D9
- Z9
- ZN9
- P9
- PN0
- PZ0
- IN0
- I0
- O6
- ON6
- A3
- R0
- RN0
#270
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,958
J9 on expert mode but App says Polaris is full
I am just able to see the WLs of my Sunday flight on United App. It says “Polaris cabin is full.” When I search my flight, the expert mode says “J9 C9 D7 Z5 P4 O1.” Premium Plus cabin has one seat open on seat map. Polaris cabin has 11 seats not selected. Do you trust United App more than “expert mode?” What is really going on on my flight? Any guess?
Normally, I trust the App more than united.com. For my flight, these two agree with each other. So, I guess that the WLs now mirror each other between the website and App.
Normally, I trust the App more than united.com. For my flight, these two agree with each other. So, I guess that the WLs now mirror each other between the website and App.