nichojo

Hi United folks, ex Delta guy who now finds himself residing in Australia needs to get back to SFO for work and I don't want to sit in economy. Problem is that my company will not pay for a big seat and therefore I gotta figure it out myself.

That said, can anyone give me a bit of high level feedback as to whether waitlisting for a mileage upgrade to either LAX or SFO is remotely advisable? I am a Silver if that counts for anything. Travels days would be Saturday to NA and back to AU on a Friday; fully in the low season - June. Thinking I could get the company to buy the Y seat and then pay the cash and miles myself to make the switch.

Thanks in advance.

findark

You'll be hard-pressed to find R space on a weekend and waitlisting is always a dangerous game. If possible, I would also consider a split ticket connection to MEL as MEL-LAX tends to be a bit better than SYD.

nichojo

Good info, thank you.

dcmesser

Update: I saw that a seat in R opened up at T-46 and called the 1K desk to secure it. Took the agent a few minutes but he was able to get the seat.

StuckinITH

Congratulations! Enjoy your flight!

nichojo

Which has highest likelihood of upgrade clearing:
1. SFO-SYD on a Thursday
2. LAX-SYD on a Friday
3. IAH-SYD on a Friday
Wildcard - LAX-MEL on a Friday

EAlyse

I feel like I'm getting close enough I could ask about some chances. May 7 flight SFO-OGG. MP Silver + GM Companion on same PNR. Confirmed through Cablepick site that only 1 booked in first.

Available fare classes F9 A9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN9 R8 RN8 IN7 I7 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W9 S9 T9 L9 K9 G9 N9 XN9 X9

Seat Map:


How am I looking? Marginally better than 0? Would you expect a lot of changes on a leisure route 18 days out?

kunalmahajan478

Are you looking for a CPU upgrade? R8 RN8 IN7 I7 look very promising.

EAlyse

Yes, looking for CPU.

fumje

First things first: get yourself into the window seat! (And keep the aisle.) If someone takes middle, just ask to switch on board. Unlikely to be declined.

As far as CPU, I wouldn't get hopeful yet, but things don't look bad. I have seen SFO-OGG fill up within two weeks of departure, and people will take buy-up at check-in, so several of the remaining seats will probably be sold. What works in your favour is that there appear to be only three passengers with Gold or higher status, at this point. (7ED are blocked until check-in.)

findark

At I7 I would say things look about as good as they possibly can, although Silver upgrades are basically never better than a coin flip. Good luck! While last minute bookings happen, Hawaii sees much less of the final 14 day surge of premium demand that business routes do.

wco81

Has anyone been able to upgrade with miles on the SFO-AKL non-stop flight within the past year? Especially in the high-season months -- December, January, February?

Looks like up to 30k miles and $600 copay each way.

Rumples

Yup, super promising especially given the fact that Kauai is half flooded right now and it's been raining heavy for the last week or two there.

Grapeking

Am planning a trip to Geneva area this summer for myself, wife, and son (we will be initiating the trip from EWR). Nonstop outbound flight July 13 (UA 956) and nonstop return July 22 (UA 957). As a 1K I'm sitting on enough Global Upgrades that I figured I could book Economy, then use the Global Upgrade process and *voila* we would have our BusinessFirst seats for both flights.

Not so fast! The United reservations system seems to take the reservations, but at the very end of the process a warning is received, informing me that "One or more of your flights does not currently have any upgrades available. You will be placed on an upgrade waitlist. We cannot guarantee that any upgrades will be confirmed from the waitlist(s); however, this is the best way to have an upgrade confirmed if one becomes available, other than purchasing a premium cabin seating offer. "

At this time the seat maps are showing only 11 (out of 30) seats are sold on the outbound EWR to Geneva, and only 4 (out of 30) on the return flight Geneva to EWR. So I'm not certain why the Global Upgrades will not clear. I also tried with Miles and the co-pay fee, but received the same message.

I'm pretty much a noob at this stuff so appreciate any advice on how I should approach this. Do I book using the Global Upgrades, cross my fingers, and hope all three clear?

Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

WineCountryUA

TATL upgrades in peak vacation travel season can be tough-- mid-week is better than weekends.

GPUs or Miles plus copay have the same access to upgrade space which for a 1K comes from "R" inventory. As a 1K, you and all those on the same PNR will have your status priority. The waitlist is sorted by status, fare class and then time of request. So you will be up on the waitlist but only if 3 or more spaces are released if you stay together. It will be an all or nothing situation. You can split your PNR which will help you but you risk only some of you will clear. For more on the tradeoffs , see To split or not to split PNR

for more on the wait list process, see Understanding the United Upgrade List Comprehensively

BTW, seat maps are a problematic way to check availability, you should turn on Expert Mode in your profile and see deeper information that you will read about in this thread.

So, yes this a bit more involved than just appling GPUs.

Good luck