Daitheflu84

I'm a DL Platinum that flew a bit on UA last year on a Premier Gold status match. I flew twice to Hawaii on UA; SEA-SFO-OGG-DEN-SEA and then a one-way SEA-LAX-HNL trip. The OGG trip had a huge upgrade list and I had no chance of clearing a CPU, though I think we booked the trip fairly last minute. On the LAX-HNL trip, my girlfriend and I cleared into first at 48 hours before check-in. It was a very light load on a 753 and they only filled FC at the last minute, presumably with non-revs and buy ups. I know it's not exactly the route you are flying, but based on my experience, Hawaii routes are either packed to the gills and impossible to clear for upgrades, or they're half empty and I clear as soon as I'm eligible (FWIW, this is also my exact same experience with DL Hawaii flights; on SEA-LIH flight had 69 people on a 752 and we had 4 empty seats in FC).

Jaylyn Skinner

Yes, I'm on UA101

kevflyer

Yes. One time myself (UA G at the time) and companion (same PNR; no status) were cleared on SFO-LIH 48 hours out. I was very surprised.

david_oz

Looking at DEN-NRT on feb 14.

the app shows 17/36 booked, plus 8 seats blocked but looking at the inventory, there is still 9+ seats available all the way down to G (including mileage awards).

What is going on with this flight? Could Y actually be oversold by 8 seats this far out? And would they actually sell deep discount seats to oversell it by more? Or is there some other explanation.

considering changing to this flight to avoid a HKG transit under the coronavirus waiver, but this is one of several options.

jsloan

I believe that they've started blocking 8 seats on many (all?) 788 routes in case of a swap to a Polaris configuration.

david_oz

thanks. So I�m reading that it would be a bad idea to swap into this flight?

jsloan

Bad idea if it does get swapped. but I think they only have one Polaris-equipped 787 so far. If it's not swapped, you have 8 seats that can't be sold to TODs.

tjudice1

Hello I am new to this site but my wife and I are booked on a united flight from New Orleans to Auckland, NZ in November. I am booked in economy but have paid 120,000 miles and 2400 bucks for the 2 upgrades to business. Both were immediately put on the waitlist for Polaris business. The seating chart shows 50 seats up there on the big leg both ways but no availability in expert mode under the 2 codes for business. The seating chart basically looks like all the seats up there are blocked out and none are actually filled. I am not a premium member but do have the explorer credit card. What is the likelihood of getting the 2 upgrades and when does it typically happen? Thanks for any help!

fumje

Welcome to flyertalk!

What day of week / what week in November is your flight? Thanksgiving week may be not bad. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally easier, also.

But this far out there is no certainty about chances. You should check for PZ space regularly, especially around the 1 month and 1 week (/under) time frames.

tjudice1

Saturday November 21st and Saturday December 5th. I just figured with 50 seats the chances were decent that they would not sell them all are have that many elites coughing up miles and dollars to fill them all.

What will checking the PZ space in those timeframes show me? Thanks for the help.

jsloan

Upgrades on Saturdays are difficult. You'd be surprised at how many people do buy those seats. Furthermore, for people with high Premier status, UA provides upgrade instruments that can be used in lieu of miles plus dollars; anyone with those instruments available would try to use them on that flight -- and they'd be ahead of you on the waiting list, because it's sorted by status.

Mwenenzi

People that buy business class seats with cash, will often buy late (compared to economy). People flying for work/employer (not personal travel) will often only confirm a few days before.
Seats allocated is not the same as seats sold.

tjudice1

Okay thanks. I guess I just have to wait and see. What does checking a month or a week out tell me? Thanks for the help!

fumje

Checking for space will tell you if your upgrade can clear but the computer did not execute on clearing it. Frankly the waitlist process is broken, and for no status passengers it may leave you behind if you miss the space opening. (If you see pz, call in to request clearing.) The most likely times for space opening are around 1mo or 1wk.

You can hold off of checking if there is no p inventory (P0).

flyingrohit

Funny enough last year had the strangest occurrence on my lax-lhr flight a few days before departure where availability was J5 JN5 C4 D0 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN1 PZ0. Never saw anything like it before, never seen anything like it since.