Can someone explain this situation? GS flying from ORD-> LAS, made a reservation for my son and I in economy and my another for my wife (Silver). I applied plus point for my wife and not for my son and I. The chances of upgrades looked slim for my son and I so I canceled her PP upgrade so we could all sit together in economy plus. After checking in for the 3 of us the upgrade lists her as 1 and my son and I 2, 3. It really doesn't make any difference to us however I'm just curious as to logic behind this. If any one can offer some insight i would aprreciate it. Thanks.

I have now seen several reports that canceling an upgrade request (after check-in?) does not remove you from the website visible list.

chances look very very good to me, esp on an A fare.

I’d be shock stunned and amazed if you don’t make it. The only thing that could go wrong is an equipment swap or a cancelation that generates lots of Polaris refugees on your flight.

Goal is to get upgraded transpac for company event in January where I can only book economy. Options I'm eyeballing are TPE-SFO on either BR or UA.

Booking tool is making it hard to find my way into upgradeable fare for BR (my usual choice). UA has a W fate TPE-SFO on 852/872 that is potentially doable and I have a 1k friend offering me some PP.

Both flights have 9s across the board except for all upgrade classes. Anyone think this is a pretty doable route for Silver being sponsored by 1k?

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.

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

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.. ?

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…

If
 

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a9c9254437.jpg
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).

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 🥺

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.

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.

MUC - SFO upgrade chances
 

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

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

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.

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.

what will that last Polaris seat be released?
 

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?

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.

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.

After the checkin cutoff, at the convenience of the gate agent.

I'd expect between T-30 minutes and when they close the door. Less than 50 percent chance it clears.

Hey all,

Around T minus 1'45, Gate agent said the system would automatically process the u/g and to refresh my boarding pass.

Got a text notification that I cleared 1'05 before wheels up, about 15 min before boarding.

This battlefield u/g is especially sweet, given my initial flight was cancelled and was rerouted. Total bonus.

May the upgrade odds be ever in your favor!

Hi All, first time using plus points (I let most of mine expire because there never seemed to be a good chance of using them.)

Flying UA 860 GRU-IAD on Dec 21
Boeing 767-400ER, 33 business class seats, 18 still open.
My status is Platinum, I'm flying on a Premium Economy Q class fare.
Expert mode fare classes show: J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 O9 ON9 A9 R0 RN0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN9 Q9 V9 W8 S3 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0

Would appreciate your expert opinion of my chances... I have other options for a better flight in economy class, so if my chances are really low I might cancel this ticket and buy a different one.

Thank you

FYI this isn’t considered a battlefield upgrade since it didn’t occur inside the aircraft.

It occurred just prior to boarding. Have you seen UA's boarding areas? That counts as battlefield!

SFO - TPE U/G chances
 

On UA 853 Dec 10, showing 14 open seats, currently P8PN0PZ0. I am number 5 on the waitlist.

Would appreciate opinions !

Thanks.

Any upgrade cleared within T-36 h is a battle; for example, against buy-ups, new instrument-supported requests, misconnected J pax.

50/50, depending upon the balance of number of cancellation, new purchase, and cheap buy ups. Good luck!

I was going off the online definitions.

Very much so! The state of UA boarding area, especially at hub airports, is an uphill battle. Never mind upgrading, even getting to the scanner requires focus and tenacity.

FT is a strange world and has a different definition of battleground upgrade.🤪

You are in an exceptional situation with only six people on the J waitlist for the 14 seats. I guess that could be a good sign but I am not sure.

Normally, I would be less optimistic than 50/50. Travel agencies in Chinatown are actively advertising the following (my translation of the content, not word-to-word):

$1000 upgrade from economy to Polaris on UA flight to Taipei! (picture of Polaris seat)
After you purchase the economy ticket, you will be upgraded once the option is open.

Obviously the ad is targeting flyers without PPts or lots of miles. Most of them are not that knowledgeable, so the rumor that "for extra $1000 you can fly UA Polaris" is spreading.

If I were you, I would seriously consider premium economy to move to spot 1 or 2, and to prepare to sit in PE if J does not clear.

Why do they torture us? 50 seats/23 booked 2 days out
 

The chances of not clearing approach zero, I get that... UA 869 SFO-HKG 12/7. 50 Polaris seats, only 23 booked, and I've seen nothing change in the waitlist in the past 30 hours. Sitting at #4 & 5. Only reason it matters is that there are 3 sets left of center seats parallel, best for couple traveling together. Just seems odd they don't allocate upgrades for Plat yet.

There are two flights daily SFO-HKG, both lightly loaded. The later flight does have one allocated upgrade (maybe the only GS between the two flights?). Similar situation on day earlier flight. One Polaris upgrade allocated, 50 total seats, 37 booked.

Nothing to see here, move along...

Because UA IT gets the pleasure of torturing😂😂

19 seats were available about 36 hours out for today's 11:35am departure. I sponsored 2 w/ PPs and they were at #2/3 for Polaris and they got theirs then. But absolutely no upgrades in week before, when at least 21 seats were available to begin with. UA just isn't clearing upgrades.

As far as I could tell, there were only net two buyups and/or new bookings in that week. Seems like not a whole lot of last-minute bookings for the flight.

I am trying to better understand the upgrade process. How does the below happen where there is a difference between the listed amount of booked seats and booking space in the Polaris cabin?

First snip below is from the booking availability (one way, and just the specific segment I am watching) and second snip is from the Flight Upgrade Status on the website. Obviously this is for the same flight and departure is currently around 48 hours out.

Appreciate any input or clarification other can provide.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a6fb095b1c.png
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6ec2839944.png

There are 7 Polaris seats available to fill and UA (at this point) is willing to sell 7 Polaris fares or 6 Polaris fares and one PremiumPlus fare (which they are overbooking). A seat map may actually show more than 7 open seats if they've been overselling PP prior to your fare table snapshot.

If UA sells no more tickets or buyups, there should available for upgrades a minimum of 7 Polaris seats plus Polaris seats put aside for PP oversell (if any) .

Maybe crew rest accounts for extra seats and 42 is actually the number of passenger-occupiable seats?

That explains much, thank you! There are many more seats showing available on the seat map that the screen shot shows.

I appreciate the information.