jjmoore

Not to mention that Nov. 21 is the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This is a day that is very difficult to clear upgrades, even with 1K status. Many people will pay outright for J seats.

Probably better chance to upgrade on Dec. 5 for the return leg, but the outbound to AKL is going to be a tough one.

tjudice1

Thanks everyone! This has been a big help! Hopefully I get lucky! Otherwise I get the money and miles back

david_oz

anybody know when this block is removed? I�m confirmed in PZ for LAX- NRT tomorrow but I�d much rather have a few hours sleep in Denver and take the direct. Kind of frustrating because all upgrades have cleared and there would probably be PZ space available if not for the 8 blocked seats

separate but somewhat related question. Would you keep the DEN-LAX-NRT or swap to DEN-SFO-NRT if the direct isn�t available? Trying to weigh the better Polaris seat vs slightly higher IRROPS risk at SFO despite a slightly longer connection (1 hour 25 mins vs 1 hour in LA)

dkc192

Probably not until it goes to gate control, i.e. when you will have already boarded your DEN-California flight. SFO looks fine for tomorrow morning; if you can get a decent seat on the SFO-NRT I'd consider switching.

jamis0n

First time poster here! Flying EWR to SFO (which I hear is quite a popular route) on Monday 2/24

Availability is currently: [33/44 Load] - J9 JN9 C6 D3 Z0 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0 O5 ON5 A0 R0 RN0 Y9 YN9 B9 M9 E9 U9 H9 HN0 Q9 V4 W2 S0 T0 L0 K0 G0 N9 XN0 X0

Couple questions:

1. My upgrade was applied by a GS member - does that get me any priority? Does that make my upgrade a "GS Instrument"? I'm just a General Member with United. I've heard lots of varying rumors about this question, so curious what this group thinks!
2. I'm currently waitlisted for a Premium Economy upgrade as well as a Polaris upgrade. Does the PE upgrade request hinder my priority for Polaris in any way?
3. If there are very few seats left a few days before my flight, is there any recommended way to avoid the change fee to switch to another flight that has more availability?

Thanks in advance!

Dpetryszyn

What is your flight number? This will help in atleast seeing where you are on the upgrade list.

A Little Cow

1) Yes, you will clear into PN (which becomes available before PZ) so it should give it fairly high priority. Only GS (or those on GS supported instruments) should clear before you. So you should have some chance (although it still might not be a high chance ).

2) The request for PE shouldn't affect the Polaris upgrade request as far as I know.

3) The only way is to hope for some delay/cancellation (or SFO/EWR weather waiver) which would specifically allow it. You could always call and ask very nicely but not likely to be successful.

jamis0n

It's UA583 (3pm) - Is there any way to check the waitlist? I thought you couldn't do that until 24 hours before.

I should clarify - I am not traveling with the GS sponsor. I'm traveling alone. Does that change things?

And do you know if there is any way to verify this online or do I need to call United?

Thanks!

united 1k flyer

nope nothing changes.

fumje

You can't verify that you're waitlisted for PN online, but you can check whether PN is open (by enabling expert mode).

flyingrohit

UA actually hasn't been very clear on these things.

To help your case, I actually flew UA583 on a Thursday a few weeks back and I was on a friend's Global Services upgrade as well and sitting #1 on the waitlist. The only difference is that I'm only gold status and I was actually originally booked in premium economy. Throughout the day, the # of seats booked oscillated between 43 and 44/44 which of course wasn't very promising. Then 2 people didn't check-in and so I was upgraded while on board.

But according to UA's supposed gate list where the ordering is by status, I shouldn't have cleared, because I'm willing to bet money that my status is not even close to the highest on a Thursday afternoon EWR-SFO flight.

Back to your flight, UA's website officially says that they'll clear premium economy to Business before they clear economy to business. But as A Little Cow says, you being on a PN upgrade changes things and you *should* have a much higher chance, but hard to be sure with UA's inconsistent upgrade policy enforcement

jamis0n

Don't you think this was because you had a paid Premium Economy ticket?

I just called United and they told me that my waitlist priority is based on the travelers status, not the sponsor. Chance the agent is wrong or doesn't know that GS sponsored upgrades have access to different upgrade inventory (PN)?

fumje

It's not wrong, but it's not complete.

Anyone with higher status than you and a GS upgrade will be prioritised above you. But since GS upgrades access PN, you have de facto priority above anyone with non-GS sponsors.

jamis0n

Ah ok, that makes sense for upgrades clearing before the waitlist is published (as PN inventory becomes available).

But if that doesnt happen before the published waitlist, do they just take the entire PN list and append the PZ list? (meaning I have the lowest priority of PN but highest of PZ)?

fumje

Previously, I would say, yes, but now, I will say, I don't know. Reports are all over the place.