Zakfischer

First post on here I'm a lowly UA silver member. Flying LGA to ORD on Sunday afternoon. Flight is in 6 days. I'm guessing chances are low but wanted to see what people thought.

• F6
• A5
• JN6
• C5
• D5
• Z4
• ZN4
• P4
• PN4
• R2
• RN2
• IN1
• I0
• Y6
• YN6
• B6
• M5
• E3
• U3
• H0
• HN1
• Q0
• V0
• W0
• S0
• T0
• L0
• K0
• G0
• N6
• XN0
• X0

jsloan

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Your intuition is correct. As a Premier Silver, there is zero chance of a CPU on that flight. 6 days before travel, nobody's complimentary upgrades have cleared yet, and there's no way that there aren't at least 6 passengers with a higher status than Silver.

However, because the flight is R2, if you would like to upgrade using miles, you can do so and it will clear immediately. (Mileage upgrades clear into the R fare bucket).

Zakfischer

Than you for the quick response - this is very helpful!

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Just bought ticket to LAS, applied GPU. R was 0 OGG-SFO and no coach seats available to choose from. By seat map below (me w/o seat and assuming all F passengers have selected seat), it looks like United will sell a combination of F and Y tickets totaling either 9 or 10.

I think I saw PN>0 a day before I booked and 2 seats F seats disappeared prior to my booking w/ PN now 0.

I've never been in this situation before - mid-week flight OGG-SFO w/o seat assignment 13 days from flight. Has anyone been in a situation like this? Might UA release R or will it hold everything until airport?

I know there could be GS and 1Ks on higher fare classes in front of me on the waitlist. Maui's kind of funny. Likely to be no GS or GS and family. Either occur more frequently than 1 GS.

nomad420

Well I-O-T you know I have been in this situation before but agree NOT typically mid week. You have helped me in and out of the Islands before and I can say that since the volcano things have been definitely off particularly in and out of KOA and HNL. As you noted, and I have run into this as well, you will be dealing with Summer Vacation GS travel with family. Possibly even some diverting from the Big Island to Maui. This has been happening a lot lately as the travel industry in Kona has been reporting. Also this is the popular mid day departure back to LAS. Having said all that I have been in and out of KOA and HNL (not OGG) several times over the past few months and have seen R space open up prior to T24 on about 75% of the flights. The other 25% I was upgraded at the gate or even on the flight. These are the only flights I have been able use my instruments on this year. Pōmaikaʻi!

findark

The placeholder seatmap has dozens of Y seats missing based on either actual 753 config that flies -- there isn't really an oversale here.

I would say the odds of an instrument clearly are pretty decent based on that load.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Ah - so placeholder is preventing me from choosing coach seat even though some might be unoccupied. I keep thinking I'll be in a middle seat in the last row and they'll run out of cheeseburgers before they get to me. Hopefully upgrade comes through.

Mahalo!

findark

If you're not liking your odds to clear, check your reservation around 2 a.m. CDT the night before T-48 hours. The proper seatmap will appear and a large number of very desirable E+ seats will be added, including a guaranteed Row 8.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I've been checking about 9pm Hawaii time (1am CST). I'll start checking at 10pm local. Lack of seat has been keeping me awake anyway...

findark

Very few people know this secret, so usually any time that evening should be good. I don't know the exact load time to the minute, or even if it's deterministic.

nomad420

Thanks you guys, very valuable information for a common route for me. While this doesn't happen to me often I have experienced what I-O-T is going through on rare occasion so thanks again.

LV1k

I know SFO-SIN is one of the harder upgrades in the UA network, but I am wondering if I might have a shot clearing a GPU on this flight. I'm buying biz on the way back since the cabins already half full. I'm hoping since the flight is so empty and its the day after Christmas my chances are better. Any insight is appreciated!

• Available fare classes: J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9, PN6, R0, RN0, IN0, I0, Y9, YN9, B9, M9, E9, U9, H9, HN9, Q9, V9, W9, S0, T0, L0, K0, G0, N9, XN0, X0
• 2 Seats taken in biz, 8 in E+
• UA 29 on 12/26/18

fumje

Not advising complacency, but my observation is that from about T-72 (whenever the seat map actually loads) to T-36 you can get a good E+ seat pretty reliably.


edit add:

Obviously that's quite a while from now, but odds look good. Booked 2/48 now, and PN6 means you might even see open R soon. I think since they changed 37,38 (LAX) into 28,29, clearing from SFO is less difficult.

You can loads with the flight status link:
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/travel/flightstatus/results.aspx?FLN=29&FLD=12/26/2018&FSO=SFO&FSD=SIN

doverflyer

Curious about what my chances are for an upgrade on UA 872 TPE-SFO on 9/14. Applied a GPU on a W fare a while back and have been checking for R space constantly but nothing is opening up. Inventory seems to be in flux a lot too- there was Z9 and ZN9 for a long time and P9 that comes and goes. Now it's Z0 and P0. Been checking the cablepick tool but it seems that even with the inventory changes, business class is not being booked accordingly. Anyone know what the deal is? Also any opinions on the GPU clearing would be much appreciated. Thanks!

doverflyer

Business booked 16 out of 60 by the way! It was 11 out of 60 just a few days ago so maybe United is expecting to sell a lot 6 weeks out? E+ has 20 seats booked according to the seat map.