fumje

I got the CPU for 661 at this time of last year (May 2018), but it was Monday instead of Friday. I've also had pretty good luck the last few months with ORD/LAX. Not sure if summer is more or less difficult than winter and spring.

However, if 1AB are open on your flight, I'd consider it good use of the RPU.

MatthewLAX

LOL, I totally forgot. It's been over a year since I've been on a domestic flight that long in economy class. *Knock on wood*

Good data point. Thanks. I'll probably hold off applying a RPU unless my upgrade doesn't clear at the window.

Kacee

If 1A is available, I would burn the RPU just for the seat.

But I'm throwing at LAX-SFO now.

AirbusFan2B

Kacee

?

It will clear.

StuckinITH

Yes, PZ3 makes it a sure thing.

findark

My instinct is that a 1K CPU is a pretty sure thing if the flight is really open in PZ (not a blocked waitlist), but it is of course a risk.

MatthewLAX

hockey7711

Save the rpu for a ps flight

simonoaks

Hi,

Think this is the right place. I have a couple of questions. I am looking to take one of my quarterly trips back to UK with my 7 year old, to see family.

Looking to fly 29th June PBI-EWR-LHR. I can also fly 30th and and a push the 1st, using GPUs (just on outbound , do not use them for day flights back)

I have been doing the usual - Checking 3 times per day for last 3 weeks waiting for PZ space to open up. I could book 'free' Premium Economy on UA14 for GPU price ticket , what are the chances of clearing?

The issue I have, is I never book until PZ space is actually open, because right now, for various flights, there is a $500-$800 uplift from regular price to GPU price, is this typical? I do not recall it being that bad before. I see no point in paying 1600 extra for 2 people with no guarantee of clearing.

Also, id the "p" an indication of chance of clearing? Like P9 ? Also what does PN9 mean ?

Is it usually better to keep waiting right until the last minute to see if PZ space opens up ? Or do you run the risk of prices beinf even higher?

thx

StuckinITH

PN9 is a very good sign as it means that there are no GS waitlisted for the upgrade (unless they are a very big family of 10). Usually, they do open some PZ space but we don't know how many 1Ks are waitlisted already.

I think the price can go higher if they sell all the W fares and force you to a higher fare. Usually, the website says something like only 1 ticket left at this price, only 5 tickets left at this price when there is a risk that the fare class will go higher.

simonoaks

Ok, thanks.

I also noticed that it is 400 bucks cheaper to book separate pbi- ewr return, then ewr-LHR return, is this common? Seems odd. Is the only downside to this being that I will not benefit from the GPU on the domestic legs?

jsloan

That's not really the way pricing works. I mean, yes, if they are at W1 and they sell a ticket, they will likely to go W0, but they can also go from W9 to W0 and back with no warning.

The most common reason that a W fare price would change is that you'd pass an advance purchase window. Looking at PBI-LHR, the lowest upgradeable W fare I see has a 14-day advance purchase requirement. If you waited until 13 days prior to departure, you'd get bumped up to the next fare.

That said, consider routing on a plane that has Premium Plus. As long as the flight is UA-operated, you can upgrade any P+ ticket with a GPU, and the discount P+ fares are much, much cheaper than W. (The cheapest ones do require a 28-day advance purchase and a Saturday-night stay, though). The nice thing about that is that even if your GPU doesn't clear, you got a nicer seat for less money than the W lottery would have cost.


It's common on some routes and uncommon on others. NYC-LON is a highly competitive route.

The biggest downside is that if you are delayed out of PBI and miss your connection in EWR, UA is not obligated to accommodate you. In practice, they have a good record for doing this, but it's not a requirement.

You would also lose EC.261 protection on the connecting flight home.

StuckinITH

The other downside is if the UA agents are as inept as the ones where I unfortunately live and don't manage to do a simple UA-UA through transfer of the luggage to your final destination. Even the help desk was not willing to help but maybe the help desk was in a bad mood at 5:00 AM. It was not fun for my wife to have to collect the luggage at ORD and return it. She chose to be the volunteer to do it since I had to work at my destination and could not risk missing the flight. Maybe simonoaks should consider traveling with no checked luggage if purchasing the tickets separately.

And yes, jsloan, I understand nothing about pricing.

simonoaks

So, just to clarify, as UA is not 'selling' P+ seats right now, I should just buy standard economy return ticket - say UA14 on 29th June , and when I select the P+ seats for free (as a 1K ) , it will automatically be a P+ ticket and I can then apply the GPUs because of this?

thx