jsloan

For international (trans-oceanic) trips, it doesn't work this way because they're not sold using differential pricing. Those fares are still filed the "old fashioned" way, where J and Y inventory are managed independently.

The "First Class Monetization" thread is probably the best primer to the way United is selling the domestic F product.

fumje

If you want a lot (!) more detail, here is a virtuosic description of how all that works from findark:
A Comprehensive Look at Domestic First Class Monetization (FCM) on United

findark

Huh. The differentials seem to have gone up.. when I was poking around I saw $99 -> $109, $159 -> $179, $199 -> $209, and $299 -> $309. I'll have to go re-do that table...

JMBResona

For what it's worth, my buy-up offer for IAD-BDL (Late May) was $99.

hudsonlaluna

Hi all, I was reading another posting on the UA forum where the OP was assessing the likelihood of 3 GPUs clearing for an international business seat on UA960. He made reference to checking the wait list for a while and seeing how many are GS, 1K, etc and who are using GPUs. Does this function exist? The only wait list I've seen is on the "Flight Status" tab that fills up with the passengers' 3 letters of their last name and first name initial with no additional details. Thanks

Lefleur

I have a super dumb question, sorry (I am just starting to fly United more often and I have found each carrier is different; I have searched but clearly I am using the wrong terminology because I can't find the answer to this).

If I buy an upgrade-eligible economy fare, and use a combination of miles and co-pay to upgrade to business (this is an international itinerary), do I earn the PQM for the original Q fare or for the fare as if it were a P (or whatever the business class fare class is/would be...I think that's the P fare on United)?

For example, if I buy a one-way US-Asia fare in Q which would earn 11,000 PQM and I pay $500 and 30k miles to upgrade to Business Class, do I earn 11,000 PQM or do I earn 22,000 PQM (the PQM if I had originally purchased in business)?

I once purchased an upgrade to business on another carrier and later discovered it did not earn the business class miles because it was an upgraded fare (it still earned the economy PQM equivalent), so I am trying to figure out my plans and was wondering how this worked with United.

Thank you!

EmailKid

All fares are Ca$h and miles u/g eligible but u/g only gets (few) original miles.

jsloan

Not publicly. Some agents will share this information with customers, others will refuse, and still others will make something up. It sounds like whoever posted that got an accommodating agent.

Correct. Not only would you get the original PQM -- 100%, not 200% -- but you'd also get the original number of PQDs and redeemable miles (which are based on PQDs). The money spent on the co-pay doesn't count.

fumje

The only public information is the flight status that shows booked count and, if you enable expert mode, the inventories. The latter can help you make inferences about the waitlist or likelihood of upgrade availability. For example if PN is open, there are supposedly no GS waiting for an upgrade; if Z and below are closed, it is not likely that upgrade availability will be offered soon. As noted, the only way to get actual numbers about the waitlist if one exists is from an agent, and agents are not supposed to disclose that.

I think EmailKid and jsloan answered your question, but just adding that if a MUA (miles + co-pay) clears, you are put into fare class R, rather than P. Among other things, that means the upgrade only counts for the flight on which it cleared; if you need to change flights, you go back to Q.

hudsonlaluna

Not sure if this is the right forum, but was asking because am trying to book an upgradable W,V fare class (using GPU) for a roundtrip NYC-FCO in Sep (dates flexible). Had a hard time doing the search online on united.com so called the 1K agent. She searched but said there were no confirmable flights to be upgraded and instead put me on a flight that had still half biz class seats open. Those dates are less than ideal so was wondering if I could try to look up this information myself using the expert mode that shows the fare classes. Am looking for flights that have maximum chance of being upgraded using GPU instrument. Thanks

SFOrunner

Enable Expert Mode on United.com (you must be signed in) and look for flights with W>0 and R>0. You should clear immediately using your GPU if both of those buckets are available. Like the quote above you says, if R=0, then look for flights with PN>0. While you'd still have to waitlist, PN>0 is an indicator that Revenue Management thinks that they *may* not sell all of the seats.

fumje

There is a fair amount of discussion scattered around this forum, a lot of it concentrated here—
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ht-2018-a.html (and previous years' versions)
—but generically speaking, the signals that I first look at are the booked count (as shown by the flight status page) and the lowest-open premium fare bucket inventory (as shown by expert mode, searching for one segment at a time). Regarding the fare buckets, if P or PN are open, there is a decent chance that R will open and the upgrade can clear. The higher the lowest-open bucket, the more difficult it will be to clear (e.g., C6 D6 Z0 is hard, C6 D0 Z0 is even harder).

hudsonlaluna

It's a touch overwhelming, all these options. In looking for flights with P and PN >0 ( none had R>0) , would you choose a or b re maximizing probability of V class clearing upgrade using GPU: else am open to other alternatives

a

• Available fare classes:
• J9
• JN9
• C9
• D9
• Z9
• ZN9
• P9
• PN0
• R0
• RN0
• IN0
• I0
• Y9
• YN9
• B9
• M9
• E9
• U9
• H9
• HN9
• Q9
• V9
• W9
• S9
• T9
• L9
• K4
• G0
• N9
• XN0
• X0

b:

• Available fare classes:
• F0
• FN0
• A0
• ON0
• O0
• J9
• JN6
• C6
• D6
• Z6
• ZN6
• P6
• PN6
• R0
• RN0
• IN0
• I0
• Y9
• YN9
• B9
• M9
• E9
• U9
• H9
• HN9
• Q9
• V9
• W9
• S9
• T9
• L9
• K0
• G0
• N0
• XN0
• X0

jsloan

Is this the inventory found when searching just the overwater flight, or does it include a connection? You want the inventory just of the overwater flight, so you need to search for it independently.

hudsonlaluna

It is just the overwater portion that I've pasted above. Both of those options are not direct but am concerned re overwater leg. The upgrade inventory I posted are for the overwater leg.

Perhaps I am making it more difficult than necessary but it's so tedious trying to manually check via 'expert mode' the combination of dates and options - PN and P >0 , is this how FT'ers find their optimal flights?