ExplorerWannabe

I think what he's getting at is that what we call J today (or what I see people wanting in J) is largely comparable to what used to pass for F before business class was a thing and what they're calling PE is comparable to what business class was when it was first rolled out. What is going on in first class suites like SQ F now used to be solely for private or charter jets. I get it, my company doesn't even like the appearance of people flying in business class on official duty so PE is a nice way to dodge that system and still get reasonable rest on a long haul. (Heck, I have to get permission to use my own cash or miles to upgrade -- although my leadership is pretty comfortable granting permission for upgrades that don't result in additional charges.)

jdrtravel

Because business class is not first class and premium economy is not business class.

jsloan

Kacee

Not sure I see the point of drawing parallels across eras. Airlines currently offer anywhere from one to four classes of service on any given aircraft. Not because they're trying to maintain some sort of historic consistency, but because they aim to optimize their product to match market demand.
It was a nice product, far better than the current PE offering. About 56" pitch, IIRC, in a 2-3-2 configuration on the 772.

narvik

My interpretation of that advertising image:

jjmoore

So in the expert mode inventory, R and RN upgrade buckets are showing up immediately following F and A (the new premium economy fare buckets). Does this mean that if you book in economy and use a certificate, you will be upgrading to a premium economy product R / RN, or will you bypass PE and upgrade into PN / ZN for biz class?

I appear to have found the answer to my own question, and it CONFIRMS MY WORST FEARS!!

https://hub.united.com/united-announ...621985755.html

If you book in economy, your GPU instrument will only get you to PE. You have to book PE to be eligible to upgrade to J. SHAME! This is a HUGE downgrade, and I saw it coming.

My mistake from previous post .. O and A are the new fare buckets for PE. Not F.

dinoscool3

jjmoore

Let's hope this is true... there is a huge lack of clarity in their wording as to whether this is true or not. They need to be specific and say if you are booked in Y or below, the GPU can only be used for ON and if you are booked in O/A, the GPU can be used for PN / ZN. That would clarify a TON. I tend to believe less that UA will give those sitting in economy the choice as to whether they would upgrade to PE or J, as the choice is completely obvious.

Edit: Or if you are booked in a fare class lower than W, your GPU only applies to ON, and if booked in W or higher up to Y, your GPU applies for PN / ZN space .... wishful thinking, of course.

sbm12

This is 100% inaccurate. Your ability to predict the future needs some tuning.
O/A/R are the buckets, not just O and A.

Disagree. The language about the upgrades is pretty clear, save for one area.


This is not how it works.

If you're booked in KLST the GPU only gets you into PremY. If you're booked in W or above It gets you into PremY if available and into Biz if available. The part that is unclear is on requesting that the upgrade only clear into J (i.e. a pax doesn't want to use a GPU on a W+ fare for Y->PremY). While I have no doubt the company can accommodate that (either now or eventually) I haven't seen the UI to know that such a request is possible.

One other thing I keep thinking about for such requests is that UA already said the priority for upgrades into J will now consider those booked in PremY before those in Y. So a Silver booked in R using miles gets priority over a 1K in W on a GPU. If that 1K clears into PremY first would they then have priority over the Silver??

monczao

Looking at UA's website for Premium Economy flights to EU in April and most of them return on LH metal. Any idea what LH fare bucket R maps to? Will i be able to use a GPU on a 016 ticket on LH metal if I book an R ticket?

Kacee

It's been reported that the interface will accommodate that request. TPG has a screenshot showing the options. You Can Now Book Premium Plus With Miles and Cash

Well you need to be booked under the LH flight number to apply a GPU, so if you're looking at a codeshare, this is going to be a multi-step process, involving a call to UA. If you try it, please report back. You can always cancel within 24 hours if it doesn't work. Which is certainly a possibility given how new this all is. I would in particular be concerned the R maps to N, which is a non-upgradeable LH fare class.

tods27

I was looking for the upgrade awards info, so thanks for posting the link to TPG. It will be interesting to see if the UG awards are simply the same miles as a C upgrade minus the copay as shown in TPG's example. Lack of a copay is good news, assuming that sticks. I wouldn't be surprised to see copays sneak back in. As a data point, LH charges 50K miles for a Y->C and 30K miles for Y->PE TATL(these are M&M, not *A upgrades). No copays in either case. There are reports on the LH board of $300 paid upgrades from Y->PE (and, of course, they have the PlusGrade bidding system).

jsloan

It appears that codeshare PE inventory was added for LH flights overnight. NH codeshare flights still don't have any.

I agree; it's a virtual certainty, IMO, that O->G, A->E, and R->N on the LH codeshares, meaning that you probably can't upgrade an R fare on LH metal with a GPU. (Frankly, I'm surprised you can upgrade R fares on UA metal with a GPU).

For nonstop flights, you can use advanced search to search for O and A. For connecting flights that involve an economy segment, you currently can't; since the economy leg won't have an O or A fare bucket, the entire result is suppressed from the "Requested fare class" column. You should be able to call UA to book an O or A fare on a connecting flight, however.

sbm12

Excellent.
Would searching O,A,B do it? You used to be able to trick the system that way.

jsloan

It's an excellent thought, and the answer is "sort of." It works for connecting flights on UA, because those book into B and because the through B fare is usually higher than the A fare. It does not work for connecting flights on LH, because those are booking into discount fare classes.

So, if I'm searching AUS-FRA, I can use O, A, B to get the nonstop flight or connections through a UA hub (in PE), but if I'm searching AUS-CDG, I get B fares (in Y).