david_oz

Hi everybody

I'm traveling with my girlfriend and one of her friends to Singapore later this week. We are returning next Tuesday 27th via Tokyo. We booked a fantastic deal and are traveling on a K fare, but now I'm looking at the flights back from HND/NRT and there is R9 on pretty much every flight heading out of Tokyo to North America on the 27th. Is there any way to take advantage of this to use three of my GPUs? I tried the change my flight tool on the UA website and even if I type W then it still only shows me K fares in the results. Is it possible for them to waive the change fee if we kept exactly the same flights? Is it possible to do this at the last minute, for example at the airport?

Does anybody have experience with this? I've attached our flight details below. We would like to keep the SIN-NRT segment to that flight time so we can take advantage of a few hours in Tokyo

mahasamatman

If you're not buying up to a new cabin (i.e., GG/BUYUP doesn't apply), I believe you need to pay the change fee in addition to the fare difference. You can do this on the phone.

Kacee

You'll have to refare the entire ticket . . . you can't just upfare a single segment. The easiest way to figure out cost is to call UA.

An agent might waive change fee, but that would be a courtesy, not a right.

jsloan

Agreed. There's no way that a K fare SIN-NRT would be combinable with a W fare from NRT-YYC -- and, even if it were, it might well be more expensive than the W through fare. Note that you'll need W inventory on all flights (including NH804, which I'm a little surprised to see under a native code instead of a UA codeshare).

It does look like a fairly pricy buyup either way, though. Looking at the current fare table, K fares start as low as C$315 half-RT, whereas the lowest W fare I see is C$793 half-RT, and it could be more depending upon the day of travel, original date of purchase, etc. So, you could be looking at ~C$500 in fare difference plus a C$300 change fee if the agent doesn't waive it (per ticket). If you explain that you want to change to a W to use GPUs, that might help induce the agent to waive the fee.

david_oz

jsloan

If you tried it after arriving in Tokyo, there's an excellent chance that the agent would spend half an hour on the phone with the help desk before smiling sadly and telling you that yes, it was impossible. You'd have to retroactively re-fare a flight you'd already taken on a partner airline. I think it's possible, in the same way that it's possible to cut a suburban lawn with scissors, but finding someone with the requisite skill and willingness to try is a crapshoot at best. It's not the way that I'd want to spend my layover in Tokyo. (There's also no guarantee that R space that you see today will still be there by the day of the flight).

Barring IRROPS, in which case you might end up in W+ just by serendipitous chance, this is something that needs to be done before you leave SIN. And you can't waitlist a GPU within 24 hours of departure -- you'd need open R space at the time of application. Throwing in the SDC is going to make things tricky. I would suggest just changing to the flights you actually want ahead of time, assuming that there is both W and R availability, but the chances of getting the change fee waived drop precipitously if you're changing the flights too.

Kacee

I actually don't think it's possible. The ticket is priced RT to SIN. You can't retroactively create a fare break.

The realistic options are:

1. Call UA and ask how much to refare to W (and see if they'll waive change fee);
2. See if it's possible to upfare to P;
3. Do a miles + cash upgrade for the NRT-SFO segment.

jsloan

I believe it's possible, in the strictest definition of the word. I think a determined agent could get the record updated to show either an earlier fare break or -- what I was actually thinking -- to update the flown leg retroactively to W and price the thing. Keep in mind, SHARES does very little validation on its own -- it basically trusts the user to know the rules. But I agree that it's unrealistic, and that the three options you have listed here are the ones to plan for. Of the three, only the last could be done after departing SIN, and it would require R space that's currently available and a US$600 co-pay per person. There's also #4 , attempt to buy a TOD/HOD upgrade after check-in, but this probably won't be an option until the SIN-NRT coupon is lifted, as opposed to at T-24.

fumje

Call me crazy, but unless you really can't find a home for your GPU (or really need to use the SFO arrivals lounge) I would just fly this in Y. NRT-SFO isn't a terribly long flight, and I would be amazed if the upfare from K to W is less than $400. NRT has nice lounges, so you can eat / drink (/ shower) before the flight.

Kacee

Not crazy. With the winds, it's probably a nine hour flight right now (compared to seven for the SIN-NRT segment).

malgudi

But ... but ... but, OP is flying with his girl friend (and her friend), what better way to show he's ARRIVED?

jnb_tx

AceReport

As a data point I was one time able to refare from T to W on a 1/2 RT TATL with no change fee. It took the agent a very long minute to work it out. By the time my friend applied the GPU (2days later) it had gone from R2 to R0

nomad420

And this is a POTENTIAL problem for the OP. While I agree his chances look good, once changed no guarantee of upgrade. Been burned on this more than once as well.

mc0107

i did exactly this the other day. called up the 1k desk and up'ed to a W fare, immediately applied GPU and the change fee was waived, with a thank you for being a 1k. if you find the agent won't waive the fee, then hang up and call again. beware that in addition to the fare increase, there might be some country-specific premium fare charges (i'm doing cdg-ewr and had to $49). enjoy!