Jan 2, 2019, 3:38 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

GPU upgrade SUCCESS 2019

Consider posting:
1. Route
2. Date
3. Fare class (New Codes for PE this year!)
4. Y-O, Y-J, O-J
5. How many days/weeks in advance ticket was purchased
6. How many hours/days/weeks before departure did upgrade clear

For Reference: GPU upgrade SUCCESS 2018
GPU upgrade SUCCESS 2017
GPU upgrade SUCCESS 2016
GPU upgrade SUCCESS 2015

GPU / PlusPoints Polaris flight upgrade SUCCESS 2019

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Jun 24, 2019, 4:32 am

#211

narvik

Join Date: May 2010

Location: AVP & PEK

Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM

Posts: 6,362

There should be plenty of GPU successes next week, as around the 4th July loads to and from the USA are generally low.
I had to change a flight, and the [already applied & confirmed] GPU cleared at booking:

1. PEK-EWR
2. July 3
3. W
4. Y-J
5. changed 2 weeks before departure
6. Cleared at time of change (asked agent to look for days where flight would clear at booking, and not be waitlisted)

Jun 24, 2019, 5:31 am

#212

Kmxu

Join Date: May 2012

Location: ORF, RIC

Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum

Posts: 6,958

1. EWR-HKG
2. 6/13
3. Y
4. Y-J
5. 2 weeks
6. Cleared just inside 24 hours from departure

1. HKG-EWR
2. 6/23
3. Y
4. Y-J
5. 3+ weeks
6. Cleared T-80 min from departure (called 1K lines when PZ space opened)

Comment: The higher prioirity of Premium Plus fare classes --> Polaris upgrade made these two upgrades difficult. Both were booked at full Y (YCA) class and yet cleared after all Premium Plus upgraders.

1. IAD-PEK
2. 6/30
3. W
4. Y-J
5. 5+ weeks
6. Cleared at booking

1. PVG-SFO
2. 7/6
3. U
4. Y-J
5. 6+ weeks
6. Cleared at booking

Edit: The second flight was changed to PEK-ORD(-RIC) to shorten my trip (PEK-SHA/PVG-SFO-IAD-RIC). PZ spaces were available when I called 1K line.

narvik likes this.

Last edited by Kmxu; Jul 8, 2019 at 1:16 pm

Jun 24, 2019, 4:33 pm

#213

dav3d

Original Poster

Join Date: Sep 2007

Location: San Francisco

Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Titanium, IHG Platinum, Avis President's Club, Hertz President's Circle

Posts: 323

1. SFO-AKL
2. July 9, 2019
3. W
4. Y-->J
5: 16 days
6. Cleared at booking

1. AKL-SFO
2. August 3, 2019
3. W
4. Y-->J
5: 6 Weeks
6. Cleared at booking

Jun 24, 2019, 7:02 pm

#214

hudsonlaluna

Join Date: Jul 2012

Location: NY

Programs: UA, Marriott, SPG, Hyatt, Hilton, Omni

Posts: 108

EWR - BRU
June 13, 2019
R fare class
Y to J
February 2019
T-24

BRU - EWR
June 24, 2019
R fare class
Y to J
February 2019
T-72

Jun 24, 2019, 9:21 pm

#215

fumje

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 11,469

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kmxu

OP could not make the connection since LAX flight arrived after ORD flight left PVG.

Sometimes I mix it up with time zones, but I believe 22-Jun departing PVG-LAX arrives also 22-Jun, and then the 23-Jun departing ORD-PVG would still be about 15 hours later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GYEWorldTraveler

Actually was not on a mileage run but had to accompany someone to LAS last minute and get back to PVG as soon as possible. So ended up flying PVG-LAX-LAS arriving at 10:30pm and then LAS-ORD-PVG departing at 11:54pm. Lots of flying but happy to be back home and got to fly in comfort the whole way - ORD-PVG got a newly modded 772.

Sounds like a grand time! Did you get in a round of video blackjack as well?

GYEWorldTraveler and Kmxu like this.

Jun 25, 2019, 5:44 am

#216

Kmxu

Join Date: May 2012

Location: ORF, RIC

Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum

Posts: 6,958

1. PEK-ORD
2. 6/22
3. W
4. Y-J
5. ~36 hours
6. Cleared at booking
I changed my wife's reservation from saver business (80K miles on Air China, HGH-PEK-IAH-ORF) to shorten the trip (HGH-PEK-ORD-ORF) and get home earlier. There was PZ1 at booking. The one-way ticket was about $780 for W class. The total cost is about the same except that I will not need to worry about unused GPUs at the end of year.

narvik likes this.

Jun 26, 2019, 9:54 pm

#217

hawkswin

Join Date: Sep 2013

Location: AUS, ORD, SFO, SIN

Programs: United 1K 2MM, Hyatt Globalist

Posts: 50

SFO > AKL
Booked 6/26 for travel 11/17
Fare class V > PZ
Cleared at booking x2

SYD>SFO
Booked 6/26 for travel 11/28 Thanksgiving morning arrival back at SFO
Fare class not sure to start but booked PZ
Cleared at booking x3

Learning about expert mode and seeing PZ fares on it has made using CPUs pretty easy w/a little flexibility. The return on Thanksgiving morning at 7am is awesome to still make holiday dinner w/the in laws and a good option for others to consider if looking to travel but still attending the holiday gathering at night.

Jun 27, 2019, 7:36 pm

#218

SFHokie

Join Date: Sep 2012

Location: SEA

Programs: UA MP (1K, 1MM)

Posts: 268

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuckinITH

If the outbound was PVG-ORD you would have already cleared as it's PZ9.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFHokie

But alas, it's not! I was shocked that ORD-PVG was showing PZ1 when I was able to book it. *fingers crossed* on PVG-SFO clearing which is one of the hardest routes I fly to get a u/g on, especially Thursday through Saturday ex-PVG.

And technically PVG-ORD would be my inbound leg as I'm stations west of PVG :-p

Just needed to wait a bit longer...

1. PVG-SFO
2. 7/4
3. W
4. Y-J
5. 32 days
6. Cleared 7.5 days in advance (J9 still showing for availability)

Jun 27, 2019, 11:17 pm

#219

anc-ord772

Join Date: Sep 2003

Location: LAX

Programs: UA MM | BA Silver

Posts: 7,193

EZE-EWR-LAX
2019/06/26-27
W
Y-J
Purchased 7 days in advance
EZE-EWR cleared at booking; EWR-LAX cleared with agent intervention after SDC to a flight with PZ2

Jun 28, 2019, 1:06 am

#220

StuckinITH

Join Date: Nov 2012

Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum

Posts: 3,477

Quote:

Originally Posted by SFHokie

Just needed to wait a bit longer...

1. PVG-SFO
2. 7/4
3. W
4. Y-J
5. 32 days
6. Cleared 7.5 days in advance (J9 still showing for availability)

I'm glad it worked!

Jun 28, 2019, 3:26 am

#221

ShowsKnows

Join Date: Dec 2018

Posts: 1

1. LAX - EWR - BCN
2. 6/30
3. R
4. O-J
5. Booked and requested 5/1
6. Saw PZ open up at 1 am and called to push the EWR - BCN segment. Still waitlisted on the LAX - EWR leg.

Jun 28, 2019, 9:30 am

#222

Rumples

Join Date: Dec 2016

Programs: Mileage Plus 1K \\ ConciergeKey

Posts: 531

LAX - TPE
July 3rd
Y-J
Booked in W
outbound cleared yesterday
inbound cleared at booking (booked in r)

Jun 28, 2019, 10:19 pm

#223

usbusinesstraveller

Join Date: Jan 2017

Location: Portland OR

Programs: United 1K 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton HHonors Gold

Posts: 560

1. HKG-SFO
2. 4th August 2019
3. R
4. P+ to J
5. Purchased today 6/28 at around 5pm PDT (6.5 weeks in advance)
6. Cleared today 9pm (4 hours after booking)

The outbound on 7/25 remains waitlisted.

Jun 29, 2019, 12:16 am

#224

mantxt

Join Date: Dec 2013

Location: SFO

Programs: UA (1K)

Posts: 3

Success HKG to ORD

Route: HKG-ORD
Date: Jun 24, 2019
Fare class: W (paid $217 to move up from S)
Econ to Polaris Business
How many days/weeks in advance ticket was purchased: 12 days (paid $217 to upgrade fare from S to W, and then applied GPU)
How many days/weeks before departure did upgrade clear: 12 days (cleared as soon as I fare upgraded and applied GPU)

I did the above for 3 tickets (family members), and for my ticket I paid $600 + 30K miles (only had 3 GPUs left) to waitlist and that was also immediately confirmed. I did this all via customer service agent, not online.

So spent ~$1200 + 30K mikes for four tickets to get upgraded from economy to Polaris. Wife and kids absolutely loved it.

FlytheTail and narvik like this.

Jun 29, 2019, 12:45 am

#225

GYEWorldTraveler

Join Date: Oct 2010

Location: SEA

Programs: UA 1K, AS MVPG, DL GM, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 2,266

Quote:

Originally Posted by mantxt

Route: HKG-ORD
Date: Jun 24, 2019
Fare class: W (paid $217 to move up from S)
Econ to Polaris Business
How many days/weeks in advance ticket was purchased: 12 days (paid $217 to upgrade fare from S to W, and then applied GPU)
How many days/weeks before departure did upgrade clear: 12 days (cleared as soon as I fare upgraded and applied GPU)

Did you get the 1-2-1 product or the 2-2-2? Seems this flight has been getting the new 1-2-1 a lot recently. I’ll be flying it in the next few weeks and fingers crossed for 1-2-1.