Flyz

Interesting. Well, a few hours ago there were only two seats left in First, and all of a sudden there are five. Same upgrade price. I'll keep my eye on things and see what happens. Thanks.

jsloan

Understand that the price may go up as well as down.

Upgrade prices appear to be based roughly on inventory, which you can see if you activate Expert Mode and search for the flight in question. (There's a thread on Expert Mode on the board). United's domestic first fare classes are, in order from most to least expensive, J JN C D Z ZN P PN PZ IN I. The further down the list that you see the last non-zero value, the lower the upgrade offer is likely to be. (There are no guarantees). So, if you see J5 JN5 C5 D4 Z2 ZN2 P1 PN1 PZ1 IN1 I1, your upgrade offer probably won't get any lower. If it's J5 JN5 C5 D4 Z2 ZN0 P0 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0, it might.

EmailKid

This @:-)

If you really want to fly up front, there is only one way to guarantee it - families have been known to snap up FC space. Yes, not common, but .....

Kacee

You would get more meaningful answers if you shared the flight details. Because then we could tell where it falls in the range for that route.

In any event, you are not going to see a fire sale prior to departure. Odds are that (1) price will increase closer to departure, and (2) UA will CPU the cabin down to 2, 1, or zero F seats somewhere within T-96 hours.

StuckinITH

FTers who only infrequently come to post don't realize that the more information you provide, the more meaningful the answer. I did try to get that information in my first answer.

Flyz

Really, I have reasons for not specifying the route, which would be a distinctive one, having to do with keeping a certain person from identifying me online and learning my movements. It's not just my general cluelessness. Probably said too much there, even. What I was most hoping to learn was whether there are patterns to how this works, and I understand more now. Thank you all.

risenmyth

Goal: 3.1K PQM needed
Option 1. F EWR-ORD for ~2.8K PQM and not hit needed PQM
Option 2: Y for ~1.4K and buy 2.5K Miles Premier/Award Accelerator to hit needed PQM

Basically, is buying the accelerators for an additional $263 ($63 for miles, $200 for PQM) worth it?

Accelerators = $263
Y = $412 (~1.4K PQM - T fare)
F = $602 (~2K PQM - P fare) or $802 (~2.8K PQM - C fare)

My guts tells me option 1 since I actually hit my goal, but my wallet tells me buying miles/pqm isn't worth it in this case...
What do you think?

WineCountryUA

Why are you buying PQMs at this point of the year?
Do you not have further plans to fly this year?
What difference will buying the PQMs now make?

risenmyth

It's a roadmap to hit Gold by the beginning of September. No further trips after September are on my schedule at this moment.
The PQM's would just get me over the threshold for 50K PQM for Gold.

WineCountryUA

Personally, if there is any chance of additional flights, I would put off buying PQMs as long as possible. If the additional trip happened, the early purchase would be wasted money. If nothing pops up, the price should not be materially different until December or late November.

The other option would be to SDC to add extra miles to present trips and/or look for cheap opportunities to upfare (where you also get the upgraded travel experience for the money). Might as well get the most for the $$$ and give UA as few $$$ without extra benefits as possible.

risenmyth

Thank you for the advice! I'll abstain from buying any miles at this time - I'll go ahead and book a flight that would fit my current situation best then.
How does doing an upfare work, exactly? I currently have three F flights booked (March, June, July).

WineCountryUA

Upfaring or cash upgrades are for going from economy to premium cabin (for a better seat and PQM bonus). If you are in First, that option is off the table -- but SDCing a segment to 2 segments to pick up extra PQMs is still an option. Get a little here and a little there.

risenmyth

Sorry, not 100% on the lingo.
When you say SDC, that is SDC as in ticket purchase date or date of flight? Assuming there's a fee for those who aren't status holders...

WineCountryUA

SDC=Same Day Change
Free for Gold & higher and also free at a connecting airport (flying AAA-BBB-CCC, free at BBB)
$75 for others
A method for changing flights -- as long as origin and destination of the trip remain unchanged -- allows for routing changes.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ions-wiki.html

LASNRT

Applied a single REGIONAL premier upgrade to a flight home from HKG. You might think it's awful, but the timings of the flights (and the PQMs) work out well for me.

I'm a little confused how the upgrade was applied to my flights though. (I'm premier platinum if that matters, but I don't think it does.)

My flights are:
UA 116 HKG-GUM
UA 200 GUM-HNL
UA 534 HNL-LAX

I thought it would be applied to the HNL-LAX portion (none available, waitlisted, but I don't fly much domestically so I thought I'd use the upgrade on the waitlist.)

Instead I see:
HKG-GUM "Upgrade Requested" ("Your upgrade to United Business has been requested using a Regional Premier Upgrade.")
GUM-HNL "Upgrade Confirmed" ("Your upgrade to United Business has been confirmed.")
HNL-LAX shows regular economy, followed by...
HNL-LAX "Waitlisted" ("You will be automatically confirmed on this flight if space in your requested class United First (PZ) becomes available.")

I...really don't think I'm supposed to be able to upgrade all 3 segments on this trip with ONE regional upgrade.

Am I?