lagunas2k

Used two GPU's on a roundtrip flight for SFO>HKG in mid-September. Both cleared immediately with R class space available. There was a good amount of r-class inventory available through August and some in September. Deep discount was $600, but the W class was only $1050. Not bad for RT seat in Polaris.

Boraxo

Just cleared SFO-OGG x2 at T-24. Not sure if this bumped me ahead of CPUs ...

Kmxu

lancelot21

Ticketing question related to this thread: How much do I increase my GPU upgrade probabilities by buying a more expensive fare? Flying CDG-SFO and back in late September, no confirmable R space. Should I pay an extra $60 to buy V rather than (the minimum) W? An extra $150 to buy Q rather than W? An extra $228 to buy H rather than W?

WineCountryUA

This has been discussed various times. The advantage of a higher fare class will move you above those of the same status level but purchased the lower fare. As many purchased W fares, if you purchased V, you would be ahead of those who purchased W and purchased before you (if you purchased W instead, those who purchased before you would be ahead of you and those that purchased after you would be behind you anyways).

How much did you increase your odds, impossible to generalize and it is a fairly narrow group you would be overcoming --- those that purchased the lower fare and purchased before you. That may make all the difference or it may make no difference. It is a gamble -- how much is that worth to you?

BTW, I have done this and was upgraded --- no idea if I would have been upgraded with the lower fare or not but it was a fairly small fare delta.

Other discussions
Choosing Fare Class to increase chance for upgrades
Sigh - How much is the W Upgrade Lottery worth?

Kmxu

The strategy is also dependent upon the travel day. If it falls on less elite heavy dates (Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu), the W fare is sufficient. Also, please check the seat maps (though not actual indicator of the loading) for many different dates before you make a decision.
Good luck.

Kacee

That's a high demand period for France travel.

Buying above the W is a legit strategy, though there is an element of good money after bad if you don't clear. I wouldn't go higher than the V if the only reason is improving upgrade odds.

nomad420

Been there and done that, I think even you said I was throwing money away and indeed I did. I am flying to Paris late Sept as well and am looking at using LH through FRA as many have been saying LH is grabbing up UA's GPUs. Perhaps the OP can look into that. Yeah it isn't direct but not a bad connection.

TomMM

Here's my recent experience with higher fares. Flew LHR-EWR on a Q fare which was the cheapest that was available when I booked the flight. I applied a GPU and ultimately ended up being 5th on the upgrade list for 0 seats.

StuckinITH

I had the same experience on a PVG-ORD on a Q fare which was also the cheapest available and a not so cheap $1,800. GPU was applied. At check-in, there were 8 Polaris Business seats available. I was number 1 on the upgrade list the entire time. I sat in Economy for the entire flight thinking how great it's to be number 1. Not really. I spent the entire flight thinking that I should have taken the TOD.

TomMM

I was #1 on the upgrade list until approximately 90 minutes before departure when a family of 4 moved ahead of me. Ultimately nobody upgraded.

nomad420

Have had that happen but not EIGHT buy-ups! I have had said they will sell F until the door closes. I have more recently been upgraded as we pushed away from the gate, this now almost seems to be the norm.

Kacee

That was a different situation involving an RPU. With a GPU, you tend to get a bunch of bunch of 1Ks on Ws, so if you buy a V, you may jump quite a ways up.

But waitlisting blind is always risky.

lancelot21

Thanks for the links--I had searched but I hadn't found them. The discussion there, and in the responses to this thread, were helpful. I'm thinking I'll pay the $60 to go up to V, and take my chances. Unless I can find a routing with confirmable space--but I have limited flexibility on travel dates.

nomad420

Indeed that was a RPU for a domestic run but I did by a V class (or perhaps even higher as that was all that were left) with a GPU on a SFO to MUC flight and didn't have it clear. That was a couple of years ago during summer vacations Euro travel. I actually asked what was up and was told many paid C class and award purchases. So yeah it is still risky. Either way I still hate the game.