JackFranchino

Hi FT Community,

Just booked two trips with United - one to Innsbruck and one to Maui. I had a few questions regarding United Clubs along the way, connection times, and upgrade chances. Thanks in advance for your time and help - I appreciate it!

Question #1 : I have a 40-minute connection in EWR, going from a domestic flight (arriving from IAD) to an international flight (departing to FRA). How tight is this going to be? Will I make it?

Question #2 : I have 4 hours and 40 minutes in EWR on my way back from FRA, is there a United Club that is better than the rest - and is it accessible using one-time passes?

Question #3 : Are there any pay-to-use lounges in Frankfurt? If so, which is the best for food/showers/location (will be connecting from United to Austrian outbound and Austrian to United return)? I'll be spending a combined 6 hours and 40 minutes waiting there.

Question #4 Could I get your opinions on upgrade chances on the flights below? I'm a United Premier Silver - I'll include fare class and other relevant info below. Thanks again!

March 27 ORD-SFO UA1891 B753 (S Class) 7 FC Left
March 27 SFO-OGG UA539 B738 (S Class) 5 FC Left
April 1 DEN-ORD UA2385 B739 (S Class) 14 FC Left
June 15 IAD-EWR UA1972 A319 (B Class) 6 FC Left
June 22 EWR-ORD UA2015 B739 (B Class) 17 FC Left
June 22 ORD-TVC UA1199 A319 (B Class) 8 FC Left

jsloan

747FC

chebert999

#1 40 minutes is very very tight. If book on same ticket then United will take care of you in case of misconnection.
#2 Yes you can use one-pass. All UC are the same to me at EWR except Polaris but you don't have access with one pass
#3 many lounges in FRA where you can pay to access. They are all the same to me. Some are way cheaper so check the web.
#4 As a silver on these flights, I would give it 0% on all. Particularly on the hub to hub flights. But good luck as you never really know.

StuckinITH

There's no way that I would ever book a connection so tight especially since it seems that FRA is not your final destination and you still have to make your connection to Innsbruck. If you are in the 24 hours grace period, I would consider cancelling that reservation and rebooking an earlier flight from IAD to EWR. But if you cannot do it and on the day of your flight you see that your flight IAD-EWR is getting delayed maybe you can ask United if they can put you in the direct IAD-FRA that leaves later. It will not work if you are sitting in the IAD-EWR flight and then it does not depart on time but if you are still at the gate....

Or you can hope that before your trip there is a 5 minutes change in the departure time of your IAD-EWR flight which would allow you to ask United to switch you to an earlier IAD-EWR flight without having to pay a fee.

JackFranchino

If I misconnect - as I am flying (R) Premium Plus - would they have to re-book me in PP or Polaris or could they put me in coach?

findark

As usual with IRROPS, you are entitled to positive space in your paid cabin (Premium Economy), but many agents will try to force you into Y. You will likely have fewer options in PE than Y, and it will help to have alternatives in mind.

jsloan

JackFranchino

What do you mean? So I would ask to be on an upgrade list for Premium Plus even though I purchased a Premium Plus ticket? Say there is a Polaris seat available - would that be an option? What I see so far is 2 flights to LHR and 1 flight to CDG later that night out of EWR, all have Polaris and Economy only...

Kacee

I won't say it's impossible but it's very unlikely. You should really reconsider that 40 minute connection at EWR, it is a very high risk of misconnect.

WineCountryUA

Say PP was sold out, you could ask to be waitlisted in case someone in PP missed the flight or was upgraded into Polaris cabin.
very, very unlikely

There is limited PP service as it is just starting and you might need to wait a day or two to get a guaranteed seat -- this is one reason many are suggesting don't risk a 40-minute connection in this situation -- would be different if there were multiple options but there isn't.

deskover54

Isn't premium plus R class? none of your flights are R class

JackFranchino

I'm not CPU eligible for EWR-FRA and FRA-EWR, therefore I did not ask for upgrade chances on those flights. Premium Plus is R, O, and A.

arttravel

jsloan

Just chiming in to agree with what's already been said. It's very, very unlikely that you would be moved up to Polaris. An agent would be breaking a lot of rules to do that. It's not completely impossible, but it's. one-in-a-thousand shot at best.

Well, that's not even the issue. Even if there were an available seat and no upgrade request, a PE ticket isn't valid for travel in J without some kind of upgrade. But, you're right -- if there were an upgrade request queued, I'd expect them to clear that before doing an op-up of a displaced PE passenger.