Best day of the week to score business upgrade
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,215
I rarely see any PZ space in advance, whatever day of the week. PN space is possible if you are willing to take literally any route from the West Coast to Europe - ti shows up about once a week, but nowadays PZ available weeks or months in advance is not happening (summer season apart).
#17
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 8,953
Tuesday and Wednesday are definitely best, but you can get lucky and find it on other days if you are willing to burn some time searching various flights on the UA website. I found ORD-BRU with PZ9 on a summer Friday, as an example.
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,509
Generally the way it works is as follows:
Monday: International flights for business travelers and consultant commute day-- increased demand
Tuesday: Normal day
Wednesday: Normal day
Thursday: International flights for business travelers and majority consultant commute day and begin weekend travel-- increased demand
Friday: International flights for business travelers and straggler consultant commute day and weekend travel-- increased demand
Saturday: Weekend travel and international flights for business travelers-- increased demand
Sunday: Weekend travel and international flights for business travelers-- increased demand
That applies to US domestic flights and many international routes as well. Accordingly, Tue and Wed are the best days to fly when it comes to availability of any space, be it revenue, upgrade or award. There are always exceptions based on events or possibly specific routes, but I think virtually everyone in the travel industry and most experienced posters here will tell you that Tue/Wed is the rule of thumb unless there is something else to go by.
Monday: International flights for business travelers and consultant commute day-- increased demand
Tuesday: Normal day
Wednesday: Normal day
Thursday: International flights for business travelers and majority consultant commute day and begin weekend travel-- increased demand
Friday: International flights for business travelers and straggler consultant commute day and weekend travel-- increased demand
Saturday: Weekend travel and international flights for business travelers-- increased demand
Sunday: Weekend travel and international flights for business travelers-- increased demand
That applies to US domestic flights and many international routes as well. Accordingly, Tue and Wed are the best days to fly when it comes to availability of any space, be it revenue, upgrade or award. There are always exceptions based on events or possibly specific routes, but I think virtually everyone in the travel industry and most experienced posters here will tell you that Tue/Wed is the rule of thumb unless there is something else to go by.
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,177
Agreed. The only thing that I would add is that Saturday -- especially Saturday evening -- is often good for domestic upgrades, since most business travelers will have the option to fly either Friday night (returning home) or Sunday/Monday morning (heading out).
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 11,509
Yeah, that too. Premium domestic space at less of a premium on weekends, especially Sat.
#22
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: UA GS ,QF Plat
Posts: 686
X 2 , the problem is at this time of year with storms and re routes predictability goes out of the window, same per a major mechanical