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-   -   Best day of the week to score business upgrade (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1977631-best-day-week-score-business-upgrade.html)

jjay Jul 11, 2019 12:22 am
Best day of the week to score business upgrade
 
I frequent SFO - FRA and always apply a GPU; my chances of upgrade have been hit or miss as a premier1k. I'm curious to hear about the experiences of other flyers on this route or other long haul routes when it comes to specific days of the week with a higher chance of getting upgraded - all things being equal. Friday and Sunday seem very steep and I'm now leaning twords flying Saturdays (I only fly weekends.) Thoughts anyone?

WineCountryUA Jul 11, 2019 12:54 am
SFO-FRA? midweek is best,
stay away from Thursday, Friday (those returning to FRA / Europe), some return on Saturday
stay away from Saturday, Sunday (those going to FRA / Europe), Monday still a problem,
Tuesday / Wednesday avoids the bulk of business travel

What is your UA status level?

Originally Posted by jjay (Post 31291519)
...(I only fly weekends.) ...
tought upgrade for 1Ks, impossible for lower

August and holidays can be easier weeks

halls120 Jul 11, 2019 2:15 am
Tuesday / Wednesday avoids the bulk of business travel
This, on UA and *A partners. We try to start all of our vacations midweek because of this.

findark Jul 11, 2019 7:19 am
The Saturday of US holiday weekends (where Monday is not a workday) is passable for TATL upgrades.

Jimmie Jet Jul 11, 2019 8:08 am
Tuesday for long haul to Australia, I actually run out of GPU’s by June on this route

chavala Jul 11, 2019 8:37 am
I think Tue/Wed is the answer for every route.

jjay Jul 12, 2019 12:39 pm
Thanks guys

Icydubloon Jul 12, 2019 12:50 pm
Tue/Wed departing US.

6 for 6 GPU success when booking 6-8 months in advance. Not everyone can do this, but if you can, great.

UAL250 Jul 12, 2019 1:22 pm
Definitely Tue/Wed. There's plenty of PZ space (for us lowly platinums and below :P) out of IAD and ORD (and even SFO and EWR on some routes) for most flights to Europe on those two days.

TomMM Jul 12, 2019 1:24 pm
I've had very good success on Mon/Tue.

jsloan Jul 12, 2019 1:36 pm
Originally Posted by UAL250 (Post 31297318)
Definitely Tue/Wed. There's plenty of PZ space (for us lowly platinums and below :P)
1Ks also book into PZ.

WineCountryUA Jul 12, 2019 2:01 pm
To go back to the OPs question, Saturday is probably the worst day for SFO-FRA, as if you want to be in the office on Monday in Europe, whether going there or returning there, you need to leave Saturday or earlier. the value of lie-flat seat is to address the time zone shift issue and allow people to leave SFO on Saturday, arrive mid-day Sunday and go to work on Monday.

Those going Sunday will, at a minimum, miss part of the Monday workday and have an even more challenging time-zone shift, so do that but many people the local nights sleep that Saturday departure allows in SFO-FRA. Saturday departure for SFO-FRA/MUC was always my choice with driven by work requirements.

nomad420 Jul 12, 2019 2:16 pm
Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 31297457)
To go back to the OPs question, Saturday is probably the worst day for SFO-FRA, as if you want to be in the office on Monday in Europe, whether going there or returning there, you need to leave Saturday or earlier. the value of lie-flat seat is to address the time zone shift issue and allow people to leave SFO on Saturday, arrive mid-day Sunday and go to work on Monday.

Those going Sunday will, at a minimum, miss part of the Monday workday and have an even more challenging time-zone shift, so do that but many people the local nights sleep that Saturday departure allows in SFO-FRA. Saturday departure for SFO-FRA/MUC was always my choice with driven by work requirements.
Flying these routes regularly I totally agree. SFO-FRA/MUC on a Saturday or even Sunday my clearance of instruments is dismal at best. I was often having to work and didn't have the ability to fly mid week but as others have stated above it seem like Wed is probably best. I suspect UA may even have published stats on this but I have not looked them up.

findark Jul 12, 2019 4:02 pm
Originally Posted by WineCountryUA (Post 31297457)
Those going Sunday will, at a minimum, miss part of the Monday workday and have an even more challenging time-zone shift, so do that but many people the local nights sleep that Saturday departure allows in SFO-FRA. Saturday departure for SFO-FRA/MUC was always my choice with driven by work requirements.
Sunday is also a popular day for going to Europe; if your office or client site is served nonstop from the US then you can usually arrive in the morning and make a slightly later (10am or so) morning meeting, and then have more than half the weekend at home. It was an easy choice for me when aligning with colleagues flying in first thing Monday morning from nearby in Europe.

sanfran8080 Jul 12, 2019 8:28 pm
What ever day my wife tells me to

lhrsfo Jul 13, 2019 3:51 am
Originally Posted by UAL250 (Post 31297318)
Definitely Tue/Wed. There's plenty of PZ space (for us lowly platinums and below :P) out of IAD and ORD (and even SFO and EWR on some routes) for most flights to Europe on those two days.
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).

PsiFighter37 Jul 13, 2019 6:04 am
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.

toddt Jul 13, 2019 10:04 am
And then there are the outliers. NRT-ORD yesterday went out with about 10 free seats in C. I was shocked.

Ari Jul 13, 2019 11:28 am
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.

jsloan Jul 13, 2019 11:49 am
Originally Posted by Ari (Post 31299750)
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.
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).

Ari Jul 13, 2019 2:33 pm
Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 31299794)
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).
Yeah, that too. Premium domestic space at less of a premium on weekends, especially Sat.

wanderingkev Jul 13, 2019 3:38 pm
Originally Posted by jsloan (Post 31299794)
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).
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


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