garykung

They are usually temporary in nature. UA in fact did that for Premium Plus as well.

If you are looking for regularly offered complimentary upgrade, CPU is your bet.

I don't believe OP's questions are limited to GPU routes, although I can see OP's interest would be on the GPU routes for the obvious reason. So for the concern of this thread, CPU should be counted.

TonyBurr

Did they ever offer complimentary upgrades on International flights? They most certainly did. This was the days before the elite levels. I am talking the 1980's and early 1990's. One time myself and two co workers had a fare of some $300.00 RT and I got us upgraded to Business Class in both directions between IAD-LHR-IAD. More than once I had been upgraded to Business for nothing to LHR. I have had complimentary upgrades to F from C on NRT-ORD. Because of the recognition back them I flew UA for 30+ years. Today, I have not flown UA in 5+ years. They seem to have forgotten the loyal customer (1K 15 years in a row). Now I fly AA.

John Aldeborgh

I doubt there is an official program in todays world on UA, that said it does sometimes happen, although rarely. I was given a complementary international upgrade to TPE from SFO a few months ago. I was surprised as this hadn't happened in a long time. The reality is the numbers of people applying GPU's almost always exceeds the number of seats not sold so my sense is (on the routes I fly) that there is very little opportunity to hand-out complementary international upgrades.

Weatherboy

It seems not long ago you could easily clear an international upgrade award for 10k miles on any fare without status or a copay (on CO,) Then they restricted it with the so-called HOKEY rules of the late 1990s. And then its been all down hill since

Back then the meals were better in BusinessFirst, but the first generation recliner seat was everywhere. I think CO announced the tighter controls on international awards with the arrival of their first generation lie flat seat.

Outside of cheap mileage uogrades, I don't remember any non-instrument international award.

jsloan

But were these op-ups? In other words, was Y (or C, in your latter example) oversold?

15-20+ years ago, op-ups were very much up to the people working the flight, which is why you still see that ridiculous "dress nicely" advice whenever somebody asks how to get a free upgrade. These days, they're computerized.

It's certainly possible to get op-ups today, but it happens rarely, both because the airlines operate upgrade programs that take up those seats, and because the relative price gap between Y and J has narrowed.

chrisl137

I had more than a few of those in the early 2000s - my company was buying full fare Y on united and I was getting upgrades, I think only after I hit premier exec, but maybe as a premier. Sometimes the GA would upgrade me before boarding, a few times I was already seated in Y and an FA would come back and say something like "the GA wanted me to give you this boarding pass for F" or something like that. Generally on flights that weren't very full, and there were a lot of empty seats the first few years after 2001.

Nobody would ever accuse me of dressing nicely, and generally look pretty scruffy when flying a lot. Once in the early 2000s at BWI I walked up looking especially scruffy and as I was checking in at the counter landside the agent got big eyes and did a double take and then printed me an F boarding pass for my Y ticket. I wasn't flying nearly as much as most people here now seem to, but apparently nobody else was either so it was easy to get upgrades on a full Y fare. I don't think I ever had one internationally, but I vaguely recall getting TATL upgrades for something like 5000 miles and thinking it was crazy cheap, and that I'd earn them all back on the flight.

bsh

I've always thought this would be a good perk to give to differentiate some group, even trying to be objective about it. Generally speaking, between purchased seats, GPUs, and awards, I don't see many empty J seats on international flights. So it would be a pretty rare thing anyway (and thus not much cost vs. goodwill boost), but if it does happen, it does not make sense to me to fly that seat empty rather than put a high status person in it. Perhaps reserve for GS or 1K, or 1MM or 2MM flyers, for example. Pick whatever you want, but use it as a differentiator for some group. As between flying that seat empty and putting someone in it, the difference is a nicer meal, few glasses of wine, and a sundae, more or less.

I have had a few flights with an empty seat in J coming back from Europe where I happened to be in coach that flight. As a GS at the time, seemed pretty silly.

MysteryTour

While traveling internationally for work in the late 90s/early 00s, I would occasionally get United certs from our travel agency good for an international upgrade. I don't know where they came from - perhaps our corporate contract provided them or perhaps United handed them out to either our company or the agency. The agency would confirm the upgrade (good on any fare) and then mail me the physical cert to hand over at check in. I would have been United Premier Executive (equivalent to Gold today) at the time, but I don't think that mattered.

halls120

I got a Y to F upgrade in 2002 on a 767 IAD-LHR, after boarding. I was a brand new premier exec at that point, and from what I gathered, Y was oversold. GA came back to my seat with a new BP, and said "grab your gear." Yes, I was very happy.....

geminidreams

3. When I used to fly Emirates and had gold status I was upgraded to business or first about 25% of the time. My wife even as a silver was upgraded to business on 3 out of 4 legs once.

jsloan

I don't think it works economically if they do that. One of the reasons that I rarely -- if ever -- buy domestic F is that I know I have a good chance to get it for free. Now, personally, I wouldn't risk a CPU on a transoceanic flight, but plenty of people who are now doing buy-ups or using instruments would decide to save them and go for the CPU instead.

flyme2

Although not an official policy, my late wife and I were regularly upgraded to business class on NW. In fact, as newly minted Golds, before NW revamped their program to introduce Platinum as their highest tier, we were amazed to be upgraded to business class on a KL flight from YMQ-AMS. It was our first time in the upper deck of a 747. During our heyday run with NW, we averaged a 78% upgrade ratio on mostly international flights. No instruments required. Of course,that wasn't sustainable, nor particularly an astute business practice, but we certainly enjoyed that period of flying in the late nineties.

iwc

Eastern Airlines had a program in the early 80's called the Executive Traveler Program (this predated One Pass which Continental later joined) which provided same day confirmable upgrades at the airport for all flights as long as F was available. This included Eastern's international flight from Miami to Gatwick.

I remember running out to MIA in the morning just to confirm the space and then headed home until the evening flight.

TonyBurr

No, they were not op-ups. I went to the desk at the gate, told them I was a corporate travel manager, and at times that would work. Other times I just asked, smiled nicely, and it worked. Those were the days.

wxguy

I had an EA ET "membership" as well. My GA angel at DCA gave me her phone number so I could call her while in the taxi to the airport to process the upgrade.

I also recall receiving free upgrades (not op-ups) on TW from Y->C with my gold card.