did united ever offer complimentary upgrades on international routes?
Jul 23, 2019, 7:50 am
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,070
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.
"Phantom" Upgrade List for International Travel?
Jul 23, 2019, 8:13 am
#32
formerly Sleepy_Sentry
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 614
I’ve heard that Lufthansa will push elites to business when economy is overbooked, but I’m sure any airline would do that to avoid paying EU compensation.
UA offers CPUs on flights to Central America and Mexico. I’ve found these easy to get as a Silver.
UA offers CPUs on flights to Central America and Mexico. I’ve found these easy to get as a Silver.
Jul 23, 2019, 8:25 am
#33
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1P-1MM, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 3,930
I remember in the mid-1990s you could easily clear Y-C upgrades on east-coast to Europe for 10k miles. I started doing that and flying UA from PHL as US didn't allow international upgrades at all (not even to Chairman's Preferred), so when I needed to go to Germany, I connected in IAD and pretty much always cleared my upgrades even with low status. I'd earn around 10k miles for the trip and burn them on the UG for the outbound.
Last edited by tods27; Jul 23, 2019 at 9:05 am
Jul 23, 2019, 9:14 am
#34
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: All of them, UA-Plat, 1MM*G
Posts: 881
Probably off topic, but how is catering dealt with for international J cabins? If there are 48 seats in the cabin, is it catered assuming all are full. Or if only 20 seats are booked, is catering adjusted downwards? I would guess that the lead time for getting additional meals loaded exceeds substantially the last minute at which instruments or op-ups may be processed.
Jul 23, 2019, 10:15 am
#35
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: CT/NY
Programs: UA 1K/1MM, AA EXP, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat Amb
Posts: 6,020
Probably off topic, but how is catering dealt with for international J cabins? If there are 48 seats in the cabin, is it catered assuming all are full. Or if only 20 seats are booked, is catering adjusted downwards? I would guess that the lead time for getting additional meals loaded exceeds substantially the last minute at which instruments or op-ups may be processed.
Jul 23, 2019, 10:20 am
#36
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
TWA did this as a matter of course. If you were silver elite, you would automatically be upgraded into Ambassador Class across the Atlantic. I had a number of trips like that on the L-1011, and really regretted it when TWA went under in 1990. I joined UA at the beginning of 1991 and had to start over..... (made 1P after just six months of flying, but no more free TATL UGs).
Jul 23, 2019, 10:33 am
#37
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: KBOS
Programs: BA GfL
Posts: 921
Back in 1996, I flew BOS-EZE via JFK on a full Y fare. I had no status but flew UA since the travel agent I used did a lot of biz with UA and got me free voucher for an upgrade to C on space-available basis. It was winter and our departure from BOS was delayed and, upon arriving at JFK, the JFK-EZE flight had left and so too was my confirmed C upgrade.
I caught the next day’s flight to EZE but C was full. After boarding, our pilot announced that our departure would be delayed to wait for passengers who were on a delayed connecting flight. That’s when I struck a conversation with an FA that my flight the previous night had left without me and now I couldn’t use my upgrade voucher. 10-15 minutes later, that same FA came back, collected my voucher, told me to collect my stuff and moved me to 1D. Soon after, a glass of Champagne (was it DP back then?) was offered. This was back in the day when UA was UA and they served caviar in first.
This kind act was what got me to switch from NW to UA and had stayed with UA as 1K/million miler until 2009, when I switched to BA/OW. I have fond memories of UA starting with that very considerate FA to flying with the legendary Iris Peterson twice.
I caught the next day’s flight to EZE but C was full. After boarding, our pilot announced that our departure would be delayed to wait for passengers who were on a delayed connecting flight. That’s when I struck a conversation with an FA that my flight the previous night had left without me and now I couldn’t use my upgrade voucher. 10-15 minutes later, that same FA came back, collected my voucher, told me to collect my stuff and moved me to 1D. Soon after, a glass of Champagne (was it DP back then?) was offered. This was back in the day when UA was UA and they served caviar in first.
This kind act was what got me to switch from NW to UA and had stayed with UA as 1K/million miler until 2009, when I switched to BA/OW. I have fond memories of UA starting with that very considerate FA to flying with the legendary Iris Peterson twice.
Last edited by Peregrine415; Jul 23, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Jul 23, 2019, 11:38 am
#38
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1P-1MM, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 3,930
I thought UA always boarded extra meals, or more than the ticketed passengers. Maybe it's to the expected number, including upgrades (which these days means pretty much always to capacity). I know that LH doesn't (or at least didn't) as you can find lots of posts in the LH thread about people being refused upgrades due to lack of catering (no meal). I've never heard that from UA.
Jul 23, 2019, 11:58 am
#39
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: EWR
Programs: UA 1.65M , Platinum, 1K Emeritus, UC Lifetime , HHonors Gold, Presidential Plus card holder
Posts: 697
Mid 90s on CO I flew EWR-LGW annually and was upgraded about 25% of the time as a Silver (then CO's mid-tier between Bronze and Gold). I have no idea whether these were op-ups or elite upgrades. I was upgraded (LGW-EWR) with three family members in 2003 as a Platinum due to a serious overbooking of Y. The amenity kit included my favorite all-time leather luggage tag that I still use today.
Jul 23, 2019, 12:04 pm
#40
Used to be 'thiti'
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA-PP 1MM, Hyatt-Globalist, Bonvoy-LT Titanium, Hertz-Pres Cir
Posts: 189
Awesome Op-ups story... 4 of us (me, wife, 13, and 10) with final destination in Denver were stuck for one more day in London due to a storm in Newark around new year 2018. My wife was also 1K as my MM companion while our kids were general members. We all sat down in E+ on a rebooked flight from London to Chicago and were handed 4 Polaris boarding passes! Apparently United was trying to ship stranded passengers back to the US. We could not be happier to be in business and getting a chance to try a Polaris lounge in Chicago!
Jul 23, 2019, 1:13 pm
#41
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 5,001
Back in the 80s and early 90s, when I was still in the military, I would get upgraded to J on overseas flights about 50% of the time on UA and 20% of the time on DL/NW (while in uniform), and this was usually from the very back of the bus because the SATO office would almost always book the cheapest fare, and I had no status.
Once I got out, I met a client that was 1K, who literally had stacks of upgrade certs in his desk drawer, so he would always give me some whenever we had a business meeting. He told me that I should stick with UA if I liked to upgrade because he thought that they were the most generous. Well, that inspired me to give all of my air travel biz to UA. I remember that once I got to PE, I got noticeably better treatment and would get comped to J once or twice per year on international flights. I can't remember when things changed and the free international upgrades ended, but UA sure was good to me back then.
Once I got out, I met a client that was 1K, who literally had stacks of upgrade certs in his desk drawer, so he would always give me some whenever we had a business meeting. He told me that I should stick with UA if I liked to upgrade because he thought that they were the most generous. Well, that inspired me to give all of my air travel biz to UA. I remember that once I got to PE, I got noticeably better treatment and would get comped to J once or twice per year on international flights. I can't remember when things changed and the free international upgrades ended, but UA sure was good to me back then.
Last edited by zombietooth; Jul 23, 2019 at 11:42 pm
Jul 23, 2019, 1:16 pm
#42
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Programs: United, Bonvoy, NEXUS/GE, Amex Plat
Posts: 125
A more recent story! I was based in Singapore for a bit, and would travel SIN-HKG-SIN frequently. HKG-SIN was a CPU route and I’d clear it basically 100% of the time. I think it was a CPU route from 2011-2014? IPTE 777, but a free upgrade is a free upgrade. If I remember correctly, the CPU language (at one point) was for all flights wholly within one region, so the HKG-SIN tag technically counted! Whereas NRT-SIN did not, since Japan is a separate award region.
Jul 23, 2019, 4:02 pm
#45
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: UA GS ,QF Plat
Posts: 686
I don't know of any major carrier which offers freebies along the line of UDU's, other than US carriers on domestic routes. As a general matter, pretty much all carriers dole out OPUPS, but those are for the operational convenience of the carrier, not a perk for a passenger.
Back in the very old days before audits picked this stuff up and when GS meant something, agents might occasionally sneak a passenger they knew into F. But, that went out with more sophisticated software and the end of GS as a secret program.
The reality is that the US domestic programs allowing upgrades without cost, e.g. paid, miles, some form of special certificate, are fairly unique to the US and came about largely during the financial crisis. UA, by way of example, awarded and sold what amounted to upgrade certificates based on miles and then shifted into the UDU mode when the bottom fell out of the market.
Back in the very old days before audits picked this stuff up and when GS meant something, agents might occasionally sneak a passenger they knew into F. But, that went out with more sophisticated software and the end of GS as a secret program.
The reality is that the US domestic programs allowing upgrades without cost, e.g. paid, miles, some form of special certificate, are fairly unique to the US and came about largely during the financial crisis. UA, by way of example, awarded and sold what amounted to upgrade certificates based on miles and then shifted into the UDU mode when the bottom fell out of the market.
Two truly comp upgrades to business IAD - MAN -me and the wife
3 other - J to F
- 1 busted seat
- 1 vomited on seat
- 1 pee'd on seat
On my data you can hope for an in op seat every 0.9m miles
I have over the years had more on BA and then QF on TATL and TPAC flights, I found they are better at bumping spenders/flyers if the load permits they were and still are way ahead of UA on customer management