Apr 25, 21, 3:48 pm
Last edit by: Lux Flyer
Yes it's a limited time promo in many CPU markets to help people use PlusPoints before they expire at the end of July. For flights through July 31st it should be offering StW when requested at least 2 weeks in advance (as opposed to typical 30 days for international).
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...questions.html
Edit: here's the promo details they will email to you if you ask
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...questions.html
Edit: here's the promo details they will email to you if you ask
Skip Waitlist
From time to time, our 1K members are able to use additional PlusPoints to receive a confirmed upgrade when traveling on select international long-haul flights.
When Skip Waitlist is available, youre able to either request an upgrade on our standard waitlist using fewer PlusPoints, or use additional PlusPoints to skip the waitlist and confirm your upgrade right then and there, even if upgrade inventory is closed.
Skip Waitlist availability on international long-haul flights will vary; to be eligible, you must be traveling on an eligible fare*, and request your upgrade at least 30 days from departure
*Eligible fare classes include O, A, and R (for United Premium Plus to United Polaris business); Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W (for Economy to United Polaris business); Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, (for Economy to United Premium Plus).
From time to time, our 1K members are able to use additional PlusPoints to receive a confirmed upgrade when traveling on select international long-haul flights.
When Skip Waitlist is available, youre able to either request an upgrade on our standard waitlist using fewer PlusPoints, or use additional PlusPoints to skip the waitlist and confirm your upgrade right then and there, even if upgrade inventory is closed.
Skip Waitlist availability on international long-haul flights will vary; to be eligible, you must be traveling on an eligible fare*, and request your upgrade at least 30 days from departure
*Eligible fare classes include O, A, and R (for United Premium Plus to United Polaris business); Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W (for Economy to United Polaris business); Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, (for Economy to United Premium Plus).
- The earning Premier member may use PlusPoints for upgrade requests for themselves or to sponsor others with the exception of Skip Waitlist upgrade requests, for which the earning Premier member must be traveling. Although the earning Premier member may use PlusPoints to request upgrades for others, PlusPoints are not transferable to other members.
- PlusPoints used for Skip Waitlist upgrades are not refundable or transferable to other flights in the event of itinerary changes. A PlusPoints upgrade on a changed itinerary will require additional PlusPoints.
- Skip Waitlist upgrades wont be available for corporate and agency account travelers who are using upgrades from a Corporate Upgrade Bank account.
When is STW available?
First UA needs to decide the route is eligible and then ZN seems to be the key inventory requirement.
PN or PZ is not required (if they were the regular amount would be sufficient)
Appears to be no special/separate GS STW inventory
STW has generally been limited to deep South America except for a short period in late summer 2021 when some TATL STW was offered, never to be seen again.
New Promo 20 June 2023 till 31 July 2023 (to use expiring PlusPoints?)
So thanks to this promo and playing around with various flights the past day. I think there's enough data for how StW works, with the major deciding factor if it's offered being if UA has "enabled" StW for the market in question.
For StW it needs these 6 things:
Inventory (ZN for business/first; /ON for PremEcon), advance purchase met (30 days international, 14 days CPU market [promo]), eligible fare (W+ to Polaris, non-BE for PP/first), eligible market, and redeeming account is 1k/GS, redeeming account travelling on the PNR.
The StW segment(s) will confirm into PZ/RN, if there are other non-StW eligible segments in the line-of-flight they are considered "paid for" by the StW pricing and will waitlist as part of the request/process as any other waitlisted upgrade.
To summarize the different scenarios:
To find StW
-Redeeming account must be GS/1K and must be travelling on the PNR
-PlusPoints being used to StW must not expire prior to the flight (oldest, eligible PlusPoints taken first)
-Cannot have pending upgrade WL request
To Polaris
-Voluntary: forfeits the upgrade and PlusPoints
-Involuntary: PlusPoints can be redeposited if not able to be accommodated in upgraded cabin
For StW it needs these 6 things:
Inventory (ZN for business/first; /ON for PremEcon), advance purchase met (30 days international, 14 days CPU market [promo]), eligible fare (W+ to Polaris, non-BE for PP/first), eligible market, and redeeming account is 1k/GS, redeeming account travelling on the PNR.
The StW segment(s) will confirm into PZ/RN, if there are other non-StW eligible segments in the line-of-flight they are considered "paid for" by the StW pricing and will waitlist as part of the request/process as any other waitlisted upgrade.
To summarize the different scenarios:
To find StW
-Redeeming account must be GS/1K and must be travelling on the PNR
-PlusPoints being used to StW must not expire prior to the flight (oldest, eligible PlusPoints taken first)
-Cannot have pending upgrade WL request
To Polaris
- ZN inventory
- 30+ days in advance
- Fare class: non-award, published W or higher
- Eligible market (only appears to be GRU, GIG, EZE, SCL, and LIM as of June 2023)
- Cost per person; 140 PlusPoints from economy/110 PlusPoints from premium economy
- Confirms into PZ
- ON inventory (yes, it appears when StW is offered to PremiumPlus, it is effectively allowing last seat inventory)
- 30+ days in advance
- Fare class: any non-BE published revenue fare
- Eligible market (only appears to be GRU, GIG, EZE, SCL, and LIM as of June 2023)
- Cost per person; 70 PlusPoints
- Confirms into RN
- ZN inventory
- 14+ days in advance/flight prior to or on July 31st (effectively July 17th is last day to book)
- Fare class: any non-BE published revenue fare
- Eligible market (basically CPU markets, see promo announcement)
- Cost per person; 70 PlusPoints
- Confirms into PZ
-Voluntary: forfeits the upgrade and PlusPoints
-Involuntary: PlusPoints can be redeposited if not able to be accommodated in upgraded cabin
Skip the waitlist (STW) questions. (New Promo thru 31 July 2023?)
Dec 4, 19, 11:27 pm
#61
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 5,783
I had a suspicion all along that they will "turn PZ into StW".
Every request will be waitlisted, UNLESS there is PZ available, and then one can StW for those.
There will be no more instantly cleared bookings using PlusPoints UNLESS it's SkipTheWaitlist.
The whole 30 day-in-advance would dispel that though, hopefully!
Dec 4, 19, 11:29 pm
#62
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1K 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Ti, LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 55,212
Are you SURE about that?
I had a suspicion all along that they will "turn PZ into StW".
Every request will be waitlisted, UNLESS there is PZ available, and then one can StW for those.
There will be no more instantly cleared bookings using PlusPoints UNLESS it's SkipTheWaitlist.
I had a suspicion all along that they will "turn PZ into StW".
Every request will be waitlisted, UNLESS there is PZ available, and then one can StW for those.
There will be no more instantly cleared bookings using PlusPoints UNLESS it's SkipTheWaitlist.
Dec 4, 19, 11:42 pm
#63
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447
I had a suspicion all along that they will "turn PZ into StW".
Every request will be waitlisted, UNLESS there is PZ available, and then one can StW for those.
There will be no more instantly cleared bookings using PlusPoints UNLESS it's SkipTheWaitlist.
The whole 30 day-in-advance would dispel that though, hopefully!
Dec 4, 19, 11:43 pm
#64
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM 1K, BA Gold
Posts: 423
Anyone found StW availability yet? I was randomly searching around and found something:
5/6/2020 IAH-EZE 140 points from Economy (B) to Business
J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0
That's pretty steep (3.5x) multiplier.
5/6/2020 IAH-EZE 140 points from Economy (B) to Business
J9 JN9 C9 D9 Z9 ZN9 P9 PN0 PZ0 IN0 I0
That's pretty steep (3.5x) multiplier.
Last edited by fatlasercat; Dec 4, 19 at 11:51 pm
Dec 4, 19, 11:50 pm
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,272
99.999% sure, yes, starting with the fact that I haven't seen any reports of extremely steep numbers of points for open PZ space yet today.
This is the first report that I've seen. I can't verify it, though, since I haven't re-qualified for next year.
140 is about what than I expected (I figured 120 or 160). And seeing it with PN0 would dispel the notion that it's limited to access to PN inventory; to me, that suggests that ZN is likely the bucket of interest.
140 is about what than I expected (I figured 120 or 160). And seeing it with PN0 would dispel the notion that it's limited to access to PN inventory; to me, that suggests that ZN is likely the bucket of interest.
Dec 5, 19, 12:00 am
#67
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 41,528
Well, my survey for any TPAC upgrade space in mid Jan, midweek dates shows no PZ or PN space for any of SFO>TPE/HKG/SIN, IAH>NRT, EWR>HKG/NRT, so STW would be useless for me if it's coming from PN
Dec 5, 19, 12:01 am
#68
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 5,783
Shows 40 points here, not 140.
Of more concern is the B fare though at ~$3200 one way, although lower classes should be availabe.
Dec 5, 19, 12:06 am
#69
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.96MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 65,117
Dec 5, 19, 12:09 am
#70
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM 1K, BA Gold
Posts: 423
Dec 5, 19, 12:09 am
#71
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1K 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Ti, LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 55,212
Dec 5, 19, 12:22 am
#73
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.96MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 65,117
