Status of UA's SFO-PVG operations, back to non-stop -- 30 Jan 2023
May 17, 2023, 6:13 am
#631
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Anywhere but home
Programs: UA 1K/MM, DL GM/MM, HH Dia, PC Plat, MR Gold, ALL Sil,
Posts: 4,552
I can't reconcile why fare inventory for SFO-PVG is not matching seat availability (based on flight status, not seat maps). Here are two upcoming examples:
17 May, currently J1 and O2, yet flight status shows 48/60 and 15/24 booked seats
19 May, currently J4 and O5, yet flight status shows 40/60 and 21/24 booked seats
With one exception, why are fewer seats available for sale in the premium cabins than are apparently open? In both cases Y shows as booked full but there are no blocked seats shown on the flight status pages. If they were holding seats for an oversold Y cabin, wouldn't J > O on 19 May?
17 May, currently J1 and O2, yet flight status shows 48/60 and 15/24 booked seats
19 May, currently J4 and O5, yet flight status shows 40/60 and 21/24 booked seats
With one exception, why are fewer seats available for sale in the premium cabins than are apparently open? In both cases Y shows as booked full but there are no blocked seats shown on the flight status pages. If they were holding seats for an oversold Y cabin, wouldn't J > O on 19 May?
May 17, 2023, 2:52 pm
#635
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,852
May 28, 2023, 4:25 pm
#636
Join Date: May 2012
Location: ORF, RIC
Programs: UA LT 1K, 3 MM; Marriott Titanium; IHG Platinum
Posts: 6,958
I did a mock search for PVG-ORF round trip for middle June - early July. The price was over $8000 in economy.
I spent a quarter of that for a complicated ORF-China routing this month, but took longer, for sure. ORF-IAD-HND-HKG, ICN-SFO-IAD-ORF. Of course, I need separate reservations for HKG to (my destination in China) to ICN. I cleared my IAD-HND upgrade in advance. Due to IRROP, the outbound became ORF-EWR-SFO-HKG (no overnight stay). The booked itinerary had an overnight stay at HND.
I spent a quarter of that for a complicated ORF-China routing this month, but took longer, for sure. ORF-IAD-HND-HKG, ICN-SFO-IAD-ORF. Of course, I need separate reservations for HKG to (my destination in China) to ICN. I cleared my IAD-HND upgrade in advance. Due to IRROP, the outbound became ORF-EWR-SFO-HKG (no overnight stay). The booked itinerary had an overnight stay at HND.
Jul 2, 2023, 3:05 pm
#637
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
Anyone have experience with the prospect of PP upgrades clearing these days? My father-in-law is flying SFO-PVG in a week's time, but despite the seat map in J being (very) wide open, I only see J6(!!) being shown. I can't imagine that is the case, and it feels like a matter of UA knowing they have a certain number of upgrades applied and trying to milk revenue as much as possible on this flight before throwing open the fare bucket floodgates as they close in to actual departure date. I know the seat map is not the best guide, but there's more than half the J cabin with unassigned seats, which feels like a larger-than-usual discrepancy between those who have booked tickets and those who have assigned themselves seats.
Jul 2, 2023, 3:19 pm
#638
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,852
And why is that a bad thing for UA to do? Understand it is not good thing for upgraders.
Jul 2, 2023, 3:34 pm
#639
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
Jul 2, 2023, 3:41 pm
#640
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,033
I'm not saying it's not their prerogative, but the last time I did this (admittedly it was PVG-SFO and before China had lifted their zero COVID policy), the fare buckets were far less restrictive. My overall question is more about experience. I have not looked at UA's SFO-mainland China routes on any regular basis since pre-pandemic, so I am far less familiar with their fare bucket management - hence my question.
Jul 27, 2023, 9:32 pm
#641
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: United 1K, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 520
Just one data point. I am flying SFO-PVG tomorrow and I've been monitoring the waitlist and upgrade prices closely.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.
Jul 27, 2023, 10:22 pm
#642
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,900
Just one data point. I am flying SFO-PVG tomorrow and I've been monitoring the waitlist and upgrade prices closely.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.
Jul 28, 2023, 11:46 am
#644
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,678
Interesting. I just flew SFO-NRT-HKG, PVG-HND, NRT-HNL-SFO, with the SFO-NRT segment upgraded to J, and this cost much, much less than UA wanted for SFO-PVG-SFO ($2.4k vs $6k). I'm going back in September but won't touch the SFO-PVG nonstops until they're actually competitive. Looks like they're starting to get competitive but that's still a little bit high.
Jul 28, 2023, 11:58 pm
#645
Join Date: Apr 2010
Programs: AA PP, UA 1K/MM, WoH Globalist, HH Gold
Posts: 1,197
Just one data point. I am flying SFO-PVG tomorrow and I've been monitoring the waitlist and upgrade prices closely.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.
At no point did the upgrade from Y -> O or Y -> J drop in price, it was consistently around $7k to upgrade to O, and $9k to upgrade to J.
When the waitlist appeared there were 30 open seats in J, and it stayed this way until about 4AM PT this morning when they cleared 5 people into J. They did another group of 5 around 11:30AM PT. Finally around 4:30 PM PT they cleared 18 more, leaving only two J tickets for sale. I'm a 1K and was in K fare class, and when the waitlist opened I was 13th, and cleared in the 4:30PM batch.