seanp7

EWR-LHR available next week. PZ3 on a couple of flights.

1K, cleared both ways EWR-LHR and CDG-EWR in July 2022. PZ is rare, but it's there.

cfischer

agreed. There are plenty of ways to use them if you are flexible and creative.

Kacee

From the east coast maybe. Try TATL from SFO. Of course this is nothing new, it's been almost impossible to clear advance R/PZ TATL from SFO for many years.

I used to be able to burn my GPU flying to Asia, but with Japan and Hong Kong closed, all my PlusPoints are now going toward domestic short-haul. And I'm trying to give UA as few opportunities as possible, because their product is deliberately subpar.

seanp7

Correct; wasn't suggesting otherwise. The 'venter' is IAH-based so he/she could go south to Brazil with PZ, or with a domestic connection to IAD/EWR onwards to the EU. Of course, if neither of those are desirable then yes, PP are useless.

exerda

I had a mixed bag on recent flights. I've been booking domestic F for everything and not traveling internationally, so had a ton of PP on hand. My wife booked us on flights IAD-MCO to visit her family; I applied PP to my outbound and her return, and we decided to chance her outbound as a CPU (as a Tuesday morning flight to MCO, seemed a safe bet). I ended up buying up for the return at $149 or so, but my wife said she was OK in an aisle Y seat if it came to that.

My PP cleared at 48 hours on the outbound; my wife's CPU cleared right at 24 hours, and we even managed to sit together. For the return, we watched as a paid u/g went from $149 to $299 to $1149 (costs IIRC), and assumed that meant no way in heck would her PP upgrade clear. She ended up 4th on the list; they didn't clear any CPUs or day-of upgrades that I could tell, and if any PP upgrades cleared, they were minimal as the cabin showed sold out at 48 hours.

Of course, the return was Friday morning of a holiday weekend, so I totally get why it was a tough upgrade to clear even on a leisure route.

rittenhousesq

As a 1K I was upgraded at the 24 hour mark for tomorrow's 1PM EWR-LAS flight. I think the loads to leisure destinations on the Fourth are light; people are either returning or already at their destination.

DELee

Or fewer people are flying given the ridiculous fares UA and other airlines tried to stuff down people throats this summer and the impact of inflation on the leisure travelers budget.

David

Clemson

"The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported it screened 2,196,411 people nationwide Friday, for the highest throughput since the start of the pandemic. That was also higher than the checkpoint volume for the same day in 2019."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/air-travel...ry?id=78650656

No, I don't think fewer people are flying.

DELee

More are flying overall - at least on one day. Is UA getting less of it? That's what the focus is here in this forum.

David

seanp7

Definitely high, but it did drop Sat & Sun (understandably).

I think the flyer in question got lucky going TO Vegas on the 4th. Most people would be returning.

Repooc17

Agreed. Flying today, and actually seeing Polaris cabin (domestic flight) went out with a number of empty seats.

Boraxo

This. I can’t speak to EWR but typically for every SFO flight I see a dozen GS and 24 1Ks preboarding plus Group 1 line with 3 dozen. Half the plane is elite.

Surprisingly LAX was a major contrast - almost no GS or 1K and ditto for OGG-LAX.

So if you want to clear from SFO may want to consider a connection. IMO not worth it as every flight is a roll of the dice for delays, but YMMV

zombietooth

As a convert to the WFBF sect, I routinely count how many GS/1Ks walk back to Y on any given flight, and it's never less than 75%. There are usually 4-5 GS/1Ks in the F cabin on an average flight (transcons, not outstation puddle-jumps). I surmise that everyone else up there paid cash, and that would mean that non-elites are buying F at a very high rate these days. COVID or no COVID, I don't think this is ever going to change unless UA raises prices a bunch, which means that domestic UGs for GS/1Ks are going to be rare for the foreseeable future.

rather_be_on_a_griffin

True of course but that is based on bookings made months ago and probably based on cash spent years ago. The airlines and other discretionary leisure travel services are assisting in demand destruction right now and hoping for the best. The big ones might be ok but there are a lot of firms that even need working capital financed. Go ask Uncle Sam what he will give you for some long-term inflation adjusted paper and then figure out what you would need from high yield to make it worth your while. In even more basic terms, having got the COVID itch scratched I doubt many people are driving away from the gas station thinking they want to go nuts next year.

My guess is that corporate travel does rebound and take over again as a profit and revenue driver. Just a guess of course.

mfirst

Along the lines of this topic are gone are the "good seats" - regardless of class.
I am often traveling for work with tickets purchased on the week of departure (like on a Mon for a Thur trip) - by the time the reservations work their way thru the system, the options for decent E+ seats become fewer and fewer - and the options for upgrading with my own money to F are a little silly.....

yes, sometimes stuff opens up at the time of check-in, but not always