aacharya

You're not getting upgraded on that flight as a Gold and Silver.

When you check-in, say "no" to the upgrade possibility (and hence the splitting).

LukeRB

We've been upgraded in the past with much lower odds; What makes you confident we won't be this time?

Also, what are your thoughts on the other questions?

aacharya

SFO-EWR-SFO is low odds/impossible even for 1Ks on leisure fare classes (look at my signature). Have you been upgraded on that specific flight? Was it a weekend?

The advice is the same - the only only way for you to have a chance of upgrades and not split is for you both to have been upgraded prior to OLCI.

What would I do? Split. It always works for me and my companion on the outbound with respect to still getting upgrades (you'll be treated as a Gold, right behind the GF). On the inbound, the companion drops from behind me to after all others in my elite status, so that can be an issue.

PV_Premier

the gold might clear if you split, the silver probably wont.

depends on the fare class of the gold. V or higher, better chance, W or lower, probably less likely.

imgonnafly

as a 1k, i've cleared that route once out of about 25 times in the last 1.5 years. you cleared as a silver? i'm shocked if that's true.

golfingboy

I never cleared EWR-LAX/SFO via CPU as 1K unless I am on YBM fare or using RPU. I have even failed numerous times with an RPU applied.

Advice to the OP, expect to fly in Y and go ahead with the OLCI. If you want to increase your odds slightly of having at least one of you clear, then split the PNR.

Splitting the PNR will not impact your ability to access the GFL, PNR does not matter when it comes to guesting into the GFL, it is the cabin and status of the person who has access to the lounge.

snic

OP was concerned about early check-in, which he has to do to access the GFL. The important point is that after 24 hr before the flight, if the upgrade hasn't happened yet, each passenger is on his/her own (if you choose to split the PNR at check-in) or the upgrade isn't going to happen at all (if you choose not to split). Either way, the OP should check in and not worry about the consequences for both pax getting upgraded, because there are none.

(By the way, if it's a weekend flight at certain times, you might get upgraded on EWR-SFO/LAX. Empty F and E+ cabins? A Silver has a long-shot chance, a Gold a bit better. Good luck!)

joder

Quick question I can't seem to find the answer to.

Wife and I are both Premier Gold and we booked a reservation together IAH-DEN.

I did not split the reservation prior to the T-48 mark, however, I am wondering if I should have for upgrade reasons.

As I recall in the past I did not have to split up the reservation to get upgrades (it would upgrade one of us, both of us, or niether).

Does anyone know if it would have made any difference? 19 folks were upgraded and I have a hard time believing it is all GS/1k/Plat that got upgraded. I know Golds on higher fare codes would trump us as well. We are number 1-2 on the upgrade standby list with 4 people in the list total.

This is a Sunday afternoon flight and I can't imagine business travel would be high, however, I could be very wrong.

Thanks for any input you can offer.

aacharya

Should have made no difference.

joder

That's what i thought - thanks for the confirmation. Guess we got trumped which is OK. I just wanted to make sure SHARES wasn't acting up.

WineCountryUA

Sunday (late) afternoon flights are common business travel times -- positioning oneself to be available for work on Monday morning.

maple

I might just have made a big mess of my reservation. Companion and I (previously) on same PNR are within my Premier upgrade window and CPU cleared on 1/4 segments. I checked and this was the RN status:

Seg 1 RN1
Seg 2 RN2
Seg 3 RN4
Seg 4 CPU Cleared

I assumed (likely wrongly) that Seg 1 RN1 was the reason we were not upgraded on the other 3 remaining segments. Thus, I called in to split the PNR since Seg was F1 anyway so staying together would not have helped the CPU. I had hoped that splitting PNR would have cleared Segments 2 and 3.

- my CPU is still not processed despite being alone on a PNR with RN1 and within my upgrade window (I thought it would auto clear now that I am alone on the PNR?)

- agent assured me that my companion on his own new PNR would still keep my Premier status and the upgrade request (doesn't seem true, see below)

- agent said that having R/RN inventory available does not imply automatic CPU clearance (really?? in this case, why would anybody need to have ExpertFlyer track when R/RN opens up?)

- I just checked my companion's PNR and it no longer shows any upgrade requested for the 3 remaining segments

- do I have to call back to merge/unsplit the PNR?

Just started flying UA this year and totally new to CPUs.
How badly did I mess up, and how should I undo this mess? HUACA?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

CPUs do not come out of the R you see.
You cannot un-split a split PNR.
Your companion will no longer carry your status, which is why he/she is not on list
ExpertFlyer is useful for looking for R inventory to use instruments (GPUs/RPUs) for upgrades. It is useless for CPU notification.
Upgrades do not necessarily appear at your upgrade window. If you get one, it could be when you are sitting in your coach seat and a GA comes and gets you. The wording on the upgrade window is: "As early as", not "at".

This will probably get moved to a very long existing thread...

ksingh0311

Availability of R/RN space does not automatically guarantee clearance of CPU. CPU clears from either a subset of R/RN space or (more likely) from an unpublished fare class. Availability of R/RN only guarantees an upgrade that is supported by instruments (RPU/GPU) or miles. I hope other, more knowledgeable, FT members will be able to help you with your other questions.

maple

I learned a ton from your comments - thank you! And I am sure many others after me will learn as well from your post.

Will I be able to call in to link the 2 PNRs, and put my companion back on the CPU list piggy-backing on my premier status? Or do I have to wait until checkin at the airport?

I remember reading here that the auto-split at 24h led to members having to manually request PNR-link ups at the airport in order for non-elite companions to be put back on the upgrade waitlist; not sure if this can be done on the phone.