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20 open Polaris seats less than 48 hours out and no upgrades have cleared

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20 open Polaris seats less than 48 hours out and no upgrades have cleared

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Old Feb 13, 2024, 9:56 pm
  #1  
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20 open Polaris seats less than 48 hours out and no upgrades have cleared
I am flying SFO to CDG on UA #990 on Thursday February 15th and per the UA app, Polaris has a capacity of 50 seats and only 30 are booked yet no upgrades have cleared. I do not fly internationally that often, is this standard practice?
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Old Feb 13, 2024, 9:59 pm
  #2  
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Lately I've seen a lot of stuff clear about 36 hours out. And then they'll clear to 2 seats just inside of 24 hours out
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Old Feb 13, 2024, 10:37 pm
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Originally Posted by Del Mar 1K
I am flying SFO to CDG on UA #990 on Thursday February 15th and per the UA app, Polaris has a capacity of 50 seats and only 30 are booked yet no upgrades have cleared. I do not fly internationally that often, is this standard practice?
100% normal. UA will clear upgrades either around T-36, to J3, or just inside T-24, to J2.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 9:15 am
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Normal or not it’s horrible practice that makes elites question why bother with status. No way they’re selling 20 seats in 48 hours. Should be able to clear at least 10-12 upgrades at this point and more as they draw closer.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 9:26 am
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Originally Posted by drewguy
Normal or not it’s horrible practice that makes elites question why bother with status. No way they’re selling 20 seats in 48 hours. Should be able to clear at least 10-12 upgrades at this point and more as they draw closer.
It's annoying but the upgrades clear in the end, which is the important thing.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 9:33 am
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Just a heads up, there are significantly less than 20 Polaris seats available on this flight. Seat map isn’t accurate.

Good luck with the upgrade, hope it works out for you.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:07 am
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Originally Posted by clubord
Just a heads up, there are significantly less than 20 Polaris seats available on this flight. Seat map isn’t accurate.

Good luck with the upgrade, hope it works out for you.
I don’t think the OP was necessary counting the seats. Is sounds like the OP was looking at the number of bookings per the app.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:33 am
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Originally Posted by Doppy
Lately I've seen a lot of stuff clear about 36 hours out. And then they'll clear to 2 seats just inside of 24 hours out
Originally Posted by Kacee
100% normal. UA will clear upgrades either around T-36, to J3, or just inside T-24, to J2.
Originally Posted by drewguy
Normal or not it’s horrible practice that makes elites question why bother with status. No way they’re selling 20 seats in 48 hours. Should be able to clear at least 10-12 upgrades at this point and more as they draw closer.
With my bean counting hat on I do think it saves United money on the costs of the Polaris lounges if the upgrades do not happen until close to departure. however, that could just be the conspiracy theorist speaking. 🤣
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:35 am
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Originally Posted by zrs70
I don’t think the OP was necessary counting the seats. Is sounds like the OP was looking at the number of bookings per the app.
The app can only tell you if there are more than 9 seats left for sale, it can't tell you if there are 20
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:37 am
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Originally Posted by Del Mar 1K
I am flying SFO to CDG on UA #990 on Thursday February 15th and per the UA app, Polaris has a capacity of 50 seats and only 30 are booked yet no upgrades have cleared. I do not fly internationally that often, is this standard practice?
When GS upgrades clear into PN, they frequenly do not show up as cleared upgrades on the app
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:38 am
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Originally Posted by zrs70
I don’t think the OP was necessary counting the seats. Is sounds like the OP was looking at the number of bookings per the app.
I get that, my point is there is not anywhere near 20 seats that are available (not booked) like the OP has expected.
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Last edited by clubord; Feb 14, 2024 at 11:57 am
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:44 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by LifetimeGS
The app can only tell you if there are more than 9 seats left for sale, it can't tell you if there are 20
Flight status can tell you exactly how many seats are available. For UA990 on Thursday, it currently shows 45/50 booked in J.

Although lately the display has been unreliable.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:47 am
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Flight status can tell you exactly how many seats are available. For UA990 on Thursday, it currently shows 45/50 booked in J.

Although lately the display has been unreliable.
You're correct, i wasn't clear. i was going to the unreliability of the info absent making a dummy booking for 9
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 10:57 am
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I just flew back from CDG. I've been seeing a lot of capacity on ex CDG flights as I watched up to my departure. There were 13 open Polaris seats on our flight back. My Cash+Points upgrade cleared about 2 weeks before the return.
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Old Feb 14, 2024, 11:03 am
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Originally Posted by LifetimeGS
When GS upgrades clear into PN, they frequenly do not show up as cleared upgrades on the app
I think that’s true of a lot of upgrades outside t-24. The real question is why if 20 seats are available at t-48 why the waitlist hasn’t cleared down to 5-10 seats.
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