Confirmable Upgrade at Booking Inventory
 

Hey guys it's been 10 years since I've been a 1K so I don't know what the language is (Think it used to be called a GPU). Anyway over at stingy AA, SWU confirmation at booking used to be available for plenty of EU routes in the offpeak seasons (Jan-March) usually with no problem. Now, AA has yanked that benefit and effectively worthless. If I have to "waitlist" a SWU rather than confirm at booking, they are utterly useless.

My question is for a similar scenario on UA can you confirm these upgrades (using whatever instrument UA calls them) for off peak/off day routes? Any problem finding EWR or ORD-LHR in Jan-Feb leaving/returning mid week? I wonder if AA is the only one who has left EXP program effectively worthless now.

mid-week off-season to LHR is not too difficult to find IME. Otherwise, not exactly easy ...

You can search in expert mode for PZ inventory, if available, it will confirm right away

There has been a tighting of upgrade inventory (PZ for non GS) by UA also, especially at booking. As mentioned there are some sweet spots especially for LHR.

Much depends on your travel flexibility.

Affordable cash upgrades is the new player here.

There is so much capacity on NYC-LHR that it nearly always clears from what I've observed (or can SDC to another flight with PZ). With how often UA is overselling Premium Plus, you could probably get away with waitlisting for PY and get op-up'ed into J.

GPU are now "Plus Points" and R space is now PZ space, but the fundamental mechanics haven't changed.

I lost 1K a few years back so I have not followed it carefully, but the general anecdotes are that it has gotten much worse since then; see e.g. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ability-3.html

You can search Expert Mode for PZ to get an idea of the landscape without necessarily booking a trip or having status.

As WineCountryUA pointed out to me once when I made a similar assertion: they are frequently overselling Premium Plus but there are few reports of op-ups. I suspect the number of seats they’re willing to oversell is based upon the number of upgraders they have in the cabin, and that op-ups remain rare.

AA yanked everything. I supposed they think they can sell more Y-J app buy ups than allow an EXP to redeem a SWU.

I am considering leaving AA. I just requalified for EXP again for next year (earning period on AA is 3/1-2/28 not CY) and looking at UA again. Star Alliance is such a better option for me with my EU travels with partners LH and AC unlike AA with BA and IB. I just hate the idea from starting at scratch again.

You can try your luck with this:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...024-terms.html

Are plus points redeemable on LH or AC? I ask as at AA you can use a SWU on a BA flight if you meet certain criteria (1. to fly J you need to buy PE on BA 2. There must be award saver space for J on that BA flight).

It sounds like you may be eligible for a status challenge, at least to Platinum. However, before I made any such challenge, I’d take findark’s advice to look for inventory that can be confirmed in advance. Midweek ORD/EWR-LHR inventory has some of the best availability, but it’s still not exactly abundant. There are also regularly imbalances between what’s available to and from Europe; currently, there are about twice as many flights from LHR with open PZ than there are to LHR.

I had previously been in the “if it’s not available at booking, I’m not interested” camp, but I eventually softened my stance to include waitlists on some flights where I had high confidence they’d clear and where I had a backup plan if they did not (same-day change, alternate routing, even canceling for a credit and booking something else). So far, I’m 4/5 on clearing in advance, and I was able to re-route into confirmed PZ for less than $100, a week prior to departure, on the remaining one. But there’s definitely still work involved to fly in J, and much more work than was necessary even a few years ago.

​​​​​​​Yes on LH for sufficiently high fare classes, with waitlisting allowed. No on AC.

LH is Q or higher (except lowest PE) to business (not just to PE) or D and higher to First. Being able to WL is great and clearance rates are very high.

off season mid-week to LHR is extremely widely available. Looked earlier today and saw plenty of PZ9. Mid-week off-season to FRA and elsewhere is also not bad at all IME. High season or weekends is not easy to find w/o playing a WL lottery

This has been the case for a few years now, at least IME. UA probably thinks that J is more valuable for eastbound overnight flights than westbound daytime flights, which I agree with up to a point—I can do a westbound PE to the east coast or ORD, but anything further is pushing it.

The other point I’d make is that PN (the inventory bucket used for GS upgrades) can occasionally be a decent indicator of upgrade success probability, especially for 1Ks and maybe PLTs. There are numerous reports of 1Ks waitlisting upgrades with PN9 and clearing immediately or shortly after waitlisting without PZ ever opening, but this should not be relied upon.

Well I'm still in that camp but your added comments are note worthy unfortunately AA doesn't offer SDC on International flights (:mad:). Alternative routing is a possibility if the change fee isn't exorbitant.

The one good outlier is I have an AARP and BA chase discount meaning I can book a J BA flight from JFK to LHR just about anytime for about $2300 return. Then I used AA miles for an award positioning flight to Kennedy.

Really chaps me AA yanked pretty much all C space.

JFK-LHR r/t for $2300 in J is a steal, I mean way below market, no (assuming flatbeds and nonstop)?

Yes on both. The base fare is already competitive simply because of how saturated that JFK-LHR market is. If I look at other BA gateways add $1500 approx (at least from what I've seen).