Apologize if this has been asked and answered. Did a search but didn't find anything. I'm trying to upgrade my parents to Asia using my SWUs. They are both Premiers. There have been a lot of discussions about no advance confirmed upgrades on the TPAC routes to NRT from any destinations, which I find it to be true. They're leaving on Nov 1 and returning on Dec 16 from SFO to NRT. .bomb is showing NC0 on every route that I've searched (ORD, SEA, IAD, SFO and LAX). They're on the same PNR. Should I split them apart so that they have a better chance of clearing in advance? I think the possibility of 2 people getting cleared before DM is fairly low. I feel as if UA opens one seat at a time on a rolling basis, and then it's all based on status once DM gets it. Any thoughts on their chances being higher if I split them? Thanks in advance.

How would they feel if only one gets an upgrade? If that is ok, since they are of equal status I would split.

Thanks. I think they would be fine with sitting in different cabins. It's just fruastrating that they won't release SOME seats 7 months in advance when the entire cabin is open.

They did have NC avail 9 month in advance back in JAN for SEP travel HNL-NRT. It is all about how far in advance you book and how flexible you are if you want to clear UG on booking.

Yes, split.

Agreed . I am in the same boat but waiting on SYD LAX and SFO SYD to clear 6 & 7 months out respectively. Almost empty seatmaps/cabins in Business .

In my case, we are 1K and 1P on same pnr. Should I split or not split? Mini DG is the 1P.

Different 1K agents I have spoken to, all said DONT split as they feel Mini DG will go way down the list of pax waiting for upgrades. I called them all ready to split pnr and that is what I was told . Issue is that DM do sometimes only release one seat at a time.

Also note that if the upgrade request is in place when you split, it will charge you another upgrade for the split-off record, and it will be effort to reconcile it with MP.

Conventional FT wisdom has been that until the record goes to departure management (DM), the UG listing is based on the status of the UG sponsor NOT the traveler. Based on this logic, splitting is the right action if you believe IM is going to trickle out 1 seat at a time. Once the flt is under airport control, the 1P is technically on their own anyway. However, I have had a no status friend on my PNR get an op up when the gate op upped me.
(warning - anecdotal info worth absolutely nothing).
A final consideration is that sometimes splitting the record seems to generate a new listing date. IOW, you both may lose your place in line when the record is split and both are reinserted in the queue. Under prevalent FT logic, you will both be put back on the UG list under your 1K sponsorship, but the new request date will be the date of the split rather than the original date, so you will both be behind those who have requested subsequent to your original request.
Confusing, yes? Certain, no. Much of FT UG speculation is based up anecdotal information rather than hard facts. Would love to see a comment from a rez agent who has actually done a split and seen the results in the queue....

Data point for EX: Australia.
We do not have that many travelling to Asia.
I would suggest split.
The trend has indeed been to release 1 NC seat for the past few months from & to Australia.
Between 20-25 March there was NC1 on every flight in mid sept. MEL-LAX, SYD-LAX, SYD-SFO.
We grabbed 4 seats in Mid Sept. EX: Australia. Confirmed at time of ticketing
We have seen this trend for each month..

I know you werent replying to me, but thanks for your info and help all the same .

Ahhh you probably grabbed the NC1 I had my eye on, while trying to get my itin sorted for mid Sept . It was there for about 2 weeks, then as soon as I booked, poof - gone. At that point I had to decided I would split, and apply SWU to Mini DG first, but alas, too late, so then after advice from 1K line, I kept pnr together. I will take your advice as I KNOW you know the SYD USA route very well.

Have you got any data points on your people being on the waitlists for those flights this year? How quickly they cleared, if they were lower than 1K status etc?

Thanks again ^.

To NZPilot: thanks for your info also. Apparently NOW, its not FIFO on the waitlists, they are already sorting them by status as soon as someone is waitlisted, well at least that is what I was told by two 1K line agents. So that is why they seemed to think Mini DG 1P would end up too far down the lists. However, when I last checked, there was only 2 people ahead of us (on one pnr) in one direction and no one at all on the list in the other direction, so I guess if I jump in now and split, the damage could be quite minimal. I hope so, at least.

Only other issue I have is that 2 of our domestic CR1 upgrades have cleared, so I need a good agent to make sure those upgrades are not lost in the process of splitting . It is quite a large itinerary with both intl and domestic segments.

Very low status Premier.
The sponsors' status is what counts 100%.
We have lots of SWU. I rarely used SWU on my flights to OZ,as I have a GD fare which is under $3K. RT.
We used the SWU to upgrade our staff at least oneway.
When they have been on WL usually clears few weeks before. In January at the end of Australian Open, flights cleared well in advance EX: MEL.
1 did not even have a status with UA.
We had flights clear in FEB over Valentine's weekend from OZ to USA 21 days before.
I would not be concern about the WL.
Once again single PNRs will clear faster. We always book our personnel on single PNRs if we intend to upgrade them.

FIFO is no longer the case if that helps - status and fare paid.

Last year, we split I was upgraded and Mrs. Karung99 was 1P and was not
This year, we split again we both 1K she got upgraded right away, and mine was upgraded at gate.

I will NOT split if the other one is not 1K, you have less chances to get upgrade when it is under Airport Mgn.

Good Luck,

Karung99

Ahhh - this is why my full fare tix do not clear up until the gate ....

Decided to split the PNRs. Got a good 1K agent who managed to keep all our upgraded flights and the waitlisted flights in good order ^.

I will let you know how it all goes, (if) when it clears .

Datapoint: I was again told by another 1K agent, that the waitlist is definitely NOT FIFO anymore. Its status, fare paid and time on waitlist. This has been confirmed to me at least 4 times over the last 2 weeks. There is still a PA waitlist but everyone wanting to upgrade either with SWUs or Miles+Copay go on this list, according to the agent I spoke with.

My partner and I are wailisted for an upgrade to C (using SWUs) on UA 930 SFO-LHR 2 weeks from now. We're on one record; I am 1K, he is 1P. When we made the reservation (6+ months ago) the flight was wide open with no business class seats taken; in the past we've had good luck with getting such upgrades confirmed well in advance. But not this time. With the flight less than two weeks away, and C class filling up, what are our chances? I would obviously prefer BOTH of us to be upgraded, but if there is no chance of that, then ONE upgrade is better than none. Is there any benefit in splitting the record at this time? Does UA automatically split up the reservation, for upgrade waitlist purposes, at some point before the flight? 24 hrs? When we check in? Any insights/tips appreciated!