Random Check of C Class Upgrade Availability

I was looking for any international flight on which I might use the new upgrade certs and did a random check from Oct 2003 through Feb 2004 from SFO to SYD, LHR, FRA, NRT, SIN etc and all flights showed O0 I0. I have never seen this before. There was economy available on all flights.

Looks like they were pulled Aug 1. The days before there were quite a few availlible for SFO-NRT-SIN in Sept. Now none. Luckily mine were confirmed two days before.

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gfowler-ord-1k
Living in SIN

[This message has been edited by gfowler-ord-1k (edited 08-02-2003).]

I've noticed a similar phenomenon. Not sure what's going on. Perhaps they haven't loaded all of the various types of inventory (R, X, I, O, etc.) yet? For those flights I was interested in, USA-NRT, NRT-SIN, NRT-BKK in Q1, 2004, there was zero "I" upgrade inventory, but in nearly every case there were zero seats assigned! I assume that if you ticketed, your upgrade would clear nearly instantaneously? At least that's what I'm hoping.

[This message has been edited by transpac (edited 08-02-2003).]

This is what happened for me with SFO-SYD in September. No upgrade inventory. Cleared within a couple days once I bought the ticket. And 15G here I come!

It seems UA is fiddling around a bit with their availability as of late. As you can see by this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/021112.html

On 7-31 there was tons of availability LAX-SYD and SYD-LAX that was not there a day or so prior. Then, as quickly as it was there, it's now gone. Checking a seatmap comparison, no new seats have been scooped up, so it seems wise to be continually monitoring award availability to see what the whims of inventory management throw your way.

I do agree with transpac's strategy. Book the award travel in coach for the long haul flight and waitlist for the upgrade. Also, if you can, try to find a short connection that has XC or 2-class XF availability and book that as well. Then waitlist for the long haul leg of the trip. If the waitlist clears, it won't cost you anything after you've ticketed because of the confirmed XC or XF connection. (If you don't care about spending $75, then don't worry about this)

This is what I did a week ago for MEL-LAX in March. Even though MEL-LAX has the same flight # as SYD-LAX, MEL-SYD had XC availability. SYD-LAX did not. I booked it as MEL-SYD XC, then SYD-LAX XY. Waitlisted for XC SYD-LAX, and 24 hours later (on 7-31) my waitlist upgrade cleared when all of that XC availability popped up (and I have no status). Because I already had confirmed XC MEL-SYD, the upgrade to XC SYD-LAX didn't cost a thing.

Given that waitlist travel cleared for a lot of folks around that time, hopefully the waitlist will be shorter for you. Then cross your fingers that inventory management will spaz again and open up a ton of availability so you won't have to wait too long

Good luck!

- Tony

Just a minor point, I was specifcally addressing upgrade inventory, and not award inventory. That is, after having purchased an Economy revenue ticket, I would use miles or a certificate (SWU) to upgrade to Business class (C). This would require NC inventory, also tagged as "I". I have no experience with waitlisting award travel.

I think there is a glitch on the United Award Availability web site that is making every Saver Award search for International Free Business class or International business class upgrades show O0 and I0. Contact UA web support and let them know about the problem. I think UA forgot to load the International Award and Upgrade Award inventory.

[This message has been edited by chitownflyer (edited 08-02-2003).]

I have a different theory... At the end of last week, I was trying to decide whether or not I should change my (previously upgaded) ORD-SIN MR....

I am scheduled to fly on 10/11 (Sat) and there was 04 I4 inventory available for the same flight on Friday.....thought it would be no problem to do it whenever was convenient....

This morning after reading everyone's post, I called, and lo and behold: NO upgrade inventory on ORD-SIN 10/10.....

Here's my idea: With many, many 1K's trying to book (relatively) cheap Int'l "upgradeable" fares due to the SweetSpots, and UA seeing many, many of these for sale on Ebay....has decided to withdraw a certain amount of "upgradeable space" so that someone who may/may not buy a SweetSpot on Ebay can't grab Ox Ix inventory in advance of the 1K's who would logically clear the waitlist, at least at flight time...

Any thoughts?? Best wishes, Dave

I booked SFO-SIN-SFO this past Monday for a trip in late September. Was showing I9 all the way through. Was able to confirm all upgrades using SWU. Now award availability shows nothing for upgrade inventory.

Something definitely amiss.

I noticed the same thing happen last spring when I was getting ready to book SFO-PVG. That time I got caught on the wrong side of whatever they were doing, and upgrade availability got zeroed out when the day before it was I9.

On the other hand, I booked SFO-CDG-SFO Nov6-
18 on July 16, the first day after the new certs came into play. I'm confirmed in C on the way out, but waitlisted on the way back. The inventory showed wide open????

There is something amiss, as you can not find a single international Business class award or international Business class upgrade on any international routing. Try ORD-LHR, ORD-NRT, and ORD-EZE, and you will find not one single seat even when searching even 11 months out. When searching for C to F or free First class international awards, these can be found.

Given that I do software quality assurance testing for a living, I'm sympathetic to the programmers and testers that have to maintain such a complex inventory management system. That said, what I've witnessed over the last week makes me think what we're seeing is being caused by one of two likely scenarios:

Scenario one:

1. On (or around) 7/31 a massive amount of C class award and upgrade inventory was released, likely accidentally as the result of a major system logic flaw or defect. (We know this happened.)

2. Because of #1, a massive amount of waitlists and upgrades cleared, which caught the attention of some folks at UA. (Seems to be logical given #1.)

3. As a result of #2, all of the C class award and upgrade inventory was pulled until they can sort out what the problem is. (If you believe #2, then this shouldn't be a stretch.)

Once it's all figured out, I think you'll see award bookings return.

Scenario 2:

Because of their horrid quarter they are eliminating large amounts of upgrade and award inventory. While it's true that some F and Y availability seems to still exist, just eyeballing it seems as if this has been reduced as well.

There are other scenarios of course but these two will generate the most comments. Hence the reason I picked them

- T

[This message has been edited by TonySCV (edited 08-03-2003).]

My mid-august upgrade to C cleared around that time so whom am I to complain

Its fascinating that there were lots of inventory LAX-SYD on either side of the 08-november but not on that day .My wife and I are waiting on upgrades to J class Lax-Syd on that day and there are only 9 seats taken in UA seat plan but there has been no release of seats.It certainly sounds interesting.
Ozflier

Some airlines(NW, AF, AC, & US), on selected routes(I only checked PHL-CDG) have started offering deeply discounted C fares(I presume D fares). The return tickets are about $1700.

Perhaps we are going to start a C class fare war. Why give away all the seats, when you can sell them for $1500 each.

Last year from Nov to Jan, IAD to CDG,& LHR, were under $1500 on a varity of airlines.