danville 1K

Yes, in retrospect had I used a CR1 to confirm the upgrade at booking I probably would have been in C for the flight. At the time of booking it seemed like a shoo in to get an upgrade so I didn't do it. Glad your upgrade held.

vincesf

I have been following this thread a bit.

First, I would rather fly domestically on the the non-reconfigured (Old) 747-400 N194UA, over any other plane in the United Fleet, save the newly configured 3-class 747-400 with updated systems. This would be a disappointment if flying internationally as the entertainment system is inferior to the newer systems, but domestically it has not been a problem for me. This summer I have flown N194UA upstairs 16 times, and am rather disappointed when United throws in a last minute change to a 777, something I can never predict, but know its coming when I am unable to print my boarding pass with the message "under airport control". My favorite seats upstairs are 17A or 17B, which do not exist on the newly configured 747-400, but have been upgraded to First Class as a courtesy when this happens. Despite what seat guru says, my favorite first class seat is seat 1A in both the old and new 747-400 configuration. It is particularly nice on the newly configured 747-400, and offers window views unlike any other aircraft.

I am scheduled to fly on it again tomorrow Sunday 9/19 and it still is listed as a 747-400, crossing my fingers.

I will sorely miss flying on domestic 747-400's when discontinued, but in the meantime, it has actually brought some joy back in flying.

vincesf

SFOSpiff

I'm on this flight Sunday, too, and have sort of given up hope of an upgrade. ualcargo.com shows this as a 47C (a new config 744), which has 20 fewer C seats, and explains why it looks completely full. I made it into C two weeks ago, but that was on N194UA. Of course, we won't know until the gate how bad the waitlist is.

If any of ya'll could, you know, just not show up, that'd be great. I'll be your BFF.

Bitterroot

N194UA turned at SFO from 892 to 857 today (Sat., the 18th), so it won't be here to cover 664 Sunday am.

N171UA did the 664/973 turn today.

JoeJSFB

The seat map updated to the new 747 config sometime this afternoon and automatically moved from 61H to Economy Plus. I, too, have given up on an upgrade.

VinceSF and SFOSpiff - Look forward to seeing you on the plane (or taking a bump) ;-)

SFOSpiff

It did the opposite to me - I lost my supremo seat at the exit door to be stuck in a middle E+ seat. I thought I moved to the back to feel less cramped (I'd rather sit aisle than middle seat E+) but it's not letting me change seats even though I haven't gone through OLCI yet.

There's still 4 F seats free so there's a tiny chance left. But I don't know if I'm #2 on the waitlist or #50.

I'm not likely to volunteer my seat; I just want to get where I'm going and not risk my F seat on the connecting flight.

gatelouse

Looks like UA has an unexpected master plan for N194UA. Thanks to Bitterroot for catching it on 857 SFO-PVG on 9/18. Per ualcargo, it then proceeds as follows:

• 9/20 858 PVG-SFO
• 9/20 837 SFO-NRT
• 9/21 882 NRT-ORD
• 9/22 973 ORD-SFO

...and then back to regular SFO-ORD-SFO turns. We hope.

The rotation to ORD is what I didn't expect. Ironically, the ORD-SFO direction would therefore get its B747 service back a day before SFO-ORD.

If this plan holds, then condolences go to those on 858, 837, 882 on the impacted days.

saaws

I really would be angry if I got aboard (Without Empower adaptor especially!) and ran into the old style F/C. Especially if I paid J/C/D/Z and upgraded to F. I guess you could demand for another day or on a different carrier if you purchased F/A/J/C/D, but honestly that's simply a lot of hassle when you only found out about equip change last minute. SFO-ICN is not exactly the cash cow in F/C, but on ORD-NRT? Seriously?

vincesf

Stupidly, I reserved seats that do not exist on the newly configured 747-400. Row 17 A & B, while the last row upstairs on the old configuration, only goes to row 16 on the newly configured 747-400. So, I have no seats and of course my reserved seats on my connection from ORD to LGA were also dumped.
See you tomorrow, wearing a black long sleeve tee-shirt if you want to introduce yourselves.

vincesf

JoeJSFB

So, do I get to be your BFF?

I got upgraded at 2:05 a.m. and then overslept my alarm clock as it's 20 minutes before scheduled departure and someone is now very very happy that their upgrade cleared.

vincesf

Gave my wife 2A (incredible seat). I'm upstairs in 16k ( very nice forward facing seat).
If someone knows of a nicer domestic flight, please let me know, as I believe it doesn't get better than this enroute to Chicago.

vincesf

pmgsfo

I am on 664 tomorrow (9/21) am (and return on 973 on Friday).

As noted above, tomorrow's 664 looks like a new config 747. My upgrade has not gone through (yet ... still hoping -- thought this would be an easy one) -- how do they do the mapping of the seats from old to new config? Reservations still show old config seat plan, so no opportunity to select for myself. Hopefully, they try to maintain roughly equivalent seating.

SFOSpiff

They seem to do a fairly good job, depending on your status. I kept my exit door seat even though it moved from row 35 to 33. I also once had the same effect from an A320-B757 swap.

The downside was that technically I was bumped down from E+ to E, though it was exit row so I didn't care. I never did get an upgrade - right around the start of boarding, I was still #19/55, and the last few C seats were being called for upgrades. I gotta get 1K before I fly UA664 again next month.

FriendlySkies

Looks like this bird will be doing 664 SFO-ORD Saturday morning.. I was hoping for the new bird, however it seems that I am out of luck

camachinist

Pretty sure I saw this bird next to us today 9/21 as we pulled up to the gate at Narita.