Indeed. But I just got an "EBIZ" fare code on a MKE-ORD-YHZ itinerary, which literally doesn't come within 1000 miles of Ted. The fare rules on united.com seem to show "E" as being a refundable, nearly unrestricted fare just below Y/B and before M. Unfortunately "WHEN THESE FARES ARE COMBINED ON A HALF ROUND TRIPBASIS WITH PENALTY OR RESTRICTED FARES TO FORM A RT/CT/OJ ITINERARY THE MOST RESTRICTIVE PROVISIONS WILL APPLY" which negates that in my case (the other half's on S/T fares).

This is such a useful thread I thought I'd bump it back up.

I was actually searching for published fare rules but have not been able to find anything useful.

I want to use my UK *G upgrades (valid on Y B M H fares) to upgrade a flight in April. H fares are currently quite high for that period and I wanted to buy a Q (or V), then arrive early at check-in, see what the upgarde list looks like, and upgrade to the higher H fare (if it is still available, which it should be) and upgrade on the spot. If there are no seats left for upgrades, nothing lost. If there are, I may pay a small remium but figure I'm still better off.

Question: Does anyone know whether I can upgrade the Q (or V) to H on UA and what the typical fee for this is?

Thanks

bump as per other thread for FLYDCA.....

Also - LondonElite - not sure if you can buy up on the day - I thought most H M B fares had advance purchase restrictions? From a fee perspective - as long as the new fare is more expensive there should be no change fee.

On another note - had a colleague on a Q fare who was running late for a UA flight out of LHR due to his late inbound connection. I think he was about last to turn up at the gate - asked if he could use his *S voucher and the agent took it and printed out a C boarding pass in an instant. (Probably due to the late arrival at gate and a very risky strategy.....)

Very risky strategy indeed! Wondering whether to go UA or LH...holding UA H fares at the moment but may switch to LH.

Worth a sticky?

I also suggested it for the sticky thread in the MR forums.

How about 1 sticky thread at the top of the forum, with links in it to the threads that have been deemed sticky-worthy? This would cut down on the waste of space that several sticky threads would create.

This idea has a lot of merit IMO.

Such a thread might possibly be termed:

A United Airlines "FAQ" thread that new users might find answers a lot of routine questions

or whatever.

Otherwise you may end up with the entire first page of a large Forum like UA with 20 "sticky" threads covering:

1. Upgrades - how to get and how to use them?
2. Drink chits - How to get them - and how many?
3. Who can access RCC?
4. How far can you fly on a single SWU?
5. How do I transfer E certs?
7. Who gets E+ seating?
8. What is the best Biz class seat on a 747?
9. Choice of a 757 or 767 to IAD .. which is best?

10. ... well, we all get the picture I am sure. ;)

OZ - First of all thanks for this wonderful thread - I too hope it is made sticky!.
I have the same problem as Papa3 with getting "No Qualifying Flights" when I follow your instructions. How can I see what seats are available?

Also, what if the code you are looking for is not even listed - ie. there is no code "I" listed under the availability vs a listing of I0.

Finally, is there any way to search for upgrade or free seats on a particular itinerary with a certain date range (instead of just on a particular day). If not, we should certainly suggest that to UA.
Thanks

If there shows "No Qualifying Flights" that AFAIK means there are no award seats for the flight you are seeking.

Not sure if I understand the other part about "I0" and no "I" at all showing?

For a RANGE of dates I have found phoning to be a faster option .. yes there is no way to ask the website to throw up upgrade/award options for a spread of dates. UA staffers can of course do this on their keyboard. :)

Sorry if I was confusing. What I meant is that often not all the booking codes are listed. So is there a difference if a code is shown with 0 seats available or if the code is not even listed for that flight.

Hope you can arrange to make this s sticky thread at the top :)

bump & I concur

Uh-oh. Looks like the onslaught of UA-forum stickies has started. ;)

No chance of having one moderator-controlled thread which has links to all the threads that are deemed sticky-worthy?

As oz noted above, there are probably a dozen threads on this board that seem to get referenced all the time (booking codes, RCC drink chits, 747/777 C seat preferences,... ). It would be a bit of a clutter to have the entire first screen of the UA forum covered with stickies.

I'll later update page #1 that "Z" class heavily discounted Business Class fares CANNOT (offically) be upgraded using either miles or SWU's or Sales Dept upgrade certificates.

However, Z fares were upgradable using Sweet Spots. Does anyone happen to know where Z fares fall in regard to operational upgrades? Would a Z->NF upgrade be considered essentially a double upgrade, or would it be possible if C is oversold?