6rugrats

Just another name for united.com

LIH Prem

I looked at the obvious choices for the outbound, and there's no NC space, but you should try other gateways/connections. You have a lot of choices, gateway in the US and gateway in Europe.

On Nov 28, UA917 FRA-IAD has NC2. (I know you said other cities, so maybe you will get lucky with those.)

Good luck.

-David

UA-NYC

Also, the Fri before T-giving and Mon after are most definitely still part of the "holiday crush"

SeattleDavid

I think the underlying issue here is that you cannot successfully request 'upgrade eligible' fares when your itinerary includes *A flights - which means that even if you find the UA flights with NC space on your dates united.com won't let you book those in the fare class you want (assuming SWU usage).

Secondarily this is complicated by the fact that searching for upgrade-eligible fares doesn't properly reveal flights with available upgrades on them.

I think this is one of those situations where a phone call is best. Since all my international travel has to be booked through our corporate travel agent, I've never had to solve this problem, though I run into it when trying to work out which flights and dates to request..

I wonder if you can book (hold?) a non-upgrade eligible fare on .com and then call to get the fare class and upgrade piece sorted?

WineCountryUA

no reason for DYKWIA, you can not do what you want online.

absoultely

In a mixed UA/LH itinerary wanting upgrades, this is the only solution.
Remember the UA & LH segments will require separate upgrades. neither miles nor a single SWU can be used for mixed UA/LH trip. Each will have to be upgraded separately.
Additionally as other have mention the online search does not work for mixed metal itins.

Simple answer -- you must call.

halls120

Why go through the pain of .bomb when a simple phone call can accomplish the same thing? I've always found the phone staff on the PE and 1K desks more than willing to help me find an upgradeable fare that will let me confirm upon purchase.

imgonnafly

I feel like at least 5 people have commented on how to do a search for NC but the OP is not willing to do the legwork involved and continues to pull up *A flights which indicates no searching for mileage tickets which we know is the only way to find NC space. It does take time if you want to find the upgrade space, but a phone call will also solve your problem OP.

MarkedMan

Yes. Perfectly straightforward to do this on line when you know how

You can get what you want very easily, with a great deal more control, by putting in a multi city itinerary where you break out the UA metal segments from the non-UA ones.

The message that has been referenced is completely irrelevant - .bomb is nowhere near clever enough to figure out that SFO-FRA-CPH, even though treated as "one flight" if you book it SFO-CPH, is only "partially upgradeable". So it throws some message in complaint because it can't handle FRA-CPH. Ignore it. It will upgrade just fine assuming availability. And plenty of folks have pointed out how to determine whether there is availability.

It's laborious, and sometimes counter-intuitive, but can be made to work with a bit of patience. Try it out ...

santarosaflyer

I have had this occur for a couple of different reasons. Sometimes .com (commonly referred to as .bomb) just doesn't work with you. A call sometimes provides more accurate information. It often has a mind of its own.

And others have it can be too early. One of the things I do, is look at the seatv map. For example looking at your departure date, put if as if you are buying business class seats, if there is a lot of wide open spaces; it often means UA is not yet ready to provide upgrades on that flight. If a lot of the seats are already booked, that's a different clue.

I suspect that eight months out, very few seats have been sold.

localtraveler

This is sort of unrelated to this post, but it popped into my head as I was reading this thread.

I used a CR-1 to sponsor a flight for a friend. When I checked online, it showed NF0. So I told her that there was no upgrade space available at the present, but I would sponsor the upgrade anyway and she could waitlist for it. But a few seconds later when I applied the CR-1 on .bomb, surprise! The upgrade cleared instantly. Anyone else have this happen? It makes the NF/NC numbers seem unreliable.

SFflyer123

Yes, like trying to identify a needle in a haystack...

You better believe it. Makes the SWU and shooting for 1k essentially not worth it. When I travel internationally, the *G (prem exec) gets me into all the nice lounges that 1K's get into. I just failed using my SWU's, which were extended to April. The SWU's just going to expire and go to waste. Why did I even shoot for 1K? To stand on some stupid red carpet when *G gets plenty of overhead space for their luggage also?

Understatement.

It's worse from SFO. Essentially impossible to find NC availability to Europe.

I hope you're right.

halls120

When I booked our upcoming flight to Munich last fall, .bomb was showing no NC availability direct to MUC, only through FRA. When I called the PE desk and asked the CSR to find us a flight, she found one with availability to MUC.

snic

Not quite. The OP has specific dates in mind; it's not that hard to use united.com to search for upgrade inventory for a limited number of dates.

It's not *easy* to find upgrade seats; if it were, no one would buy business class tickets! Despite this, the last time I crossed an ocean in Y was about 5 or 6 years (and about 16 TATL or TPAC flights) ago. Of those, only 2 crossings were from a business class ticket; the rest were miles or SWU upgrades (back when I was a 1K) or award tickets.

"Not easy" doesn't mean "impossible."

1kBill

Depending on the prices you are getting as well as your overall budget, you might consider buying C seats. The airlines have often announced very decent Z fares for some holiday periods. Last year, I snagged a r/t Z fare LAX-ZRH for around $2,200. You may need to wait, but I would not buy any seats for Thanksgiving yet unless I could confirm the upgrades.

halls120

in the last seven years, I've gone TATL on average 3 times a year. i've only sat in Y three times - once when I missed a LHR-IAD leg due to late inbound from MLA, and on a IAD-CPH RT two years ago which was a last minute flight. As the above poster notes, it isn't easy, but it also isn't impossible.