CPUtoYOU

With no elite status, what is my best chance for using an SWU for SFO-BKK?

My 1K boyfriend has generously offered to apply his SWUs to my business trip to Bangkok. My company has an economy class travel policy and I would be thrilled to be upgraded on such a long flight. Given the increasing difficulty of using SWU and my lack of status, I know it will be a challenge to get upgraded. As a new flyertalk member, I was hoping to get help from the "finest people in the business" -- which needless to say is NOT the miserly employees of UA, but the brilliant and savvy community that is Flyertalk.

So let's talk strategy. There are many factors to weigh and many options to consider, but first let's start with the basics. I understand that as a Region 2 upgrade I will need to purchase a W fare ticket or higher. My travel dates are somewhat flexible and I would like to choose the best route and date for maximizing my chances of upgrade. I am scheduled to fly out around Oct 17 and return Nov 11.

This brings me to my first two questions:
1) What day(s) of the week is(are) best for upgrading?
2) What route is best for upgrading? SFO-NRT-BKK or SFO-LAX-NRT-BKK

Question 2 leads to more complex questions because most SFO-NRT flights are of the new premium cabin configuration, which is a better upgrade value, however less business class seats available for upgrade. So this leads to my next two questions:

3) What are my relative chances of upgrade of NRT-BKK (new config) vs. LAX-NRT (old config)?
4) Is the marginal risk worth the potential payout of a new business class seat?

In order to give a thorough analysis to question #4, I have yet another question. I understand that each segment of the itinerary will be considered separately for upgrade; however flight UA 837 (SFO-NRT-BKK) is set as one flight code.

5) If I get upgraded on UA 837, am I automatically upgraded for both segments?

Now lets talk advanced strategy. There are no upgradeable business class seats available on any potential flights to BKK, and given my status, I will be last in line for upgrade at the gate. I have learned that it is possible to confirm a SWU beforehand if UA creates more upgradeable business class seats, hopefully soon after I apply for upgrade. The best chance for this happening is if I choose a flight that is quickly filling economy seats and that has plenty of business class inventory. Using expert mode I have looked at the seat availability for several routes to BKK. It seems that the LAX-NRT flights have a relatively higher economy class access capacity than SFO-NRT flights.

6) What should I emphasize more in my strategy?
A) Choosing a flight with a quickly filling economy cabin
B) Choosing a flight with the maximum business class seats

7) Any good strategies that you would recommend?

Thanks so much for your advice. I am thrilled to be on Flyertalk!

LizzyDragon84

I can't provide insight on your odds on various flights. However, since your SWU is coming from a 1K account, it will have the priority of a 1K. It's the status of the account that the upgrade is coming from, not the account using the upgrade, that counts.

It doesn't matter if economy class fills up fast- UA won't make space in biz just to free up more economy seats.

When it comes to new vs. old configuration, it probably depends on how much sleep you want to get on the plane. The new seats are lie- flat so it's. easier to sleep on those.

Finally, you can figure out whether your upgrade will clear at booking or not by using expert mode to see if there's any seats in the NC bucket. If there is, then your upgrade should clear.

Good luck!

FlyinHawaiian

While that may have been the practice in the past, I don't believe that is the current practice. My understanding is that upgrades are based on the traveller's elite status, not the sponsor's.

LizzyDragon84

Hmmm, interesting. A 1K friend told me otherwise. I checked the UA site and it mentioned the waitlist was ranked by status but didn't clarify whose status.

I know for sure that CO goes by the acct. the upgrade is pulled from since it's stated as such on their site. I don't know which way the merged airline will go.

lax2010

Can't speak for UA but that is not how UA upgrade priority works. I.e., upgrade is based on the elite status of the traveller, not the SWU owner.

FlyinHawaiian

Back to the OP's question, the following thread may be of help:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ad-merged.html

I believe the current wisdom is that SEA-NRT is the easiest upgrade to clear, so a routing of SFO-SEA-NRT-BKK would be advisable.

Based on my understanding of how UA processes upgrade waitlists, I would not like my chances as a non-elite member of clearing. So, if at all possible, I would only book a flight if I knew there was available upgrade space at the time of booking. This is also based on my experiences with travelling with my fiancee who has no elite status on UA and upgrading her using my SWU and CR-1.

My recommendation would be to ask the 1K sponsor if they could call United's International Reservations line and ask the phone agent to help find available upgrade space on all possible routings from SFO to BKK. It would greatly help if one can be flexible on the dates of travel. I suggest using the 1k desk as the agents who work that area are pretty well versed at the nuances of SWU-supported travel and are more likely to be helpful than the agents who handle calls from non-elite members.

I would only book SFO-NRT-BKK on UA837 if there was upgrade space available since it is almost always ticketed as a single segment for purposes of upgrading. That is, a waitlisted upgrade will only clear if there is open space on both SFO-NRT and NRT-BKK.

A common practice is to only apply an upgrade to a certain segment of an itinerary and the extend it to other segments when/if it clears. For example, for SFO-SEA-NRT-BKK, I might ask the SWU only be applied to SEA-NRT. Then, if the upgrade clears, I would ask the SWU be extended to NRT-BKK and the SFO-SEA leg. What you don't want to happen is for the upgrade to only clear SFO-SEA; it would be a terrible waste of an upgrade for such a short flight.

UA-NYC

Take whatever most convenient flight has NC space at booking - you're just not likely to clear w/o status otherwise.

crankychick

Dumb question - how does *A Gold status factor in? Still no shot of clearing?

harryhood

My thoughts as a 1P who has missed upgrades far more than he has gotten them in several years of travel from the west coast to NRT and beyond:

Route through SEA. SEA-NRT > LAX-NRT >> SFO-NRT for upgrade likelihood.

Depart on a Tuesday or Wednesday for best chances at upgrading.

On the "same flight number" 837, if that is the route you take, you are less likely to get either upgrade because if any NC availability pops up before your travel date, you will only get upgraded if both legs have NC availability at the same time. If you don't get lucky there, you are stuck on the waitlist -- not a great position for a general member to be in. If you decide to go 837 the whole way, make sure they are booked separately and not as a through-flight -- this solves the "must-upgrade-simultaneously" problem.

Getting upgrades is more alchemy than science. Good signs are low C load combined with low E+ load. You can look at seat maps for this, but understand that seat maps show not just seats that have not been purchased but also seats that have been purchased but not yet allocated to (or chosen by) the travellers. The only reliable measure is looking at the fare codes under "flight info" when you do a dummy search, and the most they will show you is 9 seats available (even if there are 50 seats available).

Old config is more C seats and is regarded as less desirable by frequent flyers and those who have a choice and who buy C seats, so you are more likely to get an upgrade on old config planes (note, however, that planes are often swapped out for new config, and even among old config there are several variants, one with 4 fewer C seats than the other -- I was #4 on the waitlist at OLCI with many seats available, then UA swapped out to the old config with slightly fewer seats -- 4 less seats, and I was shut out as the #1 person on the waitlist at boarding.

npei

Until Dec.31 '2011, SWU upgrade priority on UA will be based on traveler status.

Starting Jan' 2012, new process for GPU (renamed from SWU) upgrade priority will be based on the 1K account status, not the traveler status.

goingbananas

Correct...looking at the "numbers" on the OP's dates (or around them), the SEA-NRT route (vs others) is MUCH better for the UG opportunity...

hellomarty

I'm a sponsored SWU for 837. My SFO-NRT cleared. NRT-BKK Waitlist.

Return Waitlisted for BKK-NRT and NRT-BKK. Since I'm going next week, my hopes of full route upgrade are probably slim to none.

I'm a 1P.

LizzyDragon84

Good to know! Thanks for the update. And thanks to those who corrected me earlier.

As for the OP, I agree with getting whatever flights will clear at booking. As a GM, your odds of clearing otherwise will be pretty dismal.

UA-NYC

Has this been verified? We do know for certain that with the new system (similar to CO old system), someone on a mileage instrument will trump any non-GS elite waiting for a CPU. But I don't know if it's true that, for an int'l itin, a GM sponsored by a SWU from a 1K would trump a 1P/0P using cash+miles.

I don't think it comes into play at all for upgrade order - just helps on baggage, boarding, maybe getting free E+ at check-in if you're nice, etc.

hellomarty

Update: I just confirmed NRT-BKK this morning.