GoingAway

LGA-IAD has been my only UA op-up. I almost turned it down when the GA offered me the bulkhead on a 757 instead of my reserved 9D. First time I've been disappointed that the flight was so short

Seeksreal

I just got an OP-up on a flight from JFK to LAX. I went up to the agent at the gate and gave "The Speech", sat down and waited for 10 minutes before being called back to the counter for my upgrade. Thanks to all the FTers for the tips! I would not have thought to do this otherwise.

B747SP

Just got my first op-up today. I had a confirmed Y seat (H class ticket) on UA862 HKG-SFO. I knew that the flight was sold out in Y. When I got to the airport, I told the check-in agent that I was willing to be bumped. She said in that case I would have to come back to her at 10:40. According to her UA does not do VDB at the gate in HKG. Considering that the flight would depart at 11:20 and gate would close at 11:10, I thought there would not be enough time for me to get to the gate if I was not bumped (Between the ticket counter and the gate there is immigration check, security check, a train ride and much walking). So I took my boarding pass and went to the gate.

While standing in line to board, a gate agent asked me if I was travelling alone. I said yes and she asked if I could consider leaving tomorrow. I agreed so she took my boarding pass and asked me to wait for 5-10 mintues while the gate agents calculated the seating situation. After about 10 minutes, the gate agent came back to me and told me, "Sir, eventually we will not need your seat. However since you are so helpful, I will try to upgrade you to the business class. Please wait for another 2-3 minutes." So I watched her re-routing another Y passenger to DC on a flight to Chicago, and then printed my golden boarding pass. Yeah!

MSY flier

When checking in at LHR I gave a few highlights of "the speech," but then realized the flight was so overbooked in Y that it was likely I'd be bumped up to C. But I was worried that the wife and two young ones would be stuck in Y as they were on a seperate record (actually award tickets.) No problem though - when we got to the gate, they had 3 biz boarding passes waiting for us. Thanks United, for a great trip home!! BTW, I must be extremely lucky - out of 8 int. flights this year on UA & LH (6 on UA,2 on LH) I've been op-upgraded 3 times.

rkp

I was on that same flight yesterday and got upgraded also! However, I checked in pretty early, 9:45am, and told the check-in person that I was flexible today and willing to bump if they needed me. She put on special tags on my bags indicating that I might bump and printed my boarding cards. After some eating and a quick stop at the lounge, I went to the gate and found that they didn't need me. I politely asked how business class was looking and they knew I was fishing and politely responded that they wouldn't be upgrading anyone as it was full.

Any way, I sat down disappointed that I was yet to get upgraded on United's international flights when lo and behold, I saw a guy sitting just a row in front of me get escorted to biz from our E+ seats. I waited for a couple minutes but alas, no one came with the great news so I decided to give up the puppy dog face and get some z's. Well just my luck that I wasn't sleeping too well cause I heard some flight attendants saying something like "should we wake him up..." and I immediately jumped! Good thing I did cause they had shiny new biz class boarding passes with my name on em!

I looked around and there had to be at least another 5-6 passengers who got up'd that day. Any way, I am a 1P...not sure what the criteria was for choosing the order on who got the seats.

--R

1k650

I have to try the Speech one of these days. I have been told by gate agents that op upgrades are very rare in SFO. Anyone else with the same experience?

ajmaravilla

I have a question for everyone here: I am going to HKG on 12/24/04. I currently have a B (HBEX) Class fare and I am a Premier on United. I can upgrade to Business Class for 15,000 miles, but I am noticing that the flight has the following availability on United's website:
UA895: F9 C9 D9 Y9 B9 M6 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 T0 K0 L0 G0 A9 Z9 E0 U0
I called United and I spoke to a very friendly reservation agent and she told me that Economy was overbooked by 67 seats. Business Class currenly has 60 available. Is this a good candidate for an OPs upgrade? Should I use my miles or wait for an OPs upgrade? From looking at the website it seems as though they are still selling Y, B and M fares.

Thanks!
John

JY4D

Use miles. 15,000 miles isn't that much for the peace of mind of a confirmed C seat on that long of flight. There's a chance for Op-Ups on that flight, but being a 2P I think diminishes your chances since there are so many 1P, 1K, and UGS people on transpacific flights.

ual744777sta

But do 1P's, 1K's, and UGS really travel on X-mas eve?
Same situation for me though on 12/20. How are my chances? Booked in Q, 2P and GM.

CApreppie

I've never used "the speech" before, but it seems that op-ups most occur in oversold situations, naturally. I've have two op-ups in all of my flying with UA.

Does it ever work when your ticketed cabin is not full? Is it just good practice to just go up to the GAs and let them know if that you are flexible if they need volunteers regardless of the situation and hope that there might be a tiny chance that a GA feels generous?

PremEx

You bet! Often there are situations such as a misconnect where several passengers don't make their connection to your flight. If the meals have already been loaded, sometimes Supervisors will tell the Gate Agents to go ahead and do some Operational Upgrades for no other reason than not letting the better meals up front go to waste. Even if there are empty seats still in Economy. That's just one example.

It never hurts to nicely make them aware of your presence and willingness to move if they "need" you.

GodOSpoons

What? I thought that they went INTO the FAs in order of seniority. I have seen countless FAs munching on F/C meals. It's nice that it might trickle down to us, though. Good for them.

Timothy

It's a nice thought.

Wingnut

Thought I should post my recent op-up success which ex LHR is 3/3.

A Saturday in June: LHR-JFK UA905
A Thursday in September: LHR-LAX UA935
A Thursday in December: LHR-JFK UA957

The great thing at LHR is that they've already upgraded you when you check in.

I'm *G (with bmi), always on a solo PNR. The fare codes (which I don't think have any impact) have been cheap as chips, M & H.

NickB

M & H are not "cheap as chips". While not full-fare coach, they are the most expensive coach fare classes after Y and B.
Still an impressive stat, though

Wingnut

Sorry, I wasn't clear. 3 flights, 3 fares, of which one was cheap as chips, one was M and one was H.