Easiest segment to get op-up
 

Curious what others have found to be the easiest segment to get an op-up. I've gotten op-up as a 2P on LAX-MCO 2 for 2 (both red-eye).

First of all, welcome to Flyertalk!:)^

Just curios, why the thumbs down in the title? While an op-up should never be expected, it seems like quite a few happen out of LHR, or proportionally more than from other stations.

Agreed LHR is a filthy hole of an airport but the UA staff are angels by comparison. And in the face of constant overbooking are liberal with the VDBs and the Op-ups.

I agree that LHR has been very good to me with op-ups. I reckon that during the school holidays, you have a good chance of being upgraded on every flight, every day.

Other than that, as a 1P I've been op-up'ed 3 out of 4 times this year on AMS-IAD, although it probably helped that the flights were on Fridays or Saturdays. ^

You hit the nail on the head - the key to getting op-ups is to fly at peak times for LEISURE travel, because during those times there are fewer paid premium tickets, and fewer elites, but really full planes.

I've been op-uped on LAX-AKL, HKG-NRT, DEN-DFW, DEN-SEA, and IAD-TPA (pre-Ted) - all of these flights were on weekends, except one, but that one was in the middle of summer. I never was op-uped as 2P, most of them came when I was 1P (by the time I hit 1K I was upgrading most of my flights anyway).

I got an op-up with my young daughter SYD-LAX in June 2006 ( on a Wednesday before our school hols were due to start on the Friday). We were both General Members at the time with no miles :eek: She had just joined before that trip. I have been a MP member since 1988 - attained 2P in 1991 - but lost it again mid 1990s.

I have heard that SYD seems to be a good route for lower level elites to get op-up as there are less 1Ks and UGS flying out of SYD (whether that is actually true or not, I dont know).

Must be my karma, but I've never gotten an op-up in the 3+ years of being a 2p. That doesn't really bother me too much.

What does is I haven't had e500 upgrade go through in over a year! So that's 4 possible upgrades that I'm going to lose in about a month and not get any miles for them.

I'd get that notion out of my head, ASAP. SFO-SYD is one of the most elite-heavy routes in the system. Easy explanation: one JFK-SYD r/t gets you 2P, 2.5 get you 1P, and 5 get you 1K. Pretty easy to achieve.

Did you have to request the upgrade, or were you guys all called to the podium?

Unless you give "The Speech" (a search or look at the sticky will show more details), which isn't totally asking for it, it's usually a matter of being called up. It's kind of difficult (and embarrassing, IMO) to just blatantly ask for a free upgrade.

Fair enough! I was told that there were only about 10 x 1Ks in SYD (residing in SYD, I should say). Also I am thinking of the SYD-LAX route, not so much the SYD-SFO! But hey, I dont really know - just reporting what I was told ;). BTW I thought 2P required 25K and SYD-JFK is just under 20K ??

Hi Tenniscraze - I got my op-up when I checked in 3 hrs early - from the check in counter - no podium calls for me ;). Have never asked and will NEVER ask for any op-up or ug etc unless I have miles to support it (and I do that through call centre prior to getting to airport). I just wouldnt be able to pull off the SPEECH :o

Wait, you were told there are a total of 10 1K's living in SYD?:eek:

Apparently, the easiest segments to op-up on are the ones I'm not on!

United Express regional jets with explus seating (28 E+, 32 E-) are also easy to get op-uped to E+ as a non-elite.

We must fly the same routes.