wschild

Today I had 4 upgrades clear on transcon p.s. flights LAX-JFK via CR-1s. They sat for weeks. But they cleared segments as far out as June 4.

jmsoros

just be patient - you'll clear, but it might be on th day of departure

tagandrelease3

Not sure FC is all that it is cracked up to be. Just returned from PEK and I think BIZ would have been better.

fastair

What is the actual benefit...the ability to sit in F on a Y ticket when UA doesn't sell it, or the guarateed availabilty in advance?

No offence, but if it clears it clears. I have seen no statement ever issued by UA that states that they will fill their F cabin far in advance with Y fares, or any percentage of seats they will clear in advance.

UA only will not be giving you all they have offered if they don't fill F and you are willing to give them the appropriate instrument ($$, certs/miles.)

People talk about the degeredation of airline service over the years...I don't debate this, but people should also talk about the increased sense of entitlement of things that are not promised, and the attitude of people who don't get more than are promised far in advance.

People also talk about the lessening of FF "elite" benefits, but as airfare has remained low relative to the CPI over the past few decades, the ability to fly has gotten easier for more and more people. People who never flew before now fly, and those that used to fly a little now fly a little more and call themselves "elite". The pond isn't getting any bigger (in fact it is shrinking with liquidations and consolidation) yet the number of fish, and the size of the fish are increasing. F used to cost 1.5k each way for this route...no such thing as upgrades....well,. now it cost .a few hundred rountrip plus a few cheaply bought upgrades, or earned relativly easily.
Sure, you want and most likely will get the UG, but come on...give UA a chance to try to make a profit by selling it...even if they don't forcast selling it, by clearing all UG's in advance, even less people will buy it. Like my mom told my sister..."Nobody will buy you, you fat cow, if you give away your milk for 500 milers!"

Let the people in revenue managemnt pretend that a few more will pay full fare. After all, I am sure some MBA consultant told them that the solution to all of UA's revenue problems was giving away premium seats for too little $$ and that by trying to get more $$ for each seat, they could solve all of the world's problems (or at least survive in the industry.)

ColoBill1

As far as my own recent experience, last weekend I was waitlisted for FC on an A320 using 500s. A week before the flight 3 of the 12 FC seats were shown taken (found out it was a family of three on vacation). 100 hours prior to the flight the same three seats were taken, as they were two days prior to the flight. I finally cleared the day before.

Yessir, lots and lots of folks jumped in to pay full fare for their FC seats after the 100 hour prior point, didn't they UA?

PHLGovFlyer

Likely true.

Very probably True

Definitely true.

I'm waitlisted on an upgrade to 3 class domestic C on Monday. The C cabin is less than half full, and there are tons of empty E- and E+ seats open on the seatmaps. Its under 40 hours until departure (inside the window for 1k and 1P) and I haven't cleared yet.

Am I worried?

Nope...

JHIN

Hey newbie to UAL - friend of mine gave me Premier Associate for my bday & upgraded me a month ago for my flight on Monday and nothing has cleared. What gives in priority for upgrades it's an A320....what would clear fasters Regional upgrades (which is how I am waitlisted now) or 500 milers?

fastair

When/where are you flying to/from? Monday AM is a peak time for commuters (i.e. those of higher status than 3P.) If you fly from a non-business city to a hub, and it is a short haul, you have a good chance of clearing...if you are flying on a high demand long haul with large high status commuting populations, then your chances are small.

Everything is relative to the other variables of demand (unknown via your post), supply (an A320), and the competition (also unknown via your post.)

oenophilist

For what its worth, I'm GS, and my upgrades usually don't clear until near the day of departure. Which of course is a pain because i wan to be able to select my seat, and usually if its cleared on the day of departure, I don't get a chance to choose my seat, as the seats are somewhat randomly preassigned.

JHIN

IAD-SEA on Monday seat map shows 2 unclaimed F seats

TA

well, technically, if there are seats available, then you will clear them at your window. And probably *someone* is getting an NF upgrade if they book early enough. Just not you. The point is that on popular routes, where there is a good chance of lots of heavy hitters flying, they are not making most of the seats available, because they hope that they may be otherwise purchased at the last minute, or given to the customers who pay the most. Can you blame them? The issue now is that we have been accustomed to lots of upgrade space being available, and they have changed their program so that those seats are now being held until the day of.


If they are not releasing the seats, then it doesn't really matter how long you've been waiting does it? It just makes it more frustrating, but if you realize that you are no longer waiting for first-come first-serve upgrades, then there is nothing in your control to be unhappy about!

abmj-jr

That is what bothers me about this. If the 120/100/72/48 hour clearance windows for e-500s are not going to be honored when plenty of space is available or Confirmed Regionals are not going to be "confirmable," then why even advertise them as such? I understand the need to cater a bit more to the "high value" customers but this really is a dimunuation of published benefits. Holding a portion of the F cabin for late purchases makes perfect sense. Holding the entire cabin until the gate does not. It just eliminates the whole idea of confirmable upgrades.

fastair

I don't fly it (employee at ORD) but would say that chances are slim. As a generic rule, demand increases with length of haul (a 30 min flight in Y isn't difficult, a 6 hour flight is.) Also the status of fellow passenger also increases with LoH. 18 flights a year at a 500 mile LoH get you no status, while 18 flight a year at a 3000 mile LoH get you 1P (Premier Exec, which is 2 levels above Premier associate.)

On the good side, my opinion is just that, only a guess, but the factors I listed make it less likely than a flight from IAD-PIT.

Pat89339

Yeah no offense taken. It really make sense to hold back 19 seats until the day of flight that you aren't going to sell anyway. It really makes your 1KMMs feel like they are treated fairly for their loyalty to UA by making them wait until the gate, especially when every airline is running DEQM right now and it wouldn't be that hard to reach elite level on other carriers during the period.

Withholding 19 seats until the gate? Yeah that makes sense because they are surely going to sell them. It happened to me last week. Oh yeah, I understand that business strategy. Hey let's give those 1ks 500 milers that clear at the 100 hour window, and then never make seats available at 100 hours, ha ha ha ha and then we'll give them confirmable upgrade instruments that will clear on domestic and on international flights and never make it available to use other than at the gate, ha ha ha haand they will be so happy with their 6 SWUs and up to 8 CR1s that they won't notice that we'll never make seats available in advance <heh heh heh> except on flights 500 miles or less. Yeah, that's the way to take care of our best customers.

fastair

Ummm...becuase they do clear then. Maybe not all of them, but if there is NF space available at 100 hours, then that window will clear those elliglble...same with 72....

Nothing says that ADDITIONAL upgrade inventory is opened at those windows, only that if there is upgrade inventory, that you can now use 500 milers.


And not all 19 seats were held for gate clearance, they were held for 1) sale, 2) protection in case of equipment swap with a smaller F cabin (easier to clear late than to downgrade those who have already cleared) and 3) for gate clearance. I believe both the revenue opportutnities for UA and the operational factors combined trump the individual peace of mind from clearing early.


Are you familliar with UGS? They often buy last min F/P/A/Y/B fares. Most likely, their value exceeds that of an advanced purchase discount economy fare with a 500 miler cert. 7 years ago, F was made up of F passengers and NF (also XF) in terms of revenue. Now it has A and P fares that are often similarly priced to high end Y fares. You are competing for more people now with lower A/P fares than you were with high F fares. CO is king of this...they upgrade far less than most other carriers as their F seats are priced much more competitive (IMHO) than most of the other majors. Too bad they don't have econo plus, but hey...each system has it's own advantages/disadvantages.