When To Use e500 Upgrades...
 

As a brand new 1K (qualified this Thursday), I tend to keep of around 15-20 e500's in my upgrade "bank". If I maintain my current travel pattern in 2009, I will fly around 200-225 EQS which will equal about 125,000 EQM.

Living in Phoenix, I am forced to fly Ted a lot (I know this will change next year though). 90% of my travel is West Coast or Cental US. On the short haul stuff (<500 miles) I usually don't bother upgrading. On 1000> I will upgrade. My question is on the medium haul stuff (650>850 miles).

As an example, I have a flight next Thursday from DEN>SAT. I already have the exit isle booked. So, is it worth burner 2 e-500's for a flight of 1:41???

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this!

Sincerely

David

Fly More & Get A Better Seat

500 mile e-upgrades are only valid for a year, after that they turn into 500 RDM miles a pop (or just disappear). Given the amount of flying that you do, I'm not sure how much value you'd get out of those RDMs. So it's probably better to use them, rather than lose them.

On the other hand, given the amount of flying that you're planning on doing, the free booze in C would make for a more enjoyable flight experience.

:eek::eek:
Sorry, but reading that, I'm having a hard time focusing on contriving any sort of on-topic response.

Unless your e500s convert, burn them as fast as you can. You will be earning them at a furious rate.

As a new 1K you haven't been used to CR1s. When I was a 1P I saved my e500s for the 'good flights'. Now that I'm a 1K, I use them as fast as possible, and the CR1s confirm the 'good flights' or the hard-to-get upgrades.

Add in the possibility of a CC swap of your SWU for more CR1s, and e500s become almost disposable.

So, use 'em! Especially considering the amount of time you'll be spending on a 1 class aircraft, it's a no-brainer.

As a 1P I try to save my e500s for "good" flights. But as a 1K for the past 15 months I earn so many of them -- plus the signficantly more valuable CR1s and SWUs -- that I apply to use the e500s on almost anything they're eligible for.

Here's my approximately decision tree:

1) Am I in anything but an E+ aisle seat?
YES: apply for upgrade.
2) Do I have a lot of e500s (at least 24)?
YES: apply for upgrade.
3) Is the flight over 2 hours (including likely delays)?
YES: apply for upgrade.
4) Is the flight after a full day of work?
YES: apply for upgade.
5) Am I anywhere but the exit rows?
YES: apply for upgrade.

My decision tree is even simpler.

Am I flying UA?
YES: apply for the upgrade.

Whoa, hold it right there! You only receive 4 e500s for every 10,000 BIS miles. If I read I_Hate_US_Airways's travel plans correctly, they will only receive 48 e-500s for use on ~225 segments for 2009. For DEN-SAT, that amounts to an awful burn rate for what constitutes a survivable flight even in a middle seat in E- :).

Until the last vestiges of Ted are wiped out of the system, I would use the e-500s only on <500 mile trips as well as CR7 flights like LAX-SEA. Then I would start using them on PHX-YYY-ZZZ trips (i.e. PHX-DEN-SAT, which also requires 2 e-500s) to double the pleasure for the price of one.

I don't do 200EQS (I do more like 60EQS a year), and fly mostly international.
So, I earn e500s more than I can possibly use; as a matter of fact, I don't recall ever using them this year as I used SWUs and CR-1s only.
With that in mind, I say, use them anytime you can.

+1
Always apply for upgrade, never save e500

+2

Whoa! Did you even read the posts above you?

As a 1K, the OP will have more options to upgrade than just e500s.

Errr...unless it is different for 1Ks or GS, the e500s just vanish upon expiration.

It used to be the case that e500s turned into 500 RDM on expiration. UA killed this, but there was a promotion that allowed 1P and above to register, and continue to get the 500 RDM upon expiration.

There was a date when this prmotion ended, but there were reports that those registered continued to recieve 500 RDM after that date. I haven't heard any recent experiences.

Therefore I think Mindwurkz was corrent in posting that they 'convert or dissapear' because it could be either....

Exactly. I'm grandfathered in since I registered to have my e500s roll into RDMs. In fact, I had one upgrade rolled into RDM just last week. I'm not sure what the new rules are regarding e500s of if there's a way to still register.

Agreed.

I was letting my e500s accumulate because I am pretty happy with E+, and was only flying San Jose to Denver, and Denver to Tulsa each week - but as the end of the year approached, I made an effort and used them all up. You don't want to have any left in the tank.

Registration was over last year. If you didn't register (or maintain 1P or a foreign address), you're SOL.

I have never been able to use e500s because I hardly fly domestic.

At any time I always have 40+ e500s in my account. All of them usually expire and auto-convert to RDMs.

My policy is I'll use e500s on 2 hour or less flights and I'll use CR1s or miles on flights > 3 hours. Flights from 2-3 hours I will take a look at the loads to gauge my chances of getting an upgrade and if the loads are light, I'll use e500s, heavy CR1 or miles. So far this year, I am 100% on my scheduled flights and about 75% on flights where I changed the schedule last minute (my own doing, so nothing to get upset about). And I still have plenty of e500s to burn thru, but none of them have expired so far. So I think my strategy works well for my flying habits.

I can do this b/c a lot of my flights are on UX w/o Explus, so I'm not able to upgrade all of them. I would not have enough e500s if I tried to upgrade every single flight I take. But UX solves that problem for me. I hate the ER145. :)

Call me crazy, but I don't mind the airline food. One of the biggest kickers for me is whether or not the flight is serving breakfast/lunch/dinner in F. That makes the e500s a no brainer for me. I really like NOT having to worry about a meal as I travel way too much (although probably about average for those of us on FT!).

My seat location and whether I have an empty seat next to me, or not, also plays a big deal.

Otherwise, I almost always use them on any flight <500 miles.

You're right! The 6 SWUs and 8 CR-1s will take care of the rest of OP's ~225 segments.