Value from expiring e500s?
 

Greetings. So, I have a minor issue I thought I'd ask about here. (I did a search and read the "everything you wanted to know about e500s" thread, to no avail.)

Nearly all of my travel these days is international, and I've accrued well over 40 e500s. On my rare US domestic flights, I have enough CR1s that I almost never even bother trying my e500s.

Now, some of the e500s are due to expire. I know they no longer convert to RDMs, and I can accept that, but I'd like to know if it's possible to gift them to someone -- or even to a charity or some such. I'd like to see some _value_ to someone for these upgrades, in short.

Any suggestions? Sure would be neat if I could trade them for SWUs at some mark-up rate -- say 20 e500s to "buy" an SWU. I'd be on that like white on rice, but I don't see any alternatives other than letting them expire. Even when I've sponsored upgrades for friends, I'm only given the choice of SWU or CR1, and never e500s. :td:

Cheers,

1Ken

P.S. Yes, I know there are many worse problems I could have...

You can use them to sponsor someone else on the same PNR as you. Other than that, not to my knowledge.

Start using e500s and stop using CR-1s...you can sponsor others using CR-1s and thus they have trade value.

Um. If you're desperate, you could book a refundable Y fare (or a non-refundable fare, as long as you remember to cancel within 24 hours) on the same itinerary as the person you want to sponsor...sponsor their e500 upgrade, and then cancel your ticket. They might lose the upgrade however..but it's worth a try if you're intent on seeing some _value_.

They do not have to be on the same PNR, only the same flight.

That's useful info, thanks.

It's rare that I travel with others except on family vacations, but then I usually go with award tix. But I do have a couple opportunities coming up to sponsor business colleagues on the same flight but not same PNR. That could help for now.

Thanks to all who responded as well. I still wish we had better options for our e500s... Bummer.

Cheers,

1Ken

I don't want to sound like a jerk... but:

If you are a 6 year 1K.... why didn't you sign up for the e-500 conversion program (now closed)?

Just note that the official UA policy is that you are only allowed to support the upgrade of one other person with your e500s that is on the same itinerary as you. This is pretty widely enforced at the phone agent level, in my experience (ie, calling reservations a few days before the flight and letting them know you will be supporting someone else's upgrade using your e500s. They do clear with your status, which is nice, but they won't be able to do OLCI). I've had looser enforcement of the rules at the gate and on flights were there were quite a few empty seats in F.

Good catch, thanks.

+1

This is not correct. From united.com (see section 11): "Companion must be traveling on same flight as certificate holder." No mention of "same itinerary," only "same flight." Since UA is usually pretty clear about specifying "same itinerary," I'm inclined to believe that being on the same PNR is not required.

Although upon re-reading your quote, I guess you were trying to stress "one other person" rather than the same-itinerary issue... in which case you're absolutely right, the official policy is for only one person. Sorry if I misinterpreted. :)

Same flight is probably the best way to say it; thanks!

same flight, worked no issues last week on a flight. we were not on the same pnr.

if you are on any of my flights, you can upgrade me :)

you could do random acts of kindness at the gate and ask someone if they want to be upgraded.

Correct. I upgraded a FTer on the SFO-JFK redeye after our FlyerTalk 1 flight and we were not on the same PNR and it worked almost flawlessly*, but worked nonetheless.

*agent was a bit confused; had to call GS desk for help

There really is no other way to preserve your E-500s but to use them on someone on your flights. If you don't have anyone traveling with you and your E-500s are going to expire, you could do one of two things:

1. Go to Coupon Connection and say which flights you are going to be on in the near future and if, by chance, someone else will be on those very flights (or at least one segment). You could then upgrade that person for the same segment(s) you are on.

2. When you go to the gate, look around and see if there is a likely candidate who is traveling alone--someone in uniform, an elderly person, etc.--and see if you can upgrade him/her as a gesture of generosity and goodwill.

Otherwise, I'm afraid it will just disappear since you didn't sign up to have E-500s convert to RDMs.

both good suggestions but #2 is the one i've done as it is always nice to put a smile on someone's face. my sop is to ask the g/a if there anyone who fits the categories honmani2 mentions and let them deicde