The SWU's are great for the 100,000+ mile flyer. However, for the 25,000 mile / 30 segment flyer, can anyone make any suggestions?

I have enjoyed flying with Northwest/Continental for the past 3 years and have enjoyed getting first class upgrades more than 90% of the time. However, I have had a shift in flying patterns and I am now flying United more. Next week I have 4 flights on Northwest and got them all upgraded using my SILVER status. I never get that on United. The 5th flight of the week (the leg home) is on United. I have requested an upgrade. Its full fare (kind of rare for me), so I will get a chance at the upgrade 72 hours before the flight. But, it is also my last 2 500-mile upgrades. I have earned about 5,000 status miles this year, so that means that I will have to fly another 5,000 status miles before getting another 4 upgrades.

Short of a mileage run, does anybody have any suggestions on how I could get more upgrades on United?

I will probably fly 30-40 total segments on United this year and about 10 on NW/CO. The NW/CO flights are either cities not served by UA or, for various reasons, must be flown on NW.

UA is a lot better about letting the flyer redeem his miles, but CO/NW are a lot better on giving free first class upgrades.

Thanks for your help.

You can buy sets of 4 500 miles upgrades--each set of 4 500 miles upgrade is about $125. Might be cheaper/easier to do this way unless you can find a mileage run that net you 5,000 miles for less than $125.

Good luck!

I would suggest buying the upgrades.

You will find UA has cleaner airplanes and more comfortable seats in general, in F, than NW does.

If you are flying out of IAD or ORD upgrades on UA might be hard during peak times or on planes like A319 with few F seats. But if you can pick flights with 757s or similar equipment and you avoid peak flight times you can upgrade quite often.

You should stick with NW/CO. As a 25k/year flyer on UA you will be able to upgrade less than half the time and you will have to pay for the upgrades when you do.

try and fly BIG planes -- 747s, 767s, 777s -- and you have decent chance of upgrades as a premier.

it'll never be like it is on nw (ua just has too many freq flyers).

I think the biggest thing for me is the FREE part on the upgrades. $125 isn't too bad -- it generally works out to $62.50 per flight because the flights are in the 500-1000 mile range.

But, when I am going out flying for work, it cuts into the profit of working. And, when I am going out flying for personal reasons, it adds to the cost.

I wish Frontier would get a first class cabin and give free upgrades like CO.

I have never really had a problem with NW/CO's first class product. Generally the seats are clean and the food is about the same. The best snack I ever had was on CO -- a great shrimp cocktail. The best lunch I ever had was the ham and cheese on a bagette on NW. It was a better size that most FC meals, even if it wasn't as fancy.

You imply by using 2 x 500 milers that you're flying a segment of 1,000 miles or less. In this case, flying in E+ on UA is a good substitute for an F upgrade. The only real benefit you'll get in F on a 1,000 mile segment is free beverages and a bigger seat (personally, I don't see the in flight food - if any - as a benefit though others will disagree). E+ cancels out most of the benefit of extra legroom in F.

My personal rule of thumb is to save the 500 milers for flights of 3 hours or more and utilize E+ for the rest.