weave

Not bemoaning you FF'ers and your upgrades. OK, maybe a bit.

I travel about 6 RTs per year for leisure, rarely for business, so I never obtain any status. About 2-3 of those trips per year are between PHL and PHX.

Back in the old America West days, I almost always was able to pay for an upgrade at $150 to FC on the day of the flight.

Soon after HP and US merged and US FFers were able to use their status to get upgrades on HP flights, those options dried up. Since then I haven't gotten the paid upgrade option on any of my US flights.

Well today (23-Jul) on US 1005 from ORD to PHL I actually was able to buy an upgrade for my wife and I -- and the seating chart showed the FC cabin half empty as of about 3 hours before the flight! When we boarded, it was full.

Been quite a while since that happened.

iflyus

The upgrades are probably one of the biggest things that attracts most of us that fly so much to US. When you fly as much as many of us do, the upgrades are a hard earned benefit. A benefit that IMHO should trump any other upgrade option with the exception of actually paying for first class. If getting first class is such a important thing for you, you can always book first class tickets in advance.

me4yankees

Welcome to FT!

You can buy up to F when available 30 hours in advance, so next time call early and your luck may continue!

KevAZ

Ah, but there are plenty of restrictions. And the never ending CSR training issues. I've tried several times and have never been successful.

And iflyus - I would purchase F tickets if the price was commensurate to the rotten F service. If it is free, it is not rotten. If it is $750+ it is abysmal and a complete joke. And try to buy a F and work an UG for a Gold spouse - not possible.

As I stated elsewhere here on FT, for an annual fee of $2,000 or $5,000 that would guarantee me a F seat as long as they aren't sold as F (as if....) I would entertain it. But at an additional $500+ on each flight, the service isn't worth it.

There's a lesson/opportunity here, but unfortunately marketing is not one of US' strengths.

weave

Prebook FC at the prices they charge? I'd rather ride in steerage and take my chances. The ORD-PHL trip was $100 and that was barely worth it. Service was pretty poor. Was offered a drink only after all people had boarded, then only once again after lift-off. And no meal service. Snack basket came around twice.

Granted it was less than two hours in the air but I also remember two hour flights from STL to PHL on TWA where they'd lay out a linen tablecloth over your tray table and drop a somewhat decent steak on a real plate on it.

Anyway, like I said, I wasn't bemoaning you road warriors free upgrades, just poking a little fun. I thought some would be interested in the FC cabin being half empty just three hours before departure -- and the coach cabin was full according to the announcement. Hard to believe there were no eligible upgrades in that entire cabin. Oh, and this flight only had three rows of FC seats (737-300).

PSU Mudder

They did sell it for $5000, it was called go from zero to chairmans through "Everything Counts" and FTD.

iflyus

You really cant compare anything to TWA. TWA was a class act even in coach and I miss that airline. Remember even in coach they had Comfort Class long before E+ on UA or that short lived "More Room In Coach" on AA.