Is it just me or are United’s complimentary first-class upgrades becoming less of a perk and more like a wish on a star for those of us with lower-level tier status? I feel like such a geek; I was so proud of myself for earning silver elite last year for 2012, and I even encouraged Kevin to shoot for gold, promising him it would be worth his while.
I vividly remember it being just last year that Kevin (a then silver elite) had gotten upgraded at least 3 times from economy to first class on several itineraries from the east to west coast (probably more, but I only count vividly remember the 3 first-class seats he’s given to me). Now as a gold, he has yet to even come close to the the number 10 spot when he travels.
More often that not, folks are seeing upgrade standby lists of 50+ people. Don’t believe me? Take a look at a recent flight I took last week with a list of 57 passengers eligible for an upgrade. Granted LGA to ORD is a route heavily-populated with business travelers, but I’m still very convinced that the numbers are climbing at a rapid rate. In fact, all four the United segments I’ve flown last week had a minimum of 35 people eligible for upgrades.
I have no problem flying economy; I’ve flown it all my life, and hadn’t even had a first class experience until exactly a year ago when Kevin’s business took us all to the Bahamas for a weekend. But… I’m sure most can agree that there’s something about seeing a confirmed complimentary upgrade that gives an instant rush of joy. I guess those feelings are just memories for now.. :-P
57 first-class-upgrade-eligible passengers on the upgrade stand by list. PS: I only cleared a seat due to a very generous regional upgrade... otherwise I'd probably be at the 50 spot.
...fast forward 5 screen shots to reach the end of the list.
What are you thoughts? Do you continue to chase lower-level elite status with United? Do you experience the same “rush of joy” upon finding out you’ve been upgraded? Please do share…
You’re right. With the merger, upgrades are getting harder and the lists getting longer. The last flight I was on had over 50 on the list also–and it wasn’t a widebody! However, I’ve still gotten a few. Guess we’ll have to be happy with Economy Plus (unless you’re Silver, which now can’t reserve in EP till right before travel).
I agree. Last week I was on a IAD-FRA flight… it had over 10 empty seats in business class, and NO ONE got an upgrade. First had ~4 empty seats.
I’ve been on 17 flights so far this year, and tomorrow’s flight is the first one where I’ve gotten an upgrade.
Is that Jeff Smisek at #43? :P :D
This will be a continuing problem as airlines merge unless they raise the bar for elite status. When the airlines merge, they merge their frequent fliers, so they have a larger group of frequent fliers. At the same time, because of the merge, they reduce their capacities when they take out redundant, formerly at least somewhat competitive flights, so they can charge higher fares for those routes with reduced capacity. More elites + less forward cabin capacity = fewer upgrades for elites.
This is the same thing that happened on DL ages ago which UA pax are just figuring out. Unlimited upgrades favor the second highest elite category. Those at the bottom nearly always come out worse off.
It’s tougher. Even as 1K I find myself in the double digits sometimes traveling SEA-SFO. With a companion I better be in the top 5 to have any hope.
My best upgrade chances come from off-peak and roundabout travel, exactly what you would expect for a non-business traveler. Instead of SEA-EWR or SEA-IAD direct I fly SEA-IAH-LGA and SEA-IAH-BWI. The extra F space on the 738/9s is a goldmine, and the detours through IAH give me an extra 1-2K miles.
My husband and I are Platinum Elite and flew back from FLL to EWR last week with no upgrade. Not only that he was assigned #5 boarding (via their new boarding system). We disregarded that but the list for upgrades was enormous. For domestic travel the upgrades are really almost nonevents though. It’s the obscene cost of international upgrades that is so infuriating. When you need to give up 35,000 miles EACH WAY plus $600 EACH WAY, it’s not much of an upgrade in my book. I’ve asked for concessions because we are both flying seniors and really need the extra space but can’t afford so many extra bucks. They could care less. They’d rather seats empty than try and negotiate a better deal for us.
When I was elite on American years ago, I got upgraded a number of time internationally when there were open seats. I’ve been flying with Continental for about 4 years now, and while I do like them better than American in general, they (and United) don’t ever upgrade for free.
Last year on a flight from IAH to Frankfurt I was in businessFirst on a 777. There were about 6 of us for 48 lay flat seats. Economy was completely full…it was disgraceful, it was one of the times I was embaraced to be up front.
Silver? Why would anyone expect anything with Silver?
@Paul: Believe it or not upgrades were very common and frequent in 2010/2011 with just Silver
I’m a 1K on United and I’ve only received 1-2 complimentary upgrades so far. Its no longer about the status, its all about the fare class. A 1K with a cheap fare class will always get passed over by a silver with a very high fare class. Bottom line it United no longer has a loyalty program, or if they do, its only one way…..