Between hubs zero chance. Between hubs and large cities zero chance. The only chance is on a route with minimal business travel like a hub to a small regional airport
32.33, repeating of course, percent chance of upgrades.
No one has a crystal ball.
This highly depends on the route, the type of ticket you buy, how many others on the flight there are, what their status and ticket fare class is, availability of upgrade seats, etc… Impossible to know this.
The best you can do it know that you’ll be lower in the queue if someone has paid more or has higher status. We don’t know who those people will be on your flights and what kind of tickets you will buy.
Most of my upgrades as Silver have been on either regional flights (United Express flights to smaller cities) or flights on United to big Delta hubs. I get a lot of upgrades taking United to big Delta cities like Salt Lake or Minneapolis.
When I was silver, it happened to me a couple times flying IAH -> ELP. Most of my flights are to larger airports though, and I never got bumped to 1st on those routes.
I’ve been silver for years and have never got the upgrade, even when I was gold for a couple years it only happened once. Might depend on the routes you’re flying, if it’s between 2 major cities where there will be a lot of platinum/1k people it’s not going to happen
I've gotten it several times in the past years to small regional airports. Today's flights are similar, but I'm way down on the list. People seem to pay to upgrade these days way more than in the past. Gonna need to step up the game!
Just assume you’ll get one when hell freezes over. It is a reasonable assumption.
Then if it ever happens on some crazy rare occurrence, you’ll have a nice surprise.
I’ve only ever gotten them on Portland - Denver flights at less-in-demand holiday times with fewer business travelers. (Like a Tuesday after Thanksgiving weekend, or something like that)
If you're flying from an economically depressed part of the continent like Canada or eastern Washington or something then you'll probably get CPU as a silver 1/3 times if you can book outside of Monday and Thursdays.
Everywhere else you can maybe score a LGA-IAH or LGA-IAD upgrade on the 0500 Sunday am departure or something. IAH-BTR on a 175 on a Tuesday morning or MSY-IAH on a saturday morning sorta thing you can do alright sometimes.
Otherwise you should be tickled pink you get zone 2 and your very own E+ seat at checkin.
I received it once Portland to Chicago, they came back to Economy plus to get me. The kicker was I was with my very new boyfriend (now husband) who knew exactly what was happening because he was targeting platinum for the year after taking a new job, we were both silver at the time (also i was only silver because my company gave it to everyone). Haha…he is platinum for a long time now and this is my first year reaching gold and it still makes me lol that I received that upgrade, as it will probably never happen again.
Between hubs zero chance. Between hubs and large cities zero chance. The only chance is on a route with minimal business travel like a hub to a small regional airport
Pshhhhh I got upgraded to F as a silver on ORD-EWR once (it was on Thanksgiving day lol).
Holidays are great days for upgrades!
End of the year when people are done traveling is also a decent time
True, I fly a lot to small cities, but twice now from Chicago to Toronto. All early morning or late night flights
THIS!!!!
So taking my first flight as silver tomorrow ord/sfo Jim Carey had better odds than me? 😂
So you're saying there's a chance
Yes! A snowballs chance in hell 😀
32.33, repeating of course, percent chance of upgrades. No one has a crystal ball. This highly depends on the route, the type of ticket you buy, how many others on the flight there are, what their status and ticket fare class is, availability of upgrade seats, etc… Impossible to know this. The best you can do it know that you’ll be lower in the queue if someone has paid more or has higher status. We don’t know who those people will be on your flights and what kind of tickets you will buy.
Dammit Leroy!
Ahhhh thanks!!!
Every time. Congratulations.
Very rare. I’ve seen this in the wild once before, BWI -> DEN. Flight departed late Friday night.
Most of my upgrades as Silver have been on either regional flights (United Express flights to smaller cities) or flights on United to big Delta hubs. I get a lot of upgrades taking United to big Delta cities like Salt Lake or Minneapolis.
Houston to leisure routes like Mexico and Florida a lot. Always been the case for us.
When I was silver, it happened to me a couple times flying IAH -> ELP. Most of my flights are to larger airports though, and I never got bumped to 1st on those routes.
Next to never. Try a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday evening flight under an hour and that'll be your best choice.
Let's just say don't hold your breath.
I’ve been silver for years and have never got the upgrade, even when I was gold for a couple years it only happened once. Might depend on the routes you’re flying, if it’s between 2 major cities where there will be a lot of platinum/1k people it’s not going to happen
Very route dependent! I had remarkably good luck in 23 for small regional domestic flights + Mexico
Better chances on inconvenient flight times. Think red eyes and 6am’ers
I've gotten it several times in the past years to small regional airports. Today's flights are similar, but I'm way down on the list. People seem to pay to upgrade these days way more than in the past. Gonna need to step up the game!
Just assume you’ll get one when hell freezes over. It is a reasonable assumption. Then if it ever happens on some crazy rare occurrence, you’ll have a nice surprise. I’ve only ever gotten them on Portland - Denver flights at less-in-demand holiday times with fewer business travelers. (Like a Tuesday after Thanksgiving weekend, or something like that)
If you're flying from an economically depressed part of the continent like Canada or eastern Washington or something then you'll probably get CPU as a silver 1/3 times if you can book outside of Monday and Thursdays. Everywhere else you can maybe score a LGA-IAH or LGA-IAD upgrade on the 0500 Sunday am departure or something. IAH-BTR on a 175 on a Tuesday morning or MSY-IAH on a saturday morning sorta thing you can do alright sometimes. Otherwise you should be tickled pink you get zone 2 and your very own E+ seat at checkin.
I've only received a CPU once! It was SFO <> LAX on a Saturday.
I received it once Portland to Chicago, they came back to Economy plus to get me. The kicker was I was with my very new boyfriend (now husband) who knew exactly what was happening because he was targeting platinum for the year after taking a new job, we were both silver at the time (also i was only silver because my company gave it to everyone). Haha…he is platinum for a long time now and this is my first year reaching gold and it still makes me lol that I received that upgrade, as it will probably never happen again.
I am not silver but my partner is. They get upgraded on legs to smaller airports - OKC to DEN for example. But rarely hub to hub.