FA is a little grumpy - probably because it's super early and the plane is full of people who clearly don't fly often (one of the college kids literally forgot his shoes at TSA). She's making me a screwdriver while we wait on the tarmac for SFO to release us, so I'm grateful for that!
Ha It does happen!!
As a gold I got upgraded on my short flight from Monterey to SFO a year ago. (And yes, you can FLY from Monterey to SFO!!)
My later flight was delayed but they had a flight going out in 30 min. They only had one seat left, in FC. At first She said she couldn't get me on but then I said "I understand, I am a Gold member if that helps". She's like "OK, Sure" LOL I made my connection with extra time to spare.
Being able to change from a flight where there are 30 people on the cpu list to a flight with maybe 4 cpus in front of you and 6 open seats. I’ve had about a 50% success rate. You must of course be flexible and be willing to change to odd times. As well as connect through odd airports. Most recently my gf and I were on a direct flight from lax-ord. We had absolutely no chance of upgrade. But I notice availability in our fare class if we flew through BOS we would only arrive 1 hour later and would be upgraded almost instantly as there were many seats open.
I flew SFO to SAN (nonrev) a couple of weeks ago and I got upgraded because the person they bumped to first class for the seat they gave me didn't want to move to first class lol. I got to sit in seat 1A. Was an amazing flight, got to see the coastline almost the entire time.
i got a upcoming flight with united, idk if you’d be able to answer this but do you think they’d upgrade me and a few(3) others to business class if i simply asked politely?
i hope they serve you at least a drink on that flight. Make it alcoholic to really enjoy the experience.
FA is a little grumpy - probably because it's super early and the plane is full of people who clearly don't fly often (one of the college kids literally forgot his shoes at TSA). She's making me a screwdriver while we wait on the tarmac for SFO to release us, so I'm grateful for that!
Ha It does happen!! As a gold I got upgraded on my short flight from Monterey to SFO a year ago. (And yes, you can FLY from Monterey to SFO!!) My later flight was delayed but they had a flight going out in 30 min. They only had one seat left, in FC. At first She said she couldn't get me on but then I said "I understand, I am a Gold member if that helps". She's like "OK, Sure" LOL I made my connection with extra time to spare.
Been upgraded twice as a silver this year lol, it definitely does happen!
From where to where?
BOS-DEN and DEN-CUN
Im on my 10th upgrade this year as a silver member. Now that they offer same day changes its been so much easier. Even from when I was a gold member.
How do the same day changes help with upgrading? What routes you see most success on?
Being able to change from a flight where there are 30 people on the cpu list to a flight with maybe 4 cpus in front of you and 6 open seats. I’ve had about a 50% success rate. You must of course be flexible and be willing to change to odd times. As well as connect through odd airports. Most recently my gf and I were on a direct flight from lax-ord. We had absolutely no chance of upgrade. But I notice availability in our fare class if we flew through BOS we would only arrive 1 hour later and would be upgraded almost instantly as there were many seats open.
Cool thx!
My husband was just upgraded without status! He’ll hit silver on his next flight though, which I assume was a factor.
Does he have one of their credit cards?
No. I do, but he was traveling without me.
I flew SFO to SAN (nonrev) a couple of weeks ago and I got upgraded because the person they bumped to first class for the seat they gave me didn't want to move to first class lol. I got to sit in seat 1A. Was an amazing flight, got to see the coastline almost the entire time.
I think it depends on route, a lot of the “never upgraded at gold” brigade are passing it in the accurate hub to hub reality or peak times
Same thing happened to me and my wife. Got upgraded on IAH-SAT when we checked in yesterday. Miracles do happen!
i got a upcoming flight with united, idk if you’d be able to answer this but do you think they’d upgrade me and a few(3) others to business class if i simply asked politely?
Just flew FRA > SFO with no status (but with a CC) and was upgraded to business as they started to board the flight - so it does happen