Flying EWR-SFO tomorrow in a 3-class bird. GF had 2/8 filled on the seat map but it cleared sometime early this morning (which would be T-32 or so). Still hoping the RPU clears...BF currently showing 27 booked, 8 blocked.

 

I saw something similar leading up to my EWR-SFO yesterday. As departure time approached BF filled up, in the end there was only one upgrade, after boarding/just before doors closing. I don't recommend getting your hopes up.

Right now is a good time to snap up the crew rest seats though, if available. (29/30 DEF, only if 28DEF is missing)

 

I wouldn't be surprised if UA sold upgrades beforehand. I will probably do that if I haven't cleared by check-in time.

As for Y seating, I'm in 21C - that worked really well for me on LAX-SYD, and i like the unlimited legroom.

 

I am a 1K on a flight in a couple weeks from EWR to ORD. It is on a 777 (current seat map attached). I would think an upgrade to Business is fairly likely as the flight is wide open and less than 4 weeks away but what happens to the first seats. Is it possible to get upgraded 2 classes? Assuming there is availability.

 

On a 3 class bird for a domestic flight, all F/J seats are considered "First Class" you won't be able to select first class seats and they will be given out to elites on a case by case basis. afaik, you can't ask for them.

I was on a flight from IAH to IAD, same thing - 3 class 767. One seat left in FC - I was asked to the podium, asked if I was traveling alone and she upgraded me to the shoulder belt seat. Nothing changed but my seat assignment

 

Thy sell the flight as 3 class then people whi booked C will get upgraded to first. They sell that flight as 3 class so Y will go to C and C to First.

 

No, not if it's sold as a 3-class flight.

 

I'm on a p.s. 772 next week, and noting that we don't seem to have a whole lot of data about how the F cabin is managed. As a 1K on a P fare I'm probably not the highest status and fare, but I was hoping I might have a shot at the "secret CPU". 8 days out, there are suddenly 6 assigned seats in the F cabin. From the seatmap, this happened in the last 12 hours and consisted either of upgrading people with no seat assignment and those in middle seats [admittedly the last to book so more likely to be higher fares], or a bunch of people were really fast with the trigger finger to get out of the middle.

The pattern almost makes me wonder if it isn't purely status and fare class.. UA has never claimed such. If I don't get up front I might just try to SDC to a 752 flight. I am once again being given the offer to "Buy Up to United Business for $2,578"

 

It seems nearly certain that it is purely status and fare class. What else could it possible be?

 

Surprise and Delight!

 

Recently flew ORD-SFO that I purchased as a 2 class 777 that was swapped to 3 class. I had upgraded from Econ to Business but wasn't able to change seats in the Business cabin, even though the seat map showed availability, when going to select seats, only the GF seats were selectable. Tried calling a couple times and even asked web support, but nobody was able to reassign the business class seat. There seems to be an issue since the reservation was coded as First and the seats were in business class. Trying to select a GF seat wouldn't stick.

 

An update as I flew my p.s. 772. When I checked in, I noticed that there was an empty seat in F, as well as several names showing up on the F standby list (who appeared to be revenue J pax). I went up and had a word with the GA about it, and she told me that you had to be GS in order to get the upgrade to F. I was very intrigued as it seemed like they had ended up on the list automatically, but perhaps they had been waitlisted by someone important at UA (calling Reservations several times led me to conclude that not even supervisors are aware of the policy for p.s. F). She had in fact just printed a BP for the empty seat, and I could read "GLOBAL SERVICES" on the bottom of it.

The GA's story seemed to hold water. I was really surprised by the elite load for a Friday evening in mid-January. Group 1 stretched away down the concourse as far as I could see, and I counted twenty people boarding as GS. Given those numbers I'm pretty sure the F cabin was all GS. As a lowly 1K on a P fare I just didn't even enter the equation

 

Two years' worth of GS until Jan. 31.

I watched 11 F seats disappear at T-96 for my upcoming SAN-SFO ... but GF and I did not clear on our dirt-cheap L (2 GS had already cleared at T-120). So there are at least 13 1Ks on this mid-afternoon MLK Day 739.

 

I'm flying SFO-EWR on a 772 in two weeks. I called United twice to ask if I could apply an upgrade to move from a crappy middle seat in J to the front cabin. They said no, only gate agents could touch those seats (which did not appear true since at least 3 of those seats looked assigned).

Next morning I got a form letter from UA thanking me for my loyalty as GS and saying they upgraded me to "GlobalFirst" but the service would be the same as "BusinessFirst".

Not sure if calling prompted this or if they have a process that sweeps for GS.

 

US domestic PS
I know it is 1)GS first get upgraded to these seats but I'm double checking on the next part - 2) non revs - then 3) no one else gets a look in.

Not a big deal however If I'm on an upgrade list in the future in this situation and a non-rev jumps over me into F seats (J seats full), I think that's OK? Also I was told by a GS agent that no one else gets a look in on the F seats once the non- revs clear; so there can be a waitlist for J when full and F seats goes out partially unfilled - this doesn't seem right?