Since my schedule is usually pretty flexible, I avoid traveling during peak days, which might be why my upgrade percentage is pretty darn good. This week, however, I don’t have much choice. I’m traveling from Tampa to Los Angeles via Washington Dulles on Thursday, and I have a feeling my perfect upgrade record since United introduced “unlimited domestic upgrades” will come to an end.
Both of my outbound flights are waitlisted, and I’m willing to bet virtually anything that neither upgrade will clear. Frankly I wasn’t expecting the upgrade from Washington to Los Angeles. That’s a tough upgrade, especially on a Thursday afternoon. Every seat in Economy Plus is taken, and there was no upgrade space at the upgrade window. Hell, they were only selling a couple more seats. I fully expect to have a double digit position on the waitlist after first class is checked in full.
What nearly gave me a heart attack, though, was the lack of upgrade space from Tampa to Washington. Let me be clear — we had Ted for several years, and that was for good reason. Premium passengers are just lacking out of here. Hell, even with unlimited domestic upgrades, United can’t seem to fill up first class. So as I’m sure you can imagine, I nearly had a heart attack when I noticed that 22 of the 24 first class seats were sold five days out, which is before the 1K upgrade window.
Seriously? Like, really? Hell, I expected I’d never have an upgrade not clear at the 100 hour mark out of Tampa. Something must be going on.
So I’m fully expecting to fly coach all the way across the country, which is hardly a big deal. And what do I think my first reaction will be? There’s hardly a difference between domestic first class and an exit row, probably!
The one thing that’s good news is that both flights are basically sold out, with four days to go till flight time. Hoping for some bump action, though it seems a bit unpredictable as of late.
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