It’s no surprise to frequent travelers that mileage upgrades are getting harder and harder to obtain.
It’s due to a number of factors: The economy is recovering, the airlines are getting better and better at yield management and there are an increasing number of options for restricted and discounted business class fares. Plus, redesigned seats also mean fewer seats in many business class cabins.
At United Airlines, in particular, there’s an added twist this month — “expiring systemwide upgrades.” It’s resulting in a lot of cranky elite fliers sitting in the back.
For the uninitiated, “systemwide” upgrades are the gold standard of upgrades. While they are still limited to the same inventory as mileage awards, they are usable on almost any fare type and anywhere United flies. They are not, to the regular chagrin of my clients, useable on partner carriers, except sometimes on a standby basis with Lufthansa.
Anyone who makes 1k status with United gets six of these upgrades a year, plus an opportunity to earn more. Global Services members get even more. The only catch — they all expire January 31 of the following year.
Note, “expire” in this case means that travel must be completed by January 31. It’s not possible to book a trip in January and use them in February.
The certificates can, however, be transferred to a friend or colleague. (Although in theory, if money is exchanged, the transfer is null and void.)
The result of both the hard expiration date and the transferability of these systemwide upgrades, many frequent travelers wind up scrambling not to waste the upgrades, either for themselves or friends. This end-of-year push means a lot of people on waitlists.
From my experience, travelers save their systemwides for international travel. But as that expiration date begins to come around in January, I have known people who even use them for short trips up and down the coast.
So are there any ways around this potential upgrade bottleneck? Since January is almost over there’s not much travelers can do this year. However. for 2012, anyone looking to use these upgrades would be advised to book earlier than normal since the date of the upgrade request makes a difference.
Also, if it’s not a question of expiring systemwide upgrades, frequent fliers who upgrade and sometimes buy their way into the front cabins might consider just paying the higher fare in January. Then they can save their free upgrades until February, when there’s less competition from the expiring systemwide upgrade rush.
Another way to avoid the scramble is simply to use up the upgrades before the last minute or give one or two as a present to a friend or relative to use late in the year. It can be a way both to score major points and avoid the stress of feeling like something valuable is going to waste.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
