Can a GPU be used for travel spanning 2 days?

It's impossible to fly from RSW (Ft Myers, FL) to Japan (KIX) in a single day, so I booked an itinerary that gets me into SFO at 22:05, with my flight to KIX leaving at 11:00 the next morning. I thought that there was a rule allowing overnights with a GPU when you were taking the next possible connecting flight and/or the next flight was within 12 hours. (This one is 12 hrs 5 minutes, though....). Also, I sort of remember the 12 hour limit being raised to 24 hours.

At any rate, the MP agent (Tokyo) stated that GPUs can only be used for same-day travel. I looked on the UA site and can find no info concerning time restrictions on their info page:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/premier/swupgrades.aspx

Asking "Alex" got me nowhere.

Does anyone know what the rule is (if there is one) and where it is published??

I did, BTW, decide to use a RPU for the RSW-SFO segments since the agent discovered that I have some that are expiring and would have been useless otherwise, but I'd like to know for future reference.

 

If there is a rule it is not published anywhere we can see it.

I've been told 12 hours several times recently for RPUs but not sure if GPUs are the same or longer.

 

Apply the gpu to the overwater leg...and use an Rpu from ft Myers to SFO.

 

Have you tried applying the GPU online and see how the system treated it as such?

 

When I have applied GPUs to flights that included an overnight transfer - which are charged a through fare and not treated as a stopover - I have found that the united.com computers will not apply the GPU to the whole one-way itinerary. On the other hand, on some mile runs when the return commences the same day as the arrival, a single instrument will cover the entire round trip.

I am not sure what the policy is or whether you are likely to have luck by explaining it to an agent on the phone. When the fare rules allow the long connection, it seems like the GPU should cover the full one-way trip, even if the calendar date changes at the connection.

 

Yeah, similar to SFO-HKG-SIN.....the HKG-SIN segment will start at the next day.

 

Have you had any success in calling to get this fixed or has your experience been similar to the original posters?

I actually have a 12 hour and 3 minute connection that did exactly what you described when applying the GPU online. Could not figure out why the system wouldn't apply the GPU to both legs so thanks to everyone for teaching me something new today.

 

Now, I've had a similar problem with another itinerary, but this time for want of GPUs, I had to bite the bullet and pay $600 and 30000 miles each way for this itinerary: KIX-SFO-IAD-HSV and return, with an overnight on the return in SFO (for Feb. 2014). When I tried to upgrade the itinerary, the UA online system wanted me to pay an extra 20,000 miles for the HSV-SFO segment on the return, so I just left those segments out of my online request and followed up with a call to the MP desk. The agent then included those segments in the original upgrade.

 

If you're at an international gateway, it would be the next legal connecting flight even if it's overnight as OP has booked. This may require, as discussed, a manual override. Such upgrading doesn't pose a "next day" problem when applied to a SFO-NRT-SIN itinerary where the SFO departure is say Friday and the NRT connection is the next day, granted the arrival into NRT is also the next day (albeit same day as the actual NRT connection).

 

I've done this before, 24 hours is the max
So your stop over in SFO needs to be less than 24 hours.

in my case it was JFK-SFO ( day 1) and SFO-PEK (day 2)
Cleared with 1 GPU

 

And I was able to get mine to clear with a phone call today.

 

I hit the same problem again with another itinerary. The Tokyo office told me that with a stopover in SFO, even though the next connecting flight was the next day, that it would require separate upgrades for each day. I've just finished talking with a U.S. based agent, and then the supervisor, and found out that the only guidance that the agents see concerning the GPUs is that they apply to a "one-way, one-class upgrade". There is no mention of a time frame, nor the number of regions that the itinerary can pass through. This is a rather strange state of affairs since it would seem to allow for a break of even one week in SFO! At any rate, the supervisor is asking for clarification further up the hierarchy, but it might take a bit of time for them to respond. If I learn of the result, I'll post the info here.

The first agent that I spoke to, by the way, said that the date change over the Pacific was "messing up the computer" which is why the upgrade couldn't be applied online.

 

The saga continues. I can't connect from Columbus, Ohio to the only flight to Osaka in a single day, but the overnight at SFO has blocked upgrading my entire return itinerary on a single GPU! Last time this happened, I had to call the U.S. from Japan and they upgraded the ORD-SFO segment without any problem, but the Tokyo office says that they couldn't. I asked the Tokyo office to obtain guidance from UA HQ on this, and the answer was "NO" -- the flights must be on a single day. In the meantime, I've used a regional for that segment.

Has any one else had *recent* experience with this? Could you upgrade an itinerary that included an overnight en route?