Turn Left on your Next Flight – United GPU Giveaway!

January 19, 2013 By 10 Comments

I still have a few spare Global Premier Upgrades from United Airlines, so it’s time to give some away again! There is a tight window before the end of the month, when they must be used. If you have travel on a United-operated flight departing on or before January 31, you can enter to win one of two systemwide upgrades.

Business class on the new United 787 Dreamliner.

Business class on the new United 787 Dreamliner.

The selection process will be random. I’m most interested in giving these upgrades to a good home, so read the “self-exclusion” details below. I hope that most who enter will be scheduled to fly on an eligible international or transcontinental flight. Most international routes must be booked as a W fare or higher, but any domestic flight is eligible. See United’s website for more information.

Entry Process

Follow @HackMyTrip and send a tweet with the flight you want upgraded using the hashtag #turnleft and a brief description of your itinerary. For example: “@HackMyTrip I want to #turnleft on United SFO-LHR on 1/25″ or “@HackMyTrip I want to #turnleft on UA SEA-IAH-PHL on 1/28″. You can enter once for every upgrade-eligible flight, but if you win I’ll let you decide how you want to use it.

Selection

I will draw two winners using Random.org on Monday, January 21, at 12 PM Pacific Time. Once you give me your itinerary information, I’ll try to apply the upgrade as soon as possible. I make no guarantee that you will clear the upgrade queue.

Self-Exclusion

Hopefully you’ll agree that most people can tolerate a short flight in economy class. I usually define this as under 2,000 miles. But everyone knows his or her own needs best, and I’m not going to tell you that you don’t need or deserve an upgrade. Besides, I don’t have time to run a second drawing. I just ask that if you can’t make good use of it, maybe you shouldn’t enter. Find a friend who needs it more, and enter on his or her behalf!

If you have a mileage run planned with a quick turnaround under 4 hours, the upgrade should cover the entire return trip, too. :D So I won’t hold that against you.

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About Scott Mackenzie

Scott founded HMT while traveling on a budget during graduate school and stays loyal to United, Alaska, Hyatt, and Starwood.
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  • John

    I thought all GPUs and RPUs earned in 2012 had been extended to Jan 31st 2014

    • Scottrick

      These were earned in 2011, not 2012.

  • awg

    I would like to #turnleft on my mileage run LAS-EWR-BOS-LAX-LAS on 1/30/13

  • Vivek Doshi

    I am doing milage runs every weekend this month and would love to use it as upgrades are so tough to come by from IAH.

  • Aarash Fakhori

    my cousin is here visting HNL and is flying back to IAD on minday at 1:34p HST….I’m sure this GPU would be a tremendous help for a very long day. A great little boost before heading back home

  • AKold

    All my United flights last year boarded at Door 1L, can I use a GPU to turn left into the cockpit?

    • Scottrick

      I’ll leave that up to you and the FA. If you get that far forward, see if you can do something about the dry cookies!

  • Greek2me

    I’m new to the finer points of GPUs. Can you expand on the comment that on quick turnarounds one GPU can cover the round trip? Does it happen automatically as a feature of a GPU per terms, or is it a glitch? need to do anything for it to work? Does same apply to an RPU on quick turn doestic flight? That would be info I could use!

    • Scottrick

      It should apply to an RPU as well. The point is that it’s a continuing itinerary. Stopovers only occur on domestic connections longer than 4 hours and international connections longer than 24 hours. Since United lets you apply the upgrade to the entire itinerary in “one direction” and you never stop, it covers the entire roundtrip.

      • Greek2me

        Cool! Thanks!