Doing the upgrade search has given me only one option now available for my September 2008 flight: UA SFO-IAD, arriving 5:08 and connecting to UA IAD-CDG departing 5:48.

I can hardly believe this is legal, let alone possible, but I don't use IAD on a regular basis so may not be able to evaluate this accurately. I grabbed the seats but have until tomorrow 2:00 PM PST to cancel w/o penalty (except for the *%$*! phone fee).

I know I should probably wait for the release of more upgrade business seats, but for various reasons would like to pin these arrangements down soon.

Any advice?

You will be walking from one gate to another, that's it. No security, no passport control (tat will be done in SFO). Assuming your flight from SFO is on time, you will be fine.

What's the reason you cannot book the earlier SFO-IAD flight? They should have one arriving around 3pm.

But anyways, I'll book it first. It's certainly allowable. From some semi-old info I have, the minimum connection time for domestic-to-international on UA there is 35 minutes. Whether that first flight will arrive at IAD on-time is of course no guarantee.

The good news is that for the past 60 days (mid-Sept to mid-Nov 2007), UA936 SFO-IAD is highly on-time.

If the schedule gets changed, and they may, from now till next Sept, they can have more leeway in switching you to other flights. Check your itinerary often. About once a month now, and more frequent closer to your trip.

AAFF, do you know that the UA domestic arrival gates are on the same concourse as the UA international departure gates? If that's the case I'm less concerned. I can't see myself taking a shuttle from one concourse to the other with so little time.

rkkwan, this combination of flight is the only one that had upgrade business class seats available at the moment. It's far from my favorite routing and several days prior to my preferred travel date, but beggars apparently can't be choosers nowadays.

I would wait to book until there have been more seats released for upgrade, but I have to confirm arrangements in Paris before the end of this month and I'm afraid to pass on these seats if it's likely this will work.

Both flights will use Concourse C or D, which is the same mid-field building. So, you don't need to take the moon buggy between concourses.

The total length of the Concourse C/D building is 0.75mi, so in the worse case scenario, you need to walk 15 minutes from one end to the other.

Thanks...I'll think about keeping the booking and taking my chances.

I fly out of IAD all the time. If your flight from SFO into IAD is on time, it should not take you more than 10-15 minutes tops to get from one gate at the far end of the C concourse to another at the far end of the D concourse-the longest u might have to walk. As stated Concourses C&D are connected to one another, so no need to take a shuttle. Your flights could even be in the same concourse. You won't need to go thru security again.

I chickened out. We decided we weren't comfortable with trying to make the 40 minute connection and one of us might die of anxiety on the SFO-IAD leg.

Unfortunately the only available upgradeable seats within a week of our dates were on a Friday both ways, which apparently knocked the price up an additional $500 per ticket. Wow...

I guess I'll keep checking, but I'm stunned by the price differential as well as the unavailability of seats. I called just a couple of weeks ago for May 2008, flying on the same itinerary and had my pick of flights. If this is due to the new seats going in, what is the prognosis for NC seats opening up later on?

The prognosis is very good. You are booking way, way in advance.

If I understand correctly there is an upgrade seat for IAD-CDG but not for SFO-IAD. Is that correct?

What date were you planning to go to Paris? I checked Sept 3 and 9 and UA 936 SFO-IAD the website says it is a 3-cabin A319. That is not possible. It might be a 2-cabin A319 or a 3-cabin 777 (the flight continues to ZRH).

The earlier flight is a 757 and appears to be what it is supposed to be: a 2-cabin aircraft. You'd book into NF.

My original itinerary was September 9. Flight 914 SFO-IAD was sold out according to the agent. What I was holding was flt 936, connecting to 914 in IAD and I was booked into NF on the domestic leg. I've since let go of this reservation and will take my chances on finding something opening up in the future.

I actually prefer to fly SFO-FRA and FRA-CDG, assuming that if anything does go wrong with the connection, I will at least be on the continent I want to be on. This flight wasn't available either. Since BMI dropped out of the picture, it's gotten harder to get to Paris except through IAD or ORD.