This post is a little geeky, but I could not resist.
I spent a couple days in Bangkok last week and everywhere I saw this ad–
It’s apparently James Jirayu, who is a Justin Beiber-like figure in Thailand, as the face of the Oppo R9s. Oppo is a Chinese smartphone brand and R9s are the new model.
But for frequent United flyers, the billboard takes on a whole new meaning…
“R” is the booking code for upgrade space on United. If your flight has “R” space available, you can use miles or other instruments like regional or global upgrades to confirm your upgrade.
Fare buckets are limited to nine seats (i.e., there may be many more seats than nine available, but the system will never show more than nine in one fare class).
Consequently, when you are looking for upgrade space the best thing you can hope for is R9, meaning at least nine confirmed upgrade seats are available.
Thus, this ad takes on a whole new meaning–
It’s not just R9…it’s the “Now, it’s clear” catchphrase to go along with it. Of course Oppo is presumably referring to a clear cell phone signal, but come on…”R9s Now, It’s Clear” is music to the ears of every United flyer. We love our R9s and we love our upgrades clearing.
Ok, thanks for humoring me.
The dream of very UA flyer with instruments and Expert Mode
LOL I didn’t get the joke until you explained it. As a lowly Silver I would prefer I9s 😉
Matthew – I’m as geeky as they come about flight bookings, and was a travel agent in college 25 years ago, so I say this with love and respect, but this was a jet lagged cry for help…
Yeah this was a really random post.
As a 1k, I like to see R0 RN2…..makes me feel special lol
You obviously didn’t spend enough time at soi cowboy
@IADDan – you will never see RN>R, sorry to be a buzzkill. ONCE in a blue moon, IN>I.