I currently am holding a F *A award from DCA to Thailand and back for New Year's. All the segments are in F, except for one from ORD-LAX on UA. It's booked in C. There's no room in F right now, but if something frees up, will I have to pay a change fee? If nothing opens up between now and my departure, will I be able to be upgraded if space is available on the flight?

I currently am holding a F *A award from DCA to Thailand and back for New Year's. All the segments are in F, except for one from ORD-LAX on UA. It's booked in C. There's no room in F right now, but if something frees up, will I have to pay a change fee? If nothing opens up between now and my departure, will I be able to be upgraded if space is available on the flight?

I don't think you'll need to pay a fee to get that F seat if something opens up. Earlier this year I had a C-award SFO-DPS on UA/TG/SQ and the return HKG-SFO was booked in Y when the ticket was issued, though I was able to find availability in C a few weeks later and was booked without any fee. I have not yet had the ticket re-issued, which they say will be fee-free.