United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - How to Apply a SWU/GPU on the New Web Site

I intend to book a flight ORD-BKK-ORD 04/25 - 05/16 and went through the whole booking procedure using a "W" fare up to the point of committing but could not see how to apply a SWU or GPU (or whatever it is now called). By selecting award options I only get options to use miles not the certs.

What am I missing in doing this on-line with the new web site?

There's like 5 of these threads right now - might need a sticky soon :)

Pull up a reservation (either from your account, or put in the PNR / last name and look it up like that)

One of the text links above the reservation should be "upgrade"

If you have RPUs/GPUs in your account, should give you that as an option next to miles + copay - press the square "button" and should apply it

Not intuitive, but hey, CO is still new to this UG instrument game

Once booked you can also bring up the seating chart and select a seat in FC and it will then take you to the screen with options to Pay, use SWU/CR1's or miles.

I intend to book a flight ORD-BKK-ORD 04/25 - 05/16 and went through the whole booking procedure using a "W" fare up to the point of committing but could not see how to apply a SWU or GPU (or whatever it is now called). By selecting award options I only get options to use miles not the certs.

You must commit to the reservation before you can use the GPUs. After you book, then you can see a "upgrade reservation" choice when you View the reservation; gives your allowable upgrade options at that time.

You must commit to the reservation before you can use the GPUs. After you book, then you can see a "upgrade reservation" choice when you View the reservation; gives your allowable upgrade options at that time.
How can we search for the flights to commit to where SWU/GPU can be applied?

I've found this post by sfonorth (LINK (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18126718-post58.html)), though I'm still confused which fare bucket is SWU/GPU applicable. PN/RN/R??

How can we search for the flights to commit to where SWU/GPU can be applied?

I've found this post by sfonorth (LINK (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18126718-post58.html)), though I'm still confused which fare bucket is SWU/GPU applicable. PN/RN/R??

Here you go:

http://pss.united.com/web/en-US/content/mileageplus/premier/swupgrades.aspx

How can we search for the flights to commit to where SWU/GPU can be applied?

I've found this post by sfonorth (LINK (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18126718-post58.html)), though I'm still confused which fare bucket is SWU/GPU applicable. PN/RN/R??PN is for Instant Upgrades from B/M fares
R/RN is for upgrades from economy using GPU/RPU/miles (and btw not for CPU). RN is for elites, R is for everybody but I have not yet seen a case of the two being different.

...
Upgrade Awards
ON - C->F on 3-cabin aircraft
PN - B/M-Up for Elites (tracks to the P bucket)
RN - Elite Upgrade to Business/Domestic F
R - Non-Elite Upgrade to Business/Domestic F

Global Premier Upgrades may be confirmed as early as time of ticketing or time of request. If upgrade space is not available at time of request, members will be placed on a waitlist. The waitlist will clear automatically by Premier status, then fare class*, then time of request. New waitlist requests for Regional Premier Upgrades can be made until to 24 hours prior to departure.




Ahh crap.
Looks they are not even sure if GPU can be applied less than 24 hrs before departure.

Global Premier Upgrades may be confirmed as early as time of ticketing or time of request. If upgrade space is not available at time of request, members will be placed on a waitlist. The waitlist will clear automatically by Premier status, then fare class*, then time of request. New waitlist requests for Regional Premier Upgrades can be made until to 24 hours prior to departure.

Ahh crap.
Looks they are not even sure if GPU can be applied less than 24 hrs before departure.

They can IF there is R space available...if not, no WL. Supposedly they're working on this, can't imagine it's that high of a priority though...

Once booked you can also bring up the seating chart and select a seat in FC and it will then take you to the screen with options to Pay, use SWU/CR1's or miles.

When I do this, it just brings me back to the View Current Reservation page and I don't seen anything about choosing an upgrade option. The Reservation Tools links above the confirmation number don't include anything about upgrades.

What am I missing?

Thought I understood how to book/apply SWU/GPU, but nooo. All I wanted to do is to identify an itinerary, in this case RT SEA-SYD, check the MP award miles upgrade box, enter the upgrade eligible fare class (assuming W? since R is not recognized) then. somehow, apply the SWU/GPU to be wait listed. So ... go thru process, site says upgrades not available, etc. Look at seat map, plenty of space in C. Since I've installed the fare bucket Grease Monkey app, it says C9, R0. Now what? Do we book W, *then* try to apply the SWU/GPU. Will it say wait-listed? If not, I have 24 hrs to cancel & then what? Just want to book the appropriate fare class, deposit the instrument & be confirmed on the wait list. Alternative: call the 1K desk & ask agent to do it ... w/o any additional fee. Maybe we need a sticky with *definitive* info re procedure; or better, reinstall the capability that used to be on the old UA web site.

I applied a GPU pre-merger to a PHL-DEN-LAS. PHL-DEN was operated by UA, DEN-LAS was CO. The GPU only upgraded the first segment.

Is there a way I can cancel this and reapply it so it hopefully clears for both segments without calling the 1K desk?

When I do this, it just brings me back to the View Current Reservation page and I don't seen anything about choosing an upgrade option. The Reservation Tools links above the confirmation number don't include anything about upgrades.

What am I missing?

Same here . . . I want to use an RPU and there is no such link.

Where is the sponsored upgrade link? :confused:

When I tried to upgrade a reservation, can't find "Upgrade"

I had a few SWU's in my account, now I am online trying to apply one of them.
It's not working.

I log in, find the international itinerary.
The screen tells me I have 3 Regional Premier Upgrades and 3 Global Premier Upgrades.

When I hit the button to upgrade an international flight it says "Your Regional Premier Upgrade is restricted by market and may not be used on this part of your trip"

I don't get it.
Why doesn't the system choose the Global Premier Upgrade?

Hold time with United is half an hour to get help.

I had a few SWU's in my account, now I am online trying to apply one of them.
It's not working.

I log in, find the international itinerary.
The screen tells me I have 3 Regional Premier Upgrades and 3 Global Premier Upgrades.

When I hit the button to upgrade an international flight it says "Your Regional Premier Upgrade is restricted by market and may not be used on this part of your trip"

I don't get it.
Why doesn't the system choose the Global Premier Upgrade?

Hold time with United is half an hour to get help.

I just upgraded something over the weekend with GPUs. You should have two radio buttons to choose from the upgrade screen: upgrade all, or upgrade individual segments. Did you try to upgrade individual segments? If you select that, then boxes appear. you can click on a box with miles, or a box with your GPUs in it, and presumably, there should be a third box for your RPUs. Click on the GPU box.

Can anyone walk me through the process of booking an international flight with GPU on the new web site?

When I do an advanced search, there is a section with the title:

"How would you like your flight results displayed?"

And there is an option to check: "MileagePlus Upgrade Award"

But when I check that option, it then asks me which flights I want to upgrade with miles.

I don't understand this. It seems like I can either choose flights with no upgrade or I can choose with miles upgrade but there is no place to choose GPU upgrade.

Apologies if this is covered somewhere, as I'm sure it must be. I've searched FAQ but could not find it.

Can anyone walk me through the process of booking an international flight with GPU on the new web site?

When I do an advanced search, there is a section with the title:

"How would you like your flight results displayed?"

And there is an option to check: "MileagePlus Upgrade Award"

But when I check that option, it then asks me which flights I want to upgrade with miles.

I don't understand this. It seems like I can either choose flights with no upgrade or I can choose with miles upgrade but there is no place to choose GPU upgrade.

Apologies if this is covered somewhere, as I'm sure it must be. I've searched FAQ but could not find it.

Perhaps more experienced FTers prefer another method, but here's how I used my GPUs on Saturday night:


You can search flight options having checked the box "MP Upgrade Award", just to see which flights have an UG available. If there aren't any available for a segment, you'll see that stated in red type for each choice. Another way to do this is to click the "fare Class" link to make sure than RN or R space is available on each of your desired segments. You should check the quantity available in this manner even if you've done the dummy search if you're trying to make a booking for more than one person

Then, after you've determined the flights that you want, search for real, and do not check the "MP Upgrade" box at the bottom of the search page.

Select your econ seats, purchase the tickets.

Wait until the reservation tickets, then view your reservation from the "view reservations" page.

Click "more" link to the top right, above the reservation.

Then select "upgrade" button. A page will open that allows you to upgrade all flights, or individually.

I upgraded individually, and then clicked on the GPU box for every eligible segment. If enough R/RN space was available, then you should be able to select seats in the next cabin up immediately. Otherwise, you'll be waitlisted.

Booked SFO-EWR-BQN-EWR-SFO, all K class. On the booking page, it only shows "Eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrade" with the up arrow for the four segments. There is no place I can apply RPU (CR1) on line.

Did you use an e-cert? This is the only bug I know that causes the "Redeem Upgrade" box to not appear in our reservations.

If you do not see it, then you can give UA reservations a call to have the RPU applied to your reservation to BQN.

I think you book the ticket first. Once it tickets, go to view reservation - at top is "upgrade reservation". You can select and apply your upgrade instrument there.

Yes, that's probably the reason. I actually used two, :cool: one 016 certificate, and the second the CO certificate (used PIN).

Did you use an e-cert? This is the only bug I know that causes the "Redeem Upgrade" box to not appear in our reservations.

If you do not see it, then you can give UA reservations a call to have the RPU applied to your reservation to BQN.