United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - Can you use purchased SWU's or GPU's

I looked and couldn’t find an answer. If FT prohibits these threads MOD’s please delete. (I didn’t see anything that stated you can’t)

My fiancé and I are traveling to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I would like to upgrade us, but I don’t have the miles to upgrade and the buy up is way to expensive. Additionally, we don’t have enough time to churn a CC. I was looking around and saw on Craigslist that people sell their SWU’s and GPU’s.

Couple of questions, can you use someone else’s upgrade like that (Is there a policy United has that prevents it)? If so what would a reasonable price be for them?

Thanks for all the help.

If you buy a SWU or other upgrade cert off eBay/Craig's List/etc, UA can do things like shut down your UA account, cancel your tickets, etc.

I would recommend against it. There were theories a while back that UA had people posting SWU sales on eBay, in an attempt to catch people buying them. Believe DL has done the same thing.

If you have no status, there is a good possibility that you'll get a Tens of Dollars (ToD) upgrade. Check out http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1324844-post-your-tod-buy-up-experiences-here-no-other-discussion.html for more info about that process.

I read a bunch about ToD's I just hate waiting till check in to try. More time for the open seats to fill up.

UA will not sell individuals RPUs/GPUs.
You can use miles (which you can buy) to upgrade

I looked and couldn’t find an answer. If FT prohibits these threads MOD’s please delete. (I didn’t see anything that stated you can’t) ... offer to buy or sale GPU/RPU/Miles is a forbidden activitiy for this forum

... I was looking around and saw on Craigslist that people sell their SWU’s and GPU’s. ... there is risk in doing this, fairly regularly you hear of UA cracking down on these folks

...Couple of questions, can you use someone else’s upgrade like that (Is there a policy United has that prevents it)? If so what would a reasonable price be for them? .. if done with no consideration (ie $$$) then UA allows. But you are not allowed to make a request for such on this forum.

If money or other consideration is involved UA disallows


Prohibition of sale or barter

The sale or barter of any such mileage, certificates, awards or benefits other than as authorized and/or sponsored by United is expressly prohibited. Any mileage, certificates, awards or benefits transferred, assigned or sold in violation of the Program Rules, in addition to exposing the member to the penalties otherwise associated with violations, may be confiscated or canceled. The use of award tickets that have been acquired by purchase, barter or other conduct in violation of Program Rules may result in termination of membership, cancellation of accrued mileage, certificates, awards or benefits, confiscation of the tickets, denial of boarding with respect to the ticket holder, and, at United's discretion, completion of the travel only upon payment of an applicable fare.

Thanks for the reply. I will have to read more about the ToD's.

I read a bunch about ToD's I just hate waiting till check in to try. More time for the open seats to fill up.

It is possible to see them before check in. I'd keep an eye on your reservation.

It is possible to see them before check in. I'd keep an eye on your reservation.

That sounds good, I will. Thanks again.