BHC

I've been trying to upgrade different EVA Air BR flights using the Star Alliance Upgrade Awards for the past 2 weeks now with no success. I've tried SAUA through both United and Aeroplan as I have enough miles on both programs.

I booked my BR flights using the upgrade eligible B class fare. I have also called Eva Air and confirmed that there are between 4 to 8 "Z" class upgrade inventory availability on all my flights.

For United, I go through the SAUA screens and it shows upgrade availability. But when I click the final confirm button, I'm getting a non-descriptive "Error !" message.

For Aeroplan's SAUA site, it also shows upgrade availability. Again, when I proceed to confirm the upgrade, I get an error message from Aeroplan "error code 057.SAU".

Is the SAUA upgrade system broken? I'm getting errors on 2 separate Star Alliance partners...I've spent hours on the phone with EVA, United, Aeroplan and nobody knows how to fix it nor can they upgrade over the phone. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

IluvSQ

Space is usually not opened until within the last week or so from the flight. How far ahead is your flight?

And the upgrade does not come from Z class, it comes from I class.
You can check I class availability with Expert Flyer.

JORBUST

This is acting very strange! I class is the class you want to upgrade on EVA (BR) using the Star Alliance Upgrade Award Program.

But, if you look, oddly, there are TONS of I class and low business awards available for EVA loaded last night. Some are booking and some aren't. Not sure what the deal is!

Kacee

Where are you looking?

If you're seeing business award inventory on UA, NH, or AP more than 14 days out it's likely phantom and cannot be booked.

JORBUST

Checking United.com JFK-TPE and LAX-TPE for BR Business Saver which I was led to believe books into I class like an upgrade would.

They loaded tons of them last night. I was able to upgrade my return from Taipei (One on 10/28 and one on 10/14) this morning. But, none of the outbounds will upgrade from JFK-TPE, even though they also show I space available.

Something fishy is going on, might be phantom things. LAX-TPE also shows way too many low non-stop awards for weeks and months out on EVA. (searching on United).

Kacee

There have been issues lately with phantom BR space.

Nice score on the 10/14 and 10/28 flights!

BHC

I am looking at 12/27 or 12/28 from LAX to TPE (BR 5, BR 11, BR15), returning on 1/6, 1/7, or 1/8 TPE to LAX. From the 2 long BR upgrade threads below, it appears SAUA upgrades come out of a separate Z class upgrade bucket for EVA instead of the regular I award bucket:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...itedmiles.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...ge-plus-3.html

Btw, in general if I'm traveling with a family of 4, is it advisable to book 2 members on 2 separate reservations to increase the chance that at least half the travelers can be upgraded?

IluvSQ

Defibitely much too early to be looking for the upgrades.
And while I did not look at the threads quoted, you are wrong.
The *A upgrades come out of I bucket, which as I said previously, is
usually not loaded until a few days before the flight.

JORBUST

I've seen phantom space, where it shows I available and it won't book. I've also seen where it shows NO I available and it does book. I think the best thing to do is book a refundable Economy ticket and just keep trying. If it doesn't work out, well, it's refundable.

Kacee

Agreed. No point in debating when BR does or does not releases the space. Especially since it seems to be gray area right now.

I see what you mean. J showing available nearly every day in October SFO-TPE.

JORBUST

Yeah, I checked it on Aeroplan too, showing the same thing. Seems to be an Issue with EVA not with United. I don't believe them to be bookable though.

BHC

Thanks for the input everyone. I've tried booking the various flights and when the upgrades failed, cancelled the tickets within 24 hours for full refund. Even the refundable tickets would carry a fee of $400 for my family of 4 ($100 fee x 4) if cancelled after 24 hours. Debating whether to just pull the trigger on a "cheaper" discount economy/elite fare now which is non-upgradeable. I'm a bit new to all this upgrade thing so I really appreciate everyone's help.

JORBUST

The good thing is that EVA rarely changes their price, even close-in. It happens, but a lot of times you can book the ticket for the same price 3 weeks out or 3 days out or 3 months out. Again, not always, but often. Much different than what we are used to in the states.

If you are *stuck* with an economy class ticket, and want to upgrade to Premium Economy or Business (I know not their trade names for it), many times you can call, ask nicely, and they'll waive the change fee. Throw in a little Chinese hello and thank you and be nice

BHC

Lol, thanks for the tip on calling for possible fee waiver. Doesn't hurt to ask right? I went ahead and booked a cheaper H fare $1100. Upgradeable B fare for comparison is $1550. I guess I'll just try to buy another B fare a week or so prior to departure and see if the upgrade works. If not, I'll just cancel again and keep my H fare. It's seriously a long flight at 14 hours and an upgrade would be quite nice!

wickedlfe

Never mind my previous comment - saw that you did book a B fare. If you got to the screen that shows the upgrade is available using SAUA and still got an error, that's interesting. I've found that different United agents have more experience with these errors and can troubleshoot better than others. These upgrades can definitely be frustrating for sure!