Originally Posted by
Ken hAAmer
Air Canada's equiavlent is the make you pay a higher fare up front, just for the opportunity to gamble that you'll get an upgrade, with no guarantees. In other words, with UA, if you get the upgrade you pay more than you might otherwise. With AC, you pay more than you might otherwise, then hope your upgrade comes through.
What? No upgrades are guaranteed and that includes UA. There is no such thing as if you get your upgrade with UA, then you pay and if not, then you don't pay. If you use miles to upgrade an international trip on UA, you pay for UA's H or higher and then request the upgrade. If your upgrade does not clear, UA does not refund the difference between H and the lowest fare to you. Same goes for UA's SWU, you buy a fare W or higher for an international trip and then request the upgrade, if you don't clear, you don't get $ back. UA's upgrade instruments are miles or SWU, AC's upgrade instrucments are SWU or SSWU. No such thing as guaranteed upgrade. One can easily check upgrade inventory before deciding if they will buy the lower fares (which are non-refundable on both AC or UA) and waitlisting for an upgrade if it's unavailable. Buying a nonrefundable fare and waitlisting for an upgrade is
your choice, AC or UA doesn't force you to do so.