Originally Posted by
Pureboy
I'm a GM looking at my options for WAS-SGN on a weekday for government travel. Everything would book in Y.
1) If I fly UA metal, then I should be able to upgrade to C with 20K miles, right? I assume upgrade availability would be in the NC bucket? Is this an upgrade I could do right away?
2) Is a 55 minute layover in NRT insane? Lets assume I'm in C on the way there so I'm one of the first off the plane, and the next flight is UA as well. The other easy option is to fly NH metal to NRT and have a 2-hr layover.
3) If I fly NH metal on a UA codeshare, could I book a Star Alliance upgrade to business? Is there any way to check availability ahead of time?
4) If I end up not being able to upgrade my Y ticket on UA metal, would I at least get E+ as a GM? Should I try to book straight into E+?
Option 3 might not be possible. Here's a cut and paste from the Terms and Conditions of Star Alliance Upgrade Awards on UA's website:
"Upgrades on code share flights - where a ticket was issued by one airline (the marketing carrier), but the flight is being operated by a different airline -- are excluded. The marketing carrier and the operating carrier must be identical."