I am new to the forum and first time poster. I also don't travel frequently but do travel to India from USA couple of times a year. EWR to Mumbai Business Class travel is like a dream come true and I am looking for a good strategy to consistently be in business class.

I earn lots of miles using Chase Club card for home and business use. Any time I search for flights, saver awards are not available except for flight departing in 24-hrs. I wonder what could be the reason except for UA trying to fill seats somehow but who would normally decide to travel 15hrs at last minute.

Following is what I am thinking and comments/ideas would be great:

1) Book a regular economy seat on miles and then wait for 24-hr window for saver and if available, call UA and try to change? Would they accommodate? Problem with this is if upgrade is not possible, I would have been far better off buying the tickets in $$ rather than miles (I will need to dish out 140K miles for a $1200 ticket).
2) Is it possible to book a ticket in certain class which is refundable (which one?) or min cancellation fee and then look for save in 24-hr window. If available, change to saver and cancel the paid ticket?

I also opened paid account at expertflyer.com but I am ways to go before learning how to use that properly to locate saver awards.

rk