Originally Posted by
jasonsun
Was looking to upgrade the EWR-HKG and PVG-EWR using miles, but reading the forum it seems like EWR-HKG is one of the toughtest one to get the uprgade, so looking for guidance on that, as well as any other routing options.
Thx in advance
Just in case you were not aware, on UA upgrading from Y->C requires miles
plus copay. These copays on US-Asia are as much as $600. See the web widget here:
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps...ardTravel.aspx
Based on the fare you quote, I'm guessing it's in the $500-$600 range in addition to the 30,000 miles. A business class fare to begin with is only 60,000 miles. If you have the miles or can get some miles with a credit card between now and then, you might be better off just booking the trip with miles in the first place.
You're also right that these are very tough upgrades. The upgrade lists are sorted by status first regardless of upgrade means. So presuming you don't have status, anyone who has M+ status will be above you fighting for the few open seats in C. If you go the miles+copay route, I highly recommend you try to find a flight that has R availability now so that you can upgrade instantly.