Best way to get it is to book Y and then have one of the lounge agents upgrade you. @:-)


To the OP: a lot of us have a variety of bones to pick with United, but I've actually had pretty good luck using their miles. You can book much of the alliance online with no junk fees (YQ, etc.), and availability for true awards is (IME) better than their competitors.

What you were looking for on your one domestic flight was upgrade availability, which is a bit of a different animal than award availability. That's finicky and unpredictable on almost all airlines. Did you look on other days? Other flights? Did you look for straight award seats?

Take comfort in this: if it's a domestic U.S. route, which it sounds like it probably was if WN also flies it, chances are good the the first class cabin sucks anyway, so you aren't missing much.

My UA miles have mostly been turned into TATL and TPAC awards. Sometimes J (if I'm solo or with only my wife), sometimes Y if it's the whole family. Lots of trips, lots of good value, no garbage fees. This summer we're going 5 TATL seats together in Y on UA miles in the middle of peak season...that's not easy to do on most other carriers.

I'll save my complaints for the crappiness of UA/UX's service. I'm (mostly) happy with their Mileage Plus program, given that I hold no native status whatsoever in it.