Originally Posted by
tarheelnj
EWR-IAH roundtrip next month, both flights with flat beds. M fare. Buy-up was $524 total. Took it and noticed that the fare booked into PN (no additional PQM's), which I didn't like since I want the PQM's. Spoke with an agent who confirmed that the buy-up was to a B fare, which then automatically booked into PN. She noticed that there was an A fare that was actually less expensive than the B fare. She rebooked me into A, which produced a $109 refund, making my net upgrade cost $415, or about $207 each way.
The quirk where elites are offered buy-ups to Y/B/M booking into PN rather than the often considerably cheaper P or A was supposed to have been fixed long ago per UA Insider. Obviously that never happened.