Originally Posted by
jsloan
Note that if you are willing to use 80 PlusPoints per person, you can upgrade any fare, not just W+.
No.
That said, in general, W fares (if you decide to use them) are fairly static. They can be seasonal, but the W fare for any given flight doesn't change particularly often. When UA wants to change the price of a flight, they normally do it by adjusting inventory levels.
However, there is a major caveat here. You asked about rescheduling for the following year, but your ticket would only be good for use from 12 months from the original issue date. Furthermore, during the no-change-fee promotion, if you were to cancel, and then re-use the future flight credit for another, less expensive ticket, UA would keep the difference.
I have a hard time recommending the paid ticket under these circumstances, even with PZ available.
Thanks for the input... much appreciated. If I go the purchase route, I'll have to process the lowest fare option vs W fare question. When I looked a couple days ago, it wasn't all that much higher so it becomes a value question on the extra PlusPoints needed. I think I'll still be able to use some when business travel resumes, presumable in Q1 but who knows?
Back to the current W fare... I think what's available now is at least as low as what I vaguely recall as the lowest price period back in pre-COVID days. It could very well be one of those odd exceptions.