Hi All,

I have already gotten conflicting info from the United Twitter and Online chat support people. Long time lurker, and I've always found that the info here is far more reliable than even the chat support with United. Only post when I hit dead ends. It's truly a wonderful community!

My fiancée and I are planning a (vaccine/safety willing) trip to Africa for Safari. We are looking to travel in late June, from EWR to NBO. She's a teacher and our travel dates are pretty flexible. I have United Gold for 2021, which is probably the highest status I will ever obtain. So I'd like to take advantage of this perk if at all possible. I do fly typically ~10 times a year domestically for work, but 2019 gave me some rare opportunities for international travel and that's how I got to Gold. I also obviously would like to continue flying Star Alliance and preferably United as much as possible in the off chance I could extend Gold, or at least keep Silver which does hold some value for me.

The conflicting info I've received from Twitter DM's about a month ago and an online chat yesterday are whether or not I can choose a Premier Plus seat at time of booking. It seems when I do a dummy booking I CANNOT, but the twitter rep indicated I could. The online chat indicated I cannot, but that I would be added to an upgrade list similar to the upgrade list on a domestic flight. I know asking about my general chances of an upgrade are fairly futile so I won't burden the community with that, but I was wondering if the chance of an upgrade to this PP cabin is in fact possible or not. I do know that Polaris business is out of the question for free upgrades, and I also know the amount of planes with the Premier Plus cabin is fairly limited. However, the benefits of this for a 6+ hour flight to the stopover in Europe (looking like Frankfurt is best option presently but we may try to do a multi city trip and stopover elsewhere in Europe).

My next question is for the 2nd leg of this flight, for argument's sake lets say FRA-NBO on Lufthansa. As United gold, which equals Star Alliance Gold per my United chat yesterday, I get airport Lounge access which, while nic,e really holds little value for me. My question is related to seating. When searching on United, it doesn't show the Lufthansa leg on the seat map. When searching on Lufthansa's site, it shows as an A330-300 plane, which also has a premium economy cabin seemingly very similar to United's PP. I was wondering if Star Alliance Gold status entitles me to any chance of an upgrade to this (I am assuming not).

The Premier Plus/Premium Economy options hold a ton of value for me for a 6+ hour flight, especially since it's vacation and I want to enjoy myself upon landing. I do have about 170K MileagePlus Miles that I am considering using those for the Fiancée and paying for my PP seat so I get more PQDs for my 2022 status. I know that will separate our itineraries as I can't combine a $ and mileage booking (which is a major flaw in the system IMO).

Any help at all with advice on how to best approach this trip beyond my specific questions is also welcomed and appreciated. We are just getting started on the process, and I want to be as thorough as possible with my decision making. Thanks all!