Originally Posted by
jsloan
They did.
I’m having difficulty following what you’re writing, but it sounds like you (a) applied a MileagePlus Upgrade Award to confirm two passengers into Premium Plus and then (b) looked for a way to upgrade into Polaris. The problem is, you had to make that request originally. When you book a MileagePlus Upgrade Award, you’re given the option between upgrading to Premium Plus only, upgrading to Polaris only, or upgrading to the best available cabin. At the point when you chose to upgrade to Premium Plus only — which may have been during the purchase process — you locked yourself out of being able to upgrade to Polaris. If you had requested an upgrade to the best available cabin, you would have been charged the full copay and mileage up front, and then the difference, if any, would have been refunded after travel if your upgrade to Polaris hadn’t cleared — but it would have.
In July 2003 we flew from HND to LAX in Polaris Class. The options at that time were.
1. Premium Plus 30K miles or Cash around $900.00
2. Polaris Classic 30K miles plus $550.00 or cash about $4,000.00
I selected both miles options for Premium Plus and Polaris Class for additional with the additional $550.00.
The Polaris Class cleared a few days before departure.
None of your calculations make a ton of sense because you’re comparing two completely different things. The cash upgrade prices don’t go to a waitlist, so, yes, they’re frequently more expensive than using miles would be. And your concern about buying one seat in Polaris is mostly misguided; prior to T-24, they wouldn’t have split up a traveling party even if upgrade space became available — it’s all or nothing. On the day of travel, if you haven’t pulled your request and haven’t yet been upgraded, then upgrades do go one at a time and it’s possible that you’d be split if there is exactly one remaining seat.
I didn't do a spreadsheet on the different options available for my plan trip to SYD.
There were two different option available to me
1. Premium Plus 30K or about $1,000 in cash the amount can vary depending when the site is visited.
2. Polaris Class only option available was the Cash payment of about $4,000.00
United had split the reservation so we had different confirmation numbers. The seat map showed about 12 seats available in Polaris Class a few days before the flight departed. On the day of departure there was one Polaris Class seat available. The second seat became available about two hours before departure.
The only reason I mention a day of travel or a couple of days before buying a First Class ticket. We were in Washington, D.C. the last week of June 2003. I booked two First Class tickets to Los Angeles on United for under $1,000 one way each.
Check out Reddit sometimes and review the section on United Airlines Award and Fares. You can find different postings on some discount on United.