Originally Posted by
fumje
I think it's a web coding error. I would expect if you call in that someone should be able to sort it out. If they can't or won't allow pluspoints after the buy-out-of-BE-jail fee, I'd want the $49.50 returned.
In looking around it was hard to find a defintive definition of this fee. A couple places it refers to making the ticket changeable and that seems to primarily message. The most complete explanations was
Add United Economy® Benefits: Terms and Conditions- Adding United Economy benefits to a Basic Economy ticket permits a customer to
- Bring one full-sized carry-on item on board
- Select an available seat in Economy cabin prior to check-in
- Change their seat by selecting a seat in Economy cabin or purchase an Economy Plus® or premium cabin seat
- Change or cancel their flight without paying a change fee (for Basic Economy tickets purchased after April 30, 2021)
- Customers who add United Economy benefits won’t pay a change fee to change to a new flight of equal or lesser value. If the new flight is a higher fare, customers will be charged the difference between the original fare and the new fare
It does not list CPU or upgrading other than E+ access / cash upgrade fee eligible
So unclear if non-cash upgrades are an option for Basic Economy with United Economy benefits added. I would suspect purchasing "United Economy benefits" for applying PlusPoints is rather rare.