Originally Posted by
Cheapfur
We haven't flown United since the pandemic...so no status, all we have is 330k pooled miles. I think we'll be retiring from international travel so we'd like to do one last trip to Europe (Frankfurt) in Polaris burning up the last of our miles in the process. We are planning on leaving about May 1.
My plan is to purchase the remaining miles .I know, not a good value but, correct me if I'm wrong, it would make the whole PNR refundable. I realize the purchased miles are non refundable but having a refundable ticket is important to us.
I thought about going PE on the return trip and trying to upgrade to Polaris since it looks like a fairly empty flight but I'm not really interested in sweating out a waitlist since I've been burned before.
Am I missing any kind of missed opportunity here? Thanks.
Award tickets are refundable in the sense miles go back to the account and taxes are refunded back to original payment source.
Award tickets are generally not upgradedable, unless you have Global Services PlusPoints. You can also move up via upsell (paid upgrade).
Seatmaps are not always accurate, as they do not account for ticketed passengers having not yet selected their seats. Also, future ticketed passengers are likely to jump ahead of you the queue, especially when ticketed in economy and without any status.