Originally Posted by
CPH-Flyer
Under the Star Alliance upgrade flow? If you are using other means, then yes. But I have never heard the Star Alliance upgrade to be anything other than award space. You can eg. use UA plus points on LH and NH (and potentially others I don't know about), that is not based on award space being available, but it is also not the Star Alliance upgrade flow.
Yes - up to last year we could just call BR, confirm Z space was 4 or more, and process the upgrade. Now Z space is separated into BR program and *A program sub buckets so they don't match anymore, but you'll still find upgrades process when I=0. That's just BR - I can't speak for other *A members.