I've got Silver status with United...not much I realize. But at least I get economy plus when I check in. We're going to Dubrovnik May 2025 and have 2 options. Both go through Chicago, but the next legs are either on LOT or Austrian. With LOT there is a 7.5 hr layover in Warsaw and we're considering trying to get into the city for a bit.

Besides the Warsaw idea (we'll need to research that more to determine if that's a good idea) what are your thoughts on the United partners LOT vs Austrian? I would like to at least upgrade the flight over the pond from Economy to something similar to Economy Plus. I wish that leg was on United but that would have been 70k miles each way vs. the 44k we're using.

So, any thoughts on the cost and ease of upgrading the partner legs of these United partner flights on LOT or Austrian?