Originally Posted by moondog
UA just recently started participating in the *a upgrade scheme. For starters, you'd need to purchase a Y or B fare, which is almost certainly in excess of $3k on that route and likely north of $4k (in other words, as expensive, if not more, than J on CI). Then, you'd need to fork over at least 60k miles for the RT upgrade, subject to availability.
It is true that UA recently implemented upgrades on *A partners with MP miles. However, it is currently limited to ANA, Asiana, Austrian Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa, TAP and Thai Airways.