Welcome to FT!!! I understand that the amount of info on FT can be overwhelming and hard to find.

The United Forum would be a better place to ask these questions. Furthermore, most of your questions are answered in the FAQ at the top of the United Forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336354

I have quick answers for you for the first 3 questions.
#1 - you get one MP mile for every mile flown based on United's calculation of miles flown. More details can be found in the FAQ
#2 - the answer can be found in the FAQ, but I will post the url after I finish this post.
#3 - chance of upgrading depends on how many seats UA sells in business and how many elites are ahead of you on the upgrade list. Given the limited # of flights per day, your odds of upgrading the day of are probably slim. However, United has a limited amount of award upgrade inventory that is available before the flight or if you haven't booked, you can try to only buy a flight when an upgrade is available. You have to call United to find out if the upgrade exists. One week there could be none and the next week they could add one. You have to keep calling. However, sometimes only ONE seat is released at a time. It can be hard to upgrade multiple people. There is lots of info on upgradong on the United forum The second part of this question could be answered by folks that participate on that forum.


Moderator, please move this thread to the United Mileage Plus Forum.

The answer to your second question can be found on this webpage:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1151,00.html

The number of miles required to uograde depends on your fare.

Upgrade - Select United Economy (M and H) to Business from the UK to USA would be 30,000 miles each way per person.

If you purchased a Full-fare United Economy (Y and B class) ticket, the upgrade is only 15,000 miles each way per person.

Note that cheap fares are not upgradeable.

If you can't obtain an upgrade when you buy your ticket, you should consider "upgrading" to Economy Plus. Economy plus provides a few extra inches that can mean the difference between an extremely uncomfortable flight and an acceptable flight. If you are going to fly United more than once, I would recommend you buy Economy Plus Access. It costs $299 per person in the US. But, effective September 4, 2007, the membership price will be $349. It allows you to book standard E+ seats for a year (exit rows can not be booked in advance without elite status, but can ask for them at the airport).

If this will be your only United trip you can upgrade to E+ when you check in if there are seats available. Folks over on the United forum can tell you how much United has been charging to upgrade to E+ from the UK to the US. E+ Access is better because you can pre-book your sets and try to snag the bulkhead or other preferred non-exit row seat.

United webpage on E+ Access:
https://www.unitedpromotions.com/epa...ontrol/epaHome

I couldn't find an E+ purchase page on the Uk website, but here is the general E+ page from the UK website

http://www.unitedairlines.co.uk/core...nomy_plus.html

I will assume that you are flying LHR>SFO and SFO>LAS.

LHR>SFO = approx 5368 award miles. Sometime miles vary without reason.
SFO>LAS = 500 award miles.

Thus, you should earn about 5868 each way.

You do not get a class of service bonus if you upgrade. Class of service bonuses only apply to paid tickets.

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=731118

It says you cannot do it directly and lose a lot of value.
The thread also references a web tool for calculating mileage conversions.