Apparently this upgrade request went through by manual request from UA to EVA via the liaison, not through web support.

I upgraded SFO-TPE on BR27 (Royal Laurel).

Hi artieb78

I am having the same problem (finding 2 award tickets on EVA on the same date I'm trying to do an upgrade, but website won't push it through nor will the UA agents). The agent that I spoke to denied that there is a UA-EVA liaison and said everything is essentially a blind request. Would you mind sharing how you managed to get this issue escalated?

Thanks!

EVA B class ticket upgrade with UA miles
 

My experience today was quite smooth.

First I had a few dates in mind and called EVA (800-695-1188). I told the agent that I intended to use UA miles for fare class B ticket upgrade. She gave me the availability of the dates I suggested.

Then I had the EVA ticket issued. Went to United.com to request *A upgrade awards (http://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps...rdUpgrade.aspx).

Both segments were confirmed instantly. United sent me receipts. Miles were deducted. I was able to select Royal Laurel seats on EVA.com. It all happened within a few minutes.

By the way, I am not sure if "*A upgrade" and "free award seat" are from the same inventory for EVA. I know some FTers said they were both from I class inventory. On United.com, it still shows no free award availability on the flight I selected. However, the EVA agent told me that there were 5 seats available for *A upgrade.

Congrats on the good news, thanks for posting the update on the time frame. With all of the changes with EVA in the past year or so, that gives an idea of when they might push through the upgrade.

Reverted to Green status so it's unknown if they'll do it. I made reservations a few weeks ago for Elite (class T fare) from LAX to TPE in early March, then put in a request for upgrade to RL through the website. Points were not deducted and I'm currently on the waitlist. In previous years as a Silver and prior to *A, if I didn't hear back approx 7 days before the trip, it was their way of saying, better luck next time.

Update: Just logged into the EVA website noticed that my itinerary details had changed in the past 24 hours, I was asked to call into the reservation center.

The rep had good news for me about an upgrade to RL available from Elite. My trip is about 10 days out and I wasn't sure about getting it since I reverted back to green status. After I looking through Expert Flyer for the least crowded RL travel day of the week, it turned out well this time around. In the past, I'd find a sparsely filled RL, but wouldn't be able to score the upgrade.

Thanks to everyone for keeping this thread updated.

Hey everyone,

Would anyone be able to check *A upgrade availability from YYZ-TPE on BR 35 on April 25, 2014? I see there are J rewards seats available but can't see to upgrade my "Y" ticket. Thanks in advance.

Interesting. This seems like the smoothest upgrade reported. To get this straight, you:

1. Asked EVA CSR about availability of *A upgrade using United miles
2. Bought & confirmed the ticket over the phone through EVA on specified dates
3. Upgraded your ticket through the United upgrade tool using the information from EVA

This may be the way I'll go if I ever need to do this. Thanks for sharing ^

Booked an award ticket with Air Canada Aeroplan miles on EVA AIR Business Class for 2 Adults SFO to TPE to HKG:

Total Miles: 75K X 2 = 150K miles
Total Fees: $55 CAD

Used my AMEX MR points to transfer to Aeroplan. Transfer happened instantly while I was on the call with Amex agent. Then booked the award online on Aeroplan website. Surprisingly, Aeroplan is showing a lot more star alliance awards these days. Improved significantly in the past couple of years.

Good to know that the Aeroplan website works to request star alliance upgrade awards. I tried requesting to upgrade my "Y" class ticket and it keeps telling me that no inventory is available. Oddly enough, for my date, there are supposedly 9 reward J seats...which do not make sense either.

I'm trying to use my TG miles to upgrade TPE-SFO-TPE from Y/B to C. I used KVS and found that EVA seems to have C availability only about 32 days in advance(May 21st for both ways). Is it the EVA habits of releasing the *A quota not long before the departure date or the flights just happen to be coincidentally full in the later period so the quota is not available?

I'd be interested to know (for the future) as well whether BR releases *A upgrade award seats closer to departure. I had a Y seat for BR 35 April 25. Although award J seats were available, I couldn't seem to upgrade using AP points. Decided to simply pay the change fee and minimal fare difference for Elite class with a week to go.

Here is a counter datapoint. I called EVA, and asked if a particular flight has *A upgrades available. The EVA agent said he could not tell me this. That my only choice was to buy the ticket, then check with United. I called United, and the agent also said she couldn't see the inventory, so my best bet is to buy the ticket, try the upgrade, and refund the ticket if it fails.

While EVA has a nice product, their website and phone agents leaves a LOT to be desired. I think they still live in the 1990s, where tickets are sold through TAs.

*A Upgrade from BR B to Z with UA MP+ Miles
 

I had a pleasant upgrade experience similar to FT member sfo3388's yesterday.

The upgrade process from BR B fare to Premium Laurel by using UA MP+ miles from another family member's account went easily and successfully.

I was originally booked in M. When seeing free round-trip Premium Laurel award ticket was available on the same BR flights and dates from united.com award search, I thought I'd give the upgrade award a try. I had the BR reservation changed to B and ticket re-issued. Asked the family member to log on to United.com to request *A upgrade with my name, flights, dates and PNR.

The upgrade for both the outbound and inbound segments were available and cleared instantly. Confirmation was issued and miles were deducted. I went on evaair.com to select Premium Laurel seats. I wished everything could be so easy and simple everytime, all the time.

The fare class now shows Z on on my BR PNR. I found out from another post on the UA Forum that I may have a problem crediting the original B fare miles to my UA MP+ account because the fare bucket is now Z. Not everything can be so easy all the time.

EVA Air Upgrade Award
The mileage record with cabin class upgrade is based on the purchased fare class and can be credited to the Infinity MileageLands membership account only. It is not applicable to transfer mileage to other partner airlines.

Thanks. I saw the same earlier on evaair.com. That's why I went on this and the UA board to check on others' experience on the matter. It looks like only BR Infinity MileageLands can take my miles this time. :(

Like calling any airlines, I would hang up and dial again to speak to next agent. I did mention something like Z class though.

I have done "buy B-class BR ticket and upgrade with UA miles" twice this year. Once in late January. Once in March/April. So far, all miles were credited to my UA account, roughly a week after the flight. The flights were between SFO and TPE. I got 6455 miles posted to my UA account for each segment.

I saw the statement (EVA Air Upgrade Award) in January and had same concerns about having miles posted to BR account. I called BR. The answer is that if you use BR miles to upgrade, you can only credit the flights to BR account.

One warning about the upgrade is that it is hard to change dates/flights. For example, I was trying to change my flight from BR028 to BR018 on the same date. The agent in Taipei office said he had to downgrade me to economy and return the miles to UA. I would have to re-apply with UA miles to the new flight from United.com.

Just booked a one way award with M&M miles.

Routing: ZRH-CDG LX C / CDG-TPE-PVG BR C

Very happy to try out the famous Royal Laurel Seats soon.

I recently flew AMS-BKK on a ticket booked in Elite class. When I bought the ticket a few months earlier, there were only a few elite seats left for purchase. When I checked in and when by boarding pass was scanned, I simply asked if there were opportunities to upgrade but was told no. Then about 15 minutes before boarding began, my name was called and I received an op-up into Royal Laurel. Needless to say, I was thrilled and very thankful.

I think only one other person was upgraded. Not having status with EVA but being *Gold suggests there must have been few high-tier EVA elites on the flight, or at least those booked in Elite class.

That flight was among the best I've ever experienced. Excellent hard product and stellar service. I'll certainly be looking for opportunities to fly them again.

Just did this last night, and think I have some new information to share so posting my experience.

I don't have KVS or expert flyer, but found a way to search for award/upgrade (assuming if an award is available I would be able to upgrade) , and was pleasantly surprised.

I had 39K miles, so I had enough to upgrade PE to C, or Y to PE. I signed into my BR account and was able to search award seats in C/PE, and it either told me it's wait-listed or takes me to the next page (indicating availability). The flights I wanted didn't have C availability, but did have PE availability, so I booked a Y ticket (M fare) with cash and miles (BR miles expire, this was better than losing them altogether) and tried to upgrade.

I enter my confirmation number and was offered upgrade to both PE and C (both showing confirmed availability). Y to PE only cost 15K miles (vs. 25K published on the web-site) to boot! But I didn't have enough miles to upgrade to C, even if I bought a separate PE ticket. So I quickly canceled my Y ticket (within 24 hour refund period) and the webpage said it could take up to TWO MONTHS to process.... Thankfully, my miles showed up about 15 minutes later (don't know about my credit card, but not worried about that yet;))

Now with enough miles to upgrade, I bought a PE ticket (T Fare I believe), and upgraded to Royal Laurel (Z Fare) for 35K miles :D I was able to select seats immediately (4 seats left after I chose mine).

So, it seems BR is more generous on upgrade than award availability even to it's own FFs.

PS: I am BR Silver, which probably did not matter but thought I would mention.

EVA has promotion going for North American & European flights, Economy to Elite upgrade for only 15K miles till Dec 11, 2014.

My experience with EVA online 24hr cancellation refund, my US credit card was credited within 7-10 days.

Its easier getting award for BR own IML members, however less miles using UA MP for the Elite to RL upgradable fares.

Thanks, didn't know about the upgrade discount promotion, must be low season, and the reason why I am able to get an upgrade 5 weeks out from departure :)

Star Alliance upgrades cost less money but need higher fare classes. I am very glad I got to use up most of my BR miles on the upgrade though. I don't think I am going to stay a BR FF, probably going to switch to A3 and try to get *G there with my 1 TPAC a year.

Can someone confirm I can upgrade a ticket with the return in B class with UA miles ? The outbound is in Elite. TY!

I have upgraded a B fare to business class using Aeroplan miles.

Seems like they are releasing upgrade/award tickets about 1.5 months out, and only the off peak flights.
Peak flights seem to be released less than a week out, depending on availability.
Best bet, hedge your bets by getting KVS, check to see you're not flying on a holiday, and be at peace with parting with a Y or B fare with the possibility you'll be flying in Y or B (which I would say is still much better than any US flag carrier econ class).
Sucks to have to spend the last week of my vacation checking for availability, but lets face it, I'd be doing the same thing, but now at the comfort of poolside.
Happy flying.

In the past, Eva flights JKF/Tpe non-stop in royal laurel would be released on UA awards site about 7-10 days out. This time, they didn't open up till almost 72 hours prior. Mrs. checked on Friday morning and nothing. I did a quick check around 3 pm same day and only day available for following week was Tuesday...grabbed it!

Might be anomaly?

The crazy part is KVS shows tons of available seats among the few blocked, but no award seats. Anyone experience an OpUp with BR? or are they holding them all for their members?

Does anyone know if the cancellation policy (free refund if within 24 hours of booking and 1 week out) is valid for ex-Canada departures as well? I've only been able to find documentation for ex-US flights.

Thanks in advance

updating my own post...

spoke with 2 different EVA customer service agents. The first seemed confused and said "yes, i think it applies for all of 'america' ". The following day i spoke with a second agent, and he went and checked with a supervisor (presumably) before stating that the policy only applied for ex-USA flights (more than 1 week away).

Hope this can be of use to someone else

EVA Air does not release award seats in Business Class for Hello Kitty Jet flights anymore. http://evakitty.evaair.com/en/

I checked the ANA Mileage Club system. Only TPE to HKG, FUK and CDG Business Class seats are released for dates near and far away. BR857/858, BR106/105, BR87/88. And TSA to SHA, BR772 (1 way).

For TSA to HND, TPE to ICN, CTS & NRT, only seats a few days away are released. SHA to TSA is also not released, BR771 (1 way). Not even for the same month.

hi all, my family of 5 will be travelling next week from TPE to CDG. I hope its the hello kitty plane. Anyways, 3 of us will be in business class and my 2 year old daughter and I will be in economy. Do you guys think that the FAs will have a problem if my wife and parents have my 2 year old in business class with them for most of the flight, provided she isn't disruptive to other passengers?

I redeemed a round-trip itinerary in J from SHA-TSA for next summer last week.

It was a bonus as I was simply wanting a more convenient commute to and from each airport to that respective city's downtown area.

Looking forward to it! :)

Last week, purchased B class economy fare for travel LAX - TPE - MNL in January 2015.

Upgraded LAX-TPE online using UA MileagePlus miles to Royal Laurel Class.
TPE-MNL: upgrade not available.

NICE!

At the time of upgrade, did it show RL award seats available either on UA/MP or ANA/AP?

I was able to upgrade mine a couple months ago without it showing any award seats in RL...trying to see if there's a way to confirm upgrade availability without ticketing first.

Upgrades from TPE to outer Asia destinations weren't available for me either (went to DPS)...but found 20k for the 5 hour flight on older RL setup not worth it seeing that 30k got a full lie flat seat, glass on Dom (when they had it) and double digit flying hours.

Happy travels, and thanks!

Damn, I wish I had known about this trick earlier... not sure if I'm doing it right, but I'm flying back to SFO from TPE in <72 hours on BR18 (1/2). There is inventory in RL according to Eva's website, but when I put all my info into the UA redeem miles tool it says no upgrade available. According to Eva I have a B class ticket.

Could it be because I only made *G with my flight here? New status is showing in UA but when I check my flight info in Eva it still has me as Star Alliance Silver. Will calling improve my chances?

Part of reason maybe Eva recently reduced their star alliance upgrade/award RL class and inventory for its own members. You can tell from United reservation as day getting more close in , more seats are opened, especially during the 72 hours period.

Not sure if calling will help, but this has nothing to do with *G.

YYZ TPE - Buy B and Hope for Upgrade or Buy PE?
 

I'm trying to weigh the following options:

1. Buy YYZ TPE in B class on EVA - if I can't upgrade, I'm stuck in coach for a very long flight and I won't be happy - cost is 1,500

2. Buy YYZ TPE in T (PE) class on EVA, which based on recent product reviews, is basically a nice Y product, not a real PE product, and I have no chance to upgrade to J via UA miles - but the cost is 1,700

Outbound is the week after Chinese New Year while the return is early March. No award seats that I can reference to upgrade availability, but is YYZ a generally safe *A upgrade, or are certain days much easier/harder than others?

I'd buy pe. It's next to impossible to find business class now

There are tons for this coming week on Aeroplan for JFK to TPE in RL...I just checked for 2 J seats.

We were able to get 4 J seats from TPE to YYZ in June 2014 4 months before departure date but no luck so far for Aug 2015 travel TPE to YYZ. But I was able to book 4 J seats from LHR to TPE for Aug.