psychoidiot

Yes, I bought my Y one way fare ORD-HKG on Chase travel portal (I double triple checked the fare class). Then I used the United website/instructions here to upgrade and it was successful after the ticket number loaded on Eva for the ORD-TPE portion, TPE-HKG will be in economy. This was attempt 2 as using only the name didn't work (common name but still).

mang0

Thanks. I ended up just using EVA to buy the tickets and have upgraded one leg of my trip so far (LAX-TPE). Still waiting to upgrade my return flight for when I get my points.

Good to know that you can use the Chase portal to buy the tickets and still have them upgraded. Did you use UR points to buy the tickets originally or $?

psychoidiot

I used points but paid cash for the taxes

psychoidiot

Does the upgrade via miles allow lounge access before the flight only? I only upgraded the ORD-TPE portion and not TPE-HKG (it's only 2 hours so probably may not have time but curious how this worked since I never done one of these). I assumed only lounge access only inbound? I think ORD would only have the United lounge though.

bocastephen

Without status, you'll have lounge access at ORD but not at TPE

MadWC

Hello fellow travelers: I created an account to thank all of the previous posters for your expert advice and information. I also wanted to share my experience with a recent booking.

Back in August 2022, I booked two tickets (for my wife and one kid) from ORD to TPE for May 2023 and returning a month later. I used my United miles and booked the two business class tickets using United’s award site. The cost for each ticket was 168,000 miles + $38.58. I would have booked four tickets but only two seats were available for booking with miles.

On 1/1/2023, I booked two B class tickets (highest economy fare option) on evaair.com for myself and my other kid; for the same May and June flights that my wife and other kid are already on. I called Eva Taipei’s reservation line to see if there were Z class seats available, but they were closed, so I just decided to take a chance and booked two B class tickets and hoped where were upgrade seats available. I figured I had a good chance since the flights had either two or three business class seats booked.

Immediately after booking the two seats on evaair.com, I tried to request upgrades to business class on United’s Star Alliance Upgrade site, but I got the “The traveler has the same name as an existing traveler on this flight” error that other people have gotten in the past. After spending over an hour trying different things, I finally got it to work. What worked for me was: entering in all of the required info plus my ticket number. The key was that I made sure there was no space in the ticket number (Eva’s confirmation email had the ticket number with a space after the first three numbers). Also key was that my son has a hyphenated last name, but since United’s site doesn’t allow hyphens, I entered a space between his two last names. I think that it may have also helped that almost two hours had passed from when I booked the tickets on evaair.com; which may have allowed enough time for both the Eva and United systems to see my ticket. It was 30,000 miles for each flight per person, so I used 120,000 miles for the roundtrip upgrade for my son and me. The miles were immediately deducted from my United account, and I was able to select my business class seats on evaaircom.

psychoidiot

The swiss lounge let me in at ORD but it was pretty bad. Wish I could have used the taipei lounge but I only have 1.5 hours anyway so the 15k point upgrade wouldn't have been worth it.

FYI for those that didn't know (like I did) you get free basic wifi (30mg) for the USA-TPE portion but you need to apply for your voucher ahead of time for Eva airlines. The lady next to me said she paid 8k for her seat so thanks for all of you in this forum for showing me the way! (although it's probably because my destination is HKG)

psychoidiot

Btw, I don't remember if I mentioned this, but the Taiwan line didn't work for me but the Hong Kong line one did (I was calling at 2am in the morning though) and they spoke English.
Also as a caveat for those using Chase points to book the cash portion, the rep (not sure how good they are) confirmed there would be a cancellation fee to "refund"/deposit the points but not for changing the flight. I didn't want to lose the successful upgrade so I didn't do it but I considered it as an option. I assumed I would have to start over though in my upgrade process.

claimui

You get free wifi if you originally booked an eligible fare class. In your case the Y/B tickets you originally bought qualified for wifi.

MadWC

claimui: Thank you for confirming that we would get 30MB of Wi-Fi if we originally booked Y/B fares and later upgraded to business class with points. I was curious about this, and was just going to apply for a voucher code prior to the flight, so it's good to know that I should get it.

MadWC

I used the ORD SAS lounge five years ago when I went to TPE on Asiana (via ICN). The lounge was bad then, and I've heard it hasn't improved much since I last went. I'd love to go to the Polaris lounge in the C terminal, but I'm not sure it's worth it since the Polaris lounge closes at 9 PM and the flight departs at 12:30 AM. Also, I've read on another FT thread that people who upgraded to business class using points cannot check in online; BR requires these passengers go to the ticket counter to get your boarding pass. Since the counters open four hours prior to the flight, that wouldn't give me much time to get a boarding pass and then go to the Polaris lounge; especially since I'd have to change terminals.
I may call the Chicago office 48 hours before my flight to see if there's anyway they can check me in and email me a boarding pass. Or, I may decide to just go to the airport 2 hours prior to the flight.

sfo3388

I know the Z class seats are very few. Recently, 2-3 days before departure, EVA may release I class seats (award ticket). I was wondering if Z class seats are also released at the same time?

Anybody was able to apply Star Alliance Upgrade near departure date?

dsantos08

Does anyone know how many upgradeable seats EVA releases per flight on average?

Is there a chance that there would be 4 seats available for SAUA? Or is that pretty much impossible?

EVA air customer service line has been impossible to get through, so I haven't been able to check availability. But I've been holding off on booking travel in case this was a possibility.

bocastephen

It's entirely possible - but you need to call EVA to ask if there are enough "Z" class seats on a specific flight. Never tell them you are doing a SAUA they will refuse to continue the discussion.

nichojo

EDIT: Removed because bad info.