Sorry if this question has been asked before, but can't find the information online. How many United miles do I need to upgrade a transpacific EVA flight from USA to TPE?

UA seems to have removed all the mileage redemption charts (even pdfs) from its websites, but can still use the interactive chart: https://www.united.com/web/en-us/app...ardTravel.aspx

Short answer: 30,000 miles.

That chart is not applicable to a *A upgrade. Though you do get major bonus points for the correct answer with 30,000 miles :)

The now unpublished *A upgrade chart can be found via the Wayback Machine: UA pdf Award Chart

As mentioned, 30k miles per segment. Also check https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...de-awards.html for restrictions.

Star Alliance Upgrade Awards are available for one-cabin upgrades and are valid for one nonstop flight.
Star Alliance Upgrade Awards are valid on participating carriers only, and only on flights marketed and operated by the same airline.

• Upgradeable booking classes include Business class C and D and Economy class Y and B, as well as the additional fare classes listed below:
  • EVA Airways – K class

Hi Everyone,
My flight is within 48 hours and that opens up EVA's online check in.
I am getting this error online: "You cannot check in if you have an upgrade reservation and have not completed deduction of your mileage."

Has anyone gotten this before and what does it mean? I upgraded with UA and I have the mileage receipt for the deduction. Also have another family member flying on a different PNR also upgraded with UA with his MP account and was able to sucessfully check in.

I will call them when they are back open in the AM but if anyone knows, would be much appreciated!

Whoops, better lucky than good.

Here's a direct link to a Wayback Machine archived copy of the page from June 2018: https://web.archive.org/web/20180628...ward-Chart.pdf

ahhh was finally able to secure a SAUA upgrade at T+4. Plenty of "i" available all around, and BR finally loaded up "z" inventory (called almost half a dozen times over last few days). And since I was able to change dates without getting a change fee, saua attempts on "i" seems to be a no-go.

Edit: RL cabin was 2/3 full.

Married Segment Issue on EVA Class B Upgrades
 

Hi All....I used to be able to be able to do class B upgrades on YYZ-TPE-MFM-TPE-YYZ using Aeroplan miles. But the last time I did it, I wasn't able to because of "Married Segment" issues. When I called in, EVA said that my connection in Taipei was less than 24 hours so upgrading isn't allowed, not even on individual segments. They even said that even if I have a YYZ-TPE-YYZ itinerary and purchased another EVA ticket to somewhere else in less than 24 hours from my arrival time in TPE, it would void the SAUA upgrade. This seems ridiculous. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue??

Why did you call EVA when you are using AC miles?

I have not personally encounter such issues. I have upgrade the Tpac segment first then intra Asia later

I purchased a lax-tpe-bkk for saua three years ago and during that time the married segment rule prevented upgrade. Not sure when was the last time you guys had a successful upgrade for multi segment itineraries but ever since then I never really bothered with multi segment saua's

Newbie here,

I just booked 2 class B tickets on BR, SFO-TPE round trip, departure 10/25/19. I tried to upgrade using SAUA through UA but got an 'unavailable' reply. After reading more here I checked expertflyer and confirmed no I seats available. What's the likelihood that an upgrade will become available? I had originally planned to fly Premium Economy but then saw that I had enough miles to upgrade to business from a class B ticket. If it's unlikely that the upgrade becomes available I can cancel the B tickets and re-book PE (I could also upgrade from PE but the cost of a K class ticket is significantly higher) If it's ultimately likely that an upgrade will become available, what's the best way to make it happen; attempt to book every week between now and October then more frequently as the departure date approaches?

Thanks for any advice

Consensus on FT is actually that SAUA availability is most likely linked to 'Z' class availability, not 'I' class. 'Z' class is not available on EF; you must call in to EVA to inquire. I have no experience with Z space opening up. If your travel dates are flexible, I would definitely seek to rebook to dates where you can confirm the upgrade now. There's little point IMO to paying a premium for B class and not confirming the upgrade immediately. Hopefully you are still within the refund window.

1st time using SAUA on any airline.

Decided to make a last minute trip SFO-TPE for my grandmother's 90th birthday, as our work schedules have miraculously cleared up for the next few weeks. We also realized that we have enough Chase UR points to upgrade all 3 of us to Business. There are still B fare tickets available but unfortunately when calling EVA they said there is no upgrade available for any of my targeted flights, and some of the flights even have a waitlist. But the agent was unable to see how many people are on the waitlist.

I then did my research and looked up the open seats on these flights on EF, and they are running anywhere from 49% (20 open seats) to 72% (11 open seats) occupied. In comparison, the EVA agent was able to confirm 3 upgrades on a flight that has RL occupancy of 18% (32 open seats), but it's on the morning of my grandmother's birthday party - the only flight that I can't take! All the flights also showed I=0 on EF, but it seems like that doesn't really matter.

So my questions are:
1) How do I get on the waitlist? I've read the wiki on using SAUA on EVA, but it's not clear to me that if an upgrade is not available, would the option to be on the waitlist be shown instead?
2) We're looking at T-17/18 (for departure) and T-24/25 (for return), what is the chance that we will clear the waitlist based on the above stats?

Thanks for the collective wisdom on FT!

Wait list is only for IML member upgrade. That is, using BR miles only.

From what you state, the odd of getting a SAUA on those flights is not great.

Thanks for the info and not get my hopes up. :p

Was going to use the chance for upgrade as determining factor for whether to purchase B or V fare, but after look reviewing EVA's new IML program, it may still be worth it to purchase B fare for the seat selection and full mileage earning.

I read somewhere that people often check upgrade availability at T-72/48/24 hours, does that also apply to only IML members? And how would one check upgrade availability?

Never done it but here is my take. I would book two separate reservations, 2 on one, 1 person on the other, to maximize upgrade chances. This way you can upgrade 1 person, or 2 people, or 3 people, depending on how much upgrade space becomes available. I would look to book on a day with multiple flights on the one with the lowest amount of Business seats booked. If you have miles in United you can fill out their online SAUA request and see if it goes through (and keep attempting this periodically). You can call EVA to ask how many seats are available for upgrade. Do not mention *A upgrade, either say IML upgrade or ask for how many Z Class seats are available.

EVA typically has released some award space at 10 days out and 7 days out, and sometimes even closer in than that. So, so long as there are plenty of seats left unsold in the cabin the chances are good that some will be released at some point within 10 days of departure. If you have a flex fare and you find space on a different flight the same day you can change your flight to get the upgrade. Some cities have two flights departing at almost the same time. You may end up finding 2 upgrades on one and 1 upgrade on another within a hour of each other.

Thanks for the suggestions. I went ahead and booked the flight with the most open business seats available, but didn't go as far as splitting the reservation. We have a kid so preferred to stay together even if it is in economy. :p

I'll call EVA on the suggested T-X day interval. I'm happy to report back if and when the upgrade goes through and on what fare code inventory, to contribute to the data points on this thread.

If you have enough United miles in your account (30k per person per segment you want to upgrade) you can try putting the request through the United SAUA request page as frequently as you want. That way you do not have to call so often. It won't tell you if space opens on a different flight but you can attempt the upgrade on the flight you are on without calling. If you call and find upgrade space on a different flight you can change your flight and then upgrade.

I would also keep checking award space on the flights with a united.com search. While award space is not the same as *A upgrade space (many times there is more upgrade than award space) if you see award space that is good indicator that upgrade space may be available.

Another suggestion would be to track for flights a few days before yours what time of day they release award space (united.com award search) at T-10 and T-7 because that may also be an indicator of what time of day they release upgrade space. I believe it is in the late evening / night PDT.

End of a Spring Break week for some colleges in the US?

Don't have enough miles in my account right now, but I'll probably transfer enough miles for the departure flight then if the upgrade clears, transfer another batch for the return trip. Called EVA last night it's still all waitlist for my flights. :(

I did get some data on the one flight on which the upgrade is available. As for last night (3/27):

• BR 8 departing on 4/18 has 27 RL seats available (31% occupied)
• EVA agents confirmed there are 8 upgrade seats available
• EF showed upgrade award I is not available
• EF showed D9 in fare availability

I'm probably fueling the Z vs. I debate, but I want to put more data points out there and everyone can reach their own conclusion.

Well great, now we have more data. Upgrade available, no "I" available. There are many factors involved. It's time to stop beating the dead horse and collect more data.

Maybe I misunderstood your original post. I thought your outbound was SFO-TPE but the flights you mention BR8/18/28 are TPE-SFO flights, are you originating in TPE and you are looking for upgrades on BR18/28 on 4/17 which are not available but BR8 on 4/18 upgrades are available?

My outbound flight is on 4/11 SFO-TPE, 3 flights that day and all of them have a wait list for upgrade. Return flight is on 4/18 TPE-SFO. BR 8 has upgrade availability, but unfortunately that is the only flight I cannot take as it is on the morning of my grandmother's birthday lunch. The two evening flights also have a wait list for upgrade.

I was hoping that by providing the data on what IS available, and perhaps as more seats are sold and the upgrade availability dwindles, we can deduce when upgrade availability disappears. I am a researcher so my professional tendency is to plot the upgrade availability against 1) days to departure, 2) number of open seats available, and 3) Z or I availability (but this is not entirely visible to us) and see if there is an intersection of these factors where upgrade would or would not be available, even if it's anecdotal evidence. Okay enough nerd talk from me.

I'm on BR27 SFO-TPE on 4/11. What a coincidence if you're on the same flight. I was able to upgrade from Economy B to RL a few months ago when I booked my flight.

Does booking early (i.e.: T-330days or whenever tickets first open) increase the odds of SAUA accepting?

Probably. EVA has something like a 359 day booking window. If your *A miles allow you to upgrade then your odds will be pretty high. Increase your odds by calling EVA before booking to confirm upgrade space.

It is not possible to disprove consensus.

Upgraded my BR35/BR36 (YYZ-TPE-YYZ) flights from P to I for September at the end of last month despite there not showing any Aeroplan/United MP award availability. For $1400 to/from NRT it was the best deal out there. Considering Y+ was around the same price.

Just to confirm: Your search for full award redemption showed no availability, but you were able to upgrade via SAUA?

Could you clarify what you mean by the "whole" upgrade went through? Did you upgrade both segments for 60k (30k * 2), both for 30k, or one for 30k miles?

Sorry for the misunderstanding. By "whole" I mean the entire upgrade process (searching availability on United, making a request, getting the UA upgrade receipt, confirming on BR that I am booked in Royal Laurel/Z and assigning me a seat, etc), not both segments. I mentioned this because some poster suggests there may be a married segment issue preventing the upgrade from happening, while I didn't encounter that problem. I feel that TPE-HKG is too short for C to worth it and by having a B class ticket I can assign myself a seat in PY anyways.

Got it. Thanks for clarifying! Good to know sometimes things do go smoothly. Enjoy the upgrade!

My SAUA just went through for our 4/11 flight. All 3 of us too! :D

Congratulations! EVA does typically release a few seats near departure depending on loads but I am not sure I would have the guts to cut it as close as you. Are you still waiting on the return upgrades?