Intrigued by this as well. Based on my understanding of the upgrade chart, the only upgrades for 20k/$75 are within the same region

Nice. But would not want to do this in the cattle car :)

Can you stopover for >24 hours at HND or PVG?

Sorry for the delay....

My original fare was in G. I paid the 20k and $75 when it was offered (immediately after booking) for the SFO - HND leg.

I got a complimentary upgrade on the PVG - SFO leg :)

With that, UA was not happy with me trying to do the TWOV by going SFO-HND-PVG-SFO and they weren't going to let me fly. I had to add another flight showing them I was only in transit through PVG so I now have another (refunadable) flight going to ICN. For whatever reason they did not think I was allowed the TWOV since my itinerary started and ended in the US.
Anyone else have any issues - I'm currently flying on this mileage run and will see how it goes.

I did a similar SFO-PVG-HND-SFO run with less than 12 hours at each stop. Booked on united.com with no problems, then when I went to check in online, it directed me to check in at at the airport. At the check in counter, the agent said she was having trouble getting the boarding passes to print, and thought it was because my stops were all less than 12 hours. Finally, after about 15 minutes standing at the counter, she ended up canceling one of the legs, and re-issuing the ticket for that leg, and then was able to print out tickets for the whole itinerary.

The only real hiccup was in Shanghai. It seemed to me there are different lines for the different TWOV programs depending on how many hours your layover at the airport is. We arrived a few hours late (refuel stop due to wind) and it was near midnight in Shanghai- which was very quiet and there were not many agents in their booths. I saw the sign for TWOV directing me to the far left line, but there was no agent there. So I went into the normal visa lines in the center where there were four or five agents. Once through that line, I was told I had to go to TWOV line, which by then had an agent. After going there, the TWOV line agent said I needed to go back to the normal visa line. At that point, I asked the traffic director agent to tell me where I was supposed to go, and he sent me to the "special situation" counter in the dead center of the immigration counters. The confusion seemed to be (as much as I could tell without understanding all the conversations, was that as originally scheduled, I might have needed one kind of TWOV stamp, but because we arrived late, and was now leaving only a couple hours later, a different TWOV was needed at all.
After going there, I finally got processed after standing in line for an hour!

Did you pass immigration to enter China? Or just transited to your next flight?

That's interesting because nobody could print my boarding pass either! After my fiasco with the TWOV I ended up in the airport without a boarding pass (got to SFO on a separate itinerary). The help desk people weren't able to print my pass and the agent at the front desk at the lounge couldn't do it (but let me in to keep the line from growing). The agent inside the lounge was able to print the pages by logging into my UA account and printing the hard copies.


When I went through the TWOV line was closed and they sent me through the regular line. They had to call someone over to look over my information and approve the TWOV but I was only there for 10-15 minutes.

I went through immigration and went into the city for my 12 hour layover.

I caution anyone against transiting in PEK without a visa. Especially if it is a short connection. I would say 3hrs minimum. Any delays or reaccomodations require you to enter the country and use the 72hr visa free waiver. However, they will most likely only give you 24hrs since you are taking the next flight out. Miss that flight and stay past 24hrs and you will have the book thrown at you, pay a penalty and sign documents admitting guilt. I know. I experienced it personally.

Do not assume you have 72hrs. If they give you 24hrs, then that is all you have. And if you miss the flight due to weather related events such as a snow storm.....tough.