I sincerely hope that there was a specific redemption that drove this purchase end that you got good value out of it.

I suspect the reason that nobody knows the answer to your question is that, even with the 100% bonus, purchasing MileagePlus miles in bulk quantity is something that few people on the board will do. They depreciate in value extremely quickly, and even half-price it can still be difficult to find a redemption that provides substantial value over what you spent to acquire the miles.

We haven't flown United since the pandemic...so no status, all we have is 330k pooled miles. I think we'll be retiring from international travel so we'd like to do one last trip to Europe (Frankfurt) in Polaris burning up the last of our miles in the process. We are planning on leaving about May 1.
My plan is to purchase the remaining miles .I know, not a good value but, correct me if I'm wrong, it would make the whole PNR refundable. I realize the purchased miles are non refundable but having a refundable ticket is important to us.
I thought about going PE on the return trip and trying to upgrade to Polaris since it looks like a fairly empty flight but I'm not really interested in sweating out a waitlist since I've been burned before.
Am I missing any kind of missed opportunity here? Thanks.

Award tickets are refundable in the sense miles go back to the account and taxes are refunded back to original payment source.

Award tickets are generally not upgradedable, unless you have Global Services PlusPoints. You can also move up via upsell (paid upgrade).

Seatmaps are not always accurate, as they do not account for ticketed passengers having not yet selected their seats. Also, future ticketed passengers are likely to jump ahead of you the queue, especially when ticketed in economy and without any status.

Yes, mileage tickets are refundable, although, as you pointed out, the purchase of the mileage is not. You can't upgrade a mileage ticket, and refundable PE is going to cost a pretty penny anyway. Depending upon where you're starting from, and how flexible you are on dates, you might be able to find 2 TATL J tickets without needing to purchase a gigantic number of miles. If you're not already in a UA hub, consider purchasing a refundable ticket to a hub airport, and then check the award prices from there. On Monday, 4/29, I see two flights on EWR-FRA for 80K miles each on UA or 88K on LH. On the way back, you could fly 5/14 for 80K each to IAD or ORD.

Is there some reason flights from Melbourne to San Francisco command 250 k miles on Wednesdays while other days of the week are 200K? I though Wednesday was a good day to get a better deal? Feb 2025

You may think about the cash option vs miles. Those miles have a value. Looking for R fares for a return from NZ at around $1100 each way is a great deal and 8-10 months out provides success in my experience. From there, apply the 30 PP to get on the waitlist. From the last 10x doing this, it has worked for me 8x (US to EU). Note that for US to AU, a B economy fare is also about $1100 during peak times; this will help in improving your waitlist position using PP. Everyone has a different pain point for miles vs cash.

Wednesday as a better day is a generalized statement and not a guarantee. When you get to a specific flight in a specific week then other factors -- demand for instance or some event or .... (at either O or D) will drive.

I'm looking at some UA awards with one leg on EI and the second on UA, connecting in ORD. I haven't decided yet where I want to end up (BNA, LIT, STL, MSP, etc). But an inconsistency raised a curiosity. For an award, UA won't populate with a 1h5m connection in ORD, but for a revenue ticket, it will. I'm assuming the reason it works at all is bc of preclearance in DUB. Would calling UA make it possible to book an award with that 1h5m connection? (I realize there are so many reasons not to do a 1h, but I am curious.)

There is no difference in the MCT for a cash vs award flight.
D-D MCT for ORD is 50 minutes

Is there award availability on the desired connecting flight?? Availability for cash flights and award flights can be very different

Try mutlicity to see if there are any system constraints. Also look beyond the first page of award options.

Awards flight selection is a bit of a black box but UA will tend to list the less expensive awards and all JN/YN may be deep in the list. X/XN awards will be listed first.while cash tickets will list shorter connects and lower price generally first

Good tips. When I do multi search FCO-DUB-ORD and then an ORD onwards it errors out after the first set.

Oh yes
Short notice trans pacific Polaris between AUS and USA is expensive, unless there is a sale on.
Booking short notice - close to departure - Polaris (and being flexible with round trip travel dates) using reduced number of miles, purchased at a reduce price can save up to 50% on the prevailing cash price! And yes, I've done the sums.

Here is an example when searching on UA: DUB-ORD-SLC on June 27. Connection time at ORD is 1h5m if choosing the later DUB-ORD flight (16:40) on EI. Business award available for both legs separately on EI+UA for June 27 but not as a whole ticket or multi city (errors). Rev tix are available (although only in economy). But what I�m trying to figure out is why the connection time is an issue for award but not rev. There are other examples where the exact flights and class are available as rev but not award.

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...MlFZPRICCAAiAA

Other days have the DUB-ORD-SLC if taking earlier DUB flight.

It is probably not the connect time. The award is simply not available. You don't need inventory for each flight separately, you need both segments available as a married segment. This is a common problem, unfortunately

Right. But shouldn�t I be able to book as multi city if they are available separately?

No, it will always try and re-validate this as a married segment. Nothing stops you from booking these as 2 separate tickets, but that has risks of course.
Have you tried calling? If you find a good agent ... could try a longsell with U-class on EI and XN class on the UA flight and see what happens