ORDSteve

Got my upgrade on the 25th to clear finally, also in Z class. I'll follow up after the flight with regards to if the miles post to United.

ORDSteve

Took over a week, but all miles posted to my United account. Very happy with the experience as EVA Royal Laurel Class was a great way to cross the Pacific.

artieb78

Hi there,

I'm trying to do the same thing as outlined in this thread: book an EVA flight in B class and upgrade with UA miles. I found one that works for me that has availability. A few questions:

1) How did you guys book the ticket in B (or Y or K) class on EVA? Did you call EVA?
2) Does it matter what UA status you have (premier silver, gold, 1K) for whether the upgrade clears or not, or it is simply based on whether there is "I" availability for that flight?
3) How long did it take for the upgrade to clear after making the request through United, for example via this link: https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...rdUpgrade.aspx

Thanks in advance!

jerryhung

I'll share my *A upgrade experience with Aeroplan though

1. This one I think you can book via EVAAir.com or ask travel agent

2. I think if you can see J class availability (I?) then you can upgrade into it

3. for me it was instant, the moment my 25K Aeroplan got deducted, my EVA PNR shows Z class already

artieb78

Thanks, jerryhung, for the quick reply.

1. I can't seem to find anything on evaair.com to select class codes? Have they updated site? I'm trying to book a 1-way ticket on EVA - not sure whether that makes any difference.

2. I think "J" is for revenue business class and there needs to be "I" availability (award business class) to allow this upgrade to work. For example, I found some flights that have J availability (which means i could go out any pay for a business class seat), but when I search for award availability (via UA or ANA or Aeroplan, for example), that particular flight that had J availability was not available for award business ticket. Other flights that had "I" were OK.

3. Thanks, that's good news.

sbm12

Correct.

artieb78

Thanks, sbm12!

Anyone have tips on how to book EVA in a certain fare class online? I suppose this would apply to any airline that does not have that specific capability on their website (like UA for UA flights only).

artieb78

Just a quick update for those interested...

I was able to book the EVA "b" class ticket. The particular flights I chose were showing business class award availability on ANA and on UA.com. However, when i went to put in the for *A upgrade, i was denied for no availability. The award business seats are still available on ANA and UA.

I called UA to see if they can help put it through, but no luck. Same result. I told them that I saw award ticket availability for these flights so that should allow for *A upgrade awards, and the agent told me (for what it's worth) that she is seeing the award ticket business class availability, but *A upgrade award availability is different that award ticket business availability. I'm not sure if that's correct, but i'm having problems getting the upgrade to go in this case.

Maybe it just takes a while for the upgrade to become available -- it just went live on ANA and UA as available for business class award ticket just before I booked the B-class fare.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

sbm12

Call back and speak with another agent. Ask them specifically what bucket they are looking at for the partner upgrade. If it is anything other than "I" ask them to please verify with a supervisor that they are looking for the proper inventory to process a Star Alliance Upgrade. It is a different product than a UA-metal upgrade and the agent might be confused.

artieb78

Called back and got the same run around from UA.

I'm betting this is a UA related issue.

I am confident that there is availability, but UA just doesnt know how to get to it. Anyone with enough *A miles on an airline that is not UA willing to check to see if they are able to find *A upgrade award on their site (if I give them my flight info... obviously not asking you to book it, just to see if it comes up as available). Then i could tell UA that FOR SURE there is *A award availability and that they need to find it for me. That would be a huge favor of a fellow *A-er... please PM if you are able to help!

sbm12

And what fare bucket did they say they were looking to book it in when you asked?

artieb78

The said it was a "blind" inquiry, so they don't know the fare bucket. They literally go on the online *A upgrade award tool and request it through the UA website, just as if I did it myself - no difference whatsoever from me requesting it. Not helpful.

artieb78

I suppose it is possible that award ticket availability is not exactly tied to upgrade award availability on EVA. Can anyone confirm this to be true/untrue?

artieb78

Actually, I am on the phone with EVA and they confirmed that there is 1 award available for the flight I want. This coincided exactly with what I am seeing on ANA. United sucks. I'm trying to get EVA to do it directly, which would be excellent.

sbm12

Untrue, as I stated above. They both come from the I bucket.