Buy Eva Air Ticket, upgrade with Mileage plus
Aug 27, 2016, 4:23 pm
#78
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Oct 30, 2016, 1:01 am
#79
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
My experience with upgrading BR using SAUA
Hey everyone. I wanted to write a post to share my experience with doing SAUA on my BR flights, including some anomalies I've found. To start, I think this feature is awesome when it actually works - I get to fly Royal Laurel to visit my family in Taiwan for about 1/2 the price (depending on how you calculate the cost of 30k miles) of a business class ticket 
1st experience: was this past August. I read through this thread and armed with the info of searching for I class awards on United's website (and expertflyer), I found that there was availability for both my outbound and return legs (LAX-TPE). I then purchased a Y class round trip economy fare directly on EVA's website for the same dates. I immediately then went to United's website to try to do the SAUA. To my surprise, it only allowed me to upgrade my outbound leg! For the return leg, it told me that there was no availability, but that I could be put on the waiting list. This was the first anomaly I found since for sure the return leg showed I class availability on both United's website and on Expertflyer. Because of this though I ended up cancelling the EVA ticket within 24 hours and got my money back. I then spent the next couple of weeks doing exhaustive searches of business class availability on EVA's and United's websites to try to figure out how their systems worked together. During that time, something funky happened where all of the EVA business class award seats suddenly disappeared from United's website except for flights that were within 2 weeks of travel. I could still find economy awards that were 1 month, 2 months, further out, etc. just not business class awards. Since I had a hard date for when I had to travel to Taiwan, I ended up just using points to book a one way business class award on EVA within the 2 week window. I was going to be in Taiwan for 4 weeks total so I figured that I would chance it and try to get another business class award 2 weeks before I needed to return to the US.
After about a week in Taiwan, I was anxious to try to figure out my flight home so randomly one day I searched United's website for I class awards thinking that I wouldn't be able to find anything further than 2 weeks out. To my surprise, the I class magically reappeared on United's website again! At this point instead of using just my points again, I decided to give the SAUA another go. I purchased a one way Y fare on EVA's website and immediately went to United's website to do the SAUA. It worked perfectly this time and I flew home in RL.
2nd experience: 3 weeks ago, I started to research tickets again for LAX-TPE. The outbound would be in Nov, but the return was for mid-Dec. United's website had I class availability for the outbound, but none for any of the days on or around my mid-Dec return date. I thought maybe it was the whole 2 week restriction thing again so I decided I would risk it and purchased a B class economy ticket from a Chinese travel agency in LA. My outbound flight upgraded with no problem as expected, but here's where I encountered my 2nd anomaly with this process. When I searched on United's website and expertflyer for the specific flight and date of my return leg, nothing showed up at all. Meaning the flight didn't even show up in the results list (no standard/saver economy or business seats at all). However I thought it wouldn't hurt to put myself on the waiting list for the upgrade so I went through the SAUA process anyways on United's website. To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
1st experience: was this past August. I read through this thread and armed with the info of searching for I class awards on United's website (and expertflyer), I found that there was availability for both my outbound and return legs (LAX-TPE). I then purchased a Y class round trip economy fare directly on EVA's website for the same dates. I immediately then went to United's website to try to do the SAUA. To my surprise, it only allowed me to upgrade my outbound leg! For the return leg, it told me that there was no availability, but that I could be put on the waiting list. This was the first anomaly I found since for sure the return leg showed I class availability on both United's website and on Expertflyer. Because of this though I ended up cancelling the EVA ticket within 24 hours and got my money back. I then spent the next couple of weeks doing exhaustive searches of business class availability on EVA's and United's websites to try to figure out how their systems worked together. During that time, something funky happened where all of the EVA business class award seats suddenly disappeared from United's website except for flights that were within 2 weeks of travel. I could still find economy awards that were 1 month, 2 months, further out, etc. just not business class awards. Since I had a hard date for when I had to travel to Taiwan, I ended up just using points to book a one way business class award on EVA within the 2 week window. I was going to be in Taiwan for 4 weeks total so I figured that I would chance it and try to get another business class award 2 weeks before I needed to return to the US.
After about a week in Taiwan, I was anxious to try to figure out my flight home so randomly one day I searched United's website for I class awards thinking that I wouldn't be able to find anything further than 2 weeks out. To my surprise, the I class magically reappeared on United's website again! At this point instead of using just my points again, I decided to give the SAUA another go. I purchased a one way Y fare on EVA's website and immediately went to United's website to do the SAUA. It worked perfectly this time and I flew home in RL.
2nd experience: 3 weeks ago, I started to research tickets again for LAX-TPE. The outbound would be in Nov, but the return was for mid-Dec. United's website had I class availability for the outbound, but none for any of the days on or around my mid-Dec return date. I thought maybe it was the whole 2 week restriction thing again so I decided I would risk it and purchased a B class economy ticket from a Chinese travel agency in LA. My outbound flight upgraded with no problem as expected, but here's where I encountered my 2nd anomaly with this process. When I searched on United's website and expertflyer for the specific flight and date of my return leg, nothing showed up at all. Meaning the flight didn't even show up in the results list (no standard/saver economy or business seats at all). However I thought it wouldn't hurt to put myself on the waiting list for the upgrade so I went through the SAUA process anyways on United's website. To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
Oct 30, 2016, 3:04 pm
#80
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
....
To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
DAK
Oct 31, 2016, 1:49 am
#82
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 13
dkerr - you are right. the ticket now says "Booking Class: Royal Laurel Class/Z". I haven't searched for Z class before on Expertflyer. I'll give that a shot next time!
klavkonz - its hit or miss. One time I called and the price was the same as Eva's website. Another time I think it was actually $100-200 cheaper through the Chinese travel agent.
klavkonz - its hit or miss. One time I called and the price was the same as Eva's website. Another time I think it was actually $100-200 cheaper through the Chinese travel agent.
Nov 3, 2016, 1:08 pm
#83
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: MileagePlus Premier Platinum; Marriott Rewards Gold; SPG Gold
Posts: 55
Hey everyone. I wanted to write a post to share my experience with doing SAUA on my BR flights, including some anomalies I've found. To start, I think this feature is awesome when it actually works - I get to fly Royal Laurel to visit my family in Taiwan for about 1/2 the price (depending on how you calculate the cost of 30k miles) of a business class ticket
1st experience: was this past August. I read through this thread and armed with the info of searching for I class awards on United's website (and expertflyer), I found that there was availability for both my outbound and return legs (LAX-TPE). I then purchased a Y class round trip economy fare directly on EVA's website for the same dates. I immediately then went to United's website to try to do the SAUA. To my surprise, it only allowed me to upgrade my outbound leg! For the return leg, it told me that there was no availability, but that I could be put on the waiting list. This was the first anomaly I found since for sure the return leg showed I class availability on both United's website and on Expertflyer. Because of this though I ended up cancelling the EVA ticket within 24 hours and got my money back. I then spent the next couple of weeks doing exhaustive searches of business class availability on EVA's and United's websites to try to figure out how their systems worked together. During that time, something funky happened where all of the EVA business class award seats suddenly disappeared from United's website except for flights that were within 2 weeks of travel. I could still find economy awards that were 1 month, 2 months, further out, etc. just not business class awards. Since I had a hard date for when I had to travel to Taiwan, I ended up just using points to book a one way business class award on EVA within the 2 week window. I was going to be in Taiwan for 4 weeks total so I figured that I would chance it and try to get another business class award 2 weeks before I needed to return to the US.
After about a week in Taiwan, I was anxious to try to figure out my flight home so randomly one day I searched United's website for I class awards thinking that I wouldn't be able to find anything further than 2 weeks out. To my surprise, the I class magically reappeared on United's website again! At this point instead of using just my points again, I decided to give the SAUA another go. I purchased a one way Y fare on EVA's website and immediately went to United's website to do the SAUA. It worked perfectly this time and I flew home in RL.
2nd experience: 3 weeks ago, I started to research tickets again for LAX-TPE. The outbound would be in Nov, but the return was for mid-Dec. United's website had I class availability for the outbound, but none for any of the days on or around my mid-Dec return date. I thought maybe it was the whole 2 week restriction thing again so I decided I would risk it and purchased a B class economy ticket from a Chinese travel agency in LA. My outbound flight upgraded with no problem as expected, but here's where I encountered my 2nd anomaly with this process. When I searched on United's website and expertflyer for the specific flight and date of my return leg, nothing showed up at all. Meaning the flight didn't even show up in the results list (no standard/saver economy or business seats at all). However I thought it wouldn't hurt to put myself on the waiting list for the upgrade so I went through the SAUA process anyways on United's website. To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
1st experience: was this past August. I read through this thread and armed with the info of searching for I class awards on United's website (and expertflyer), I found that there was availability for both my outbound and return legs (LAX-TPE). I then purchased a Y class round trip economy fare directly on EVA's website for the same dates. I immediately then went to United's website to try to do the SAUA. To my surprise, it only allowed me to upgrade my outbound leg! For the return leg, it told me that there was no availability, but that I could be put on the waiting list. This was the first anomaly I found since for sure the return leg showed I class availability on both United's website and on Expertflyer. Because of this though I ended up cancelling the EVA ticket within 24 hours and got my money back. I then spent the next couple of weeks doing exhaustive searches of business class availability on EVA's and United's websites to try to figure out how their systems worked together. During that time, something funky happened where all of the EVA business class award seats suddenly disappeared from United's website except for flights that were within 2 weeks of travel. I could still find economy awards that were 1 month, 2 months, further out, etc. just not business class awards. Since I had a hard date for when I had to travel to Taiwan, I ended up just using points to book a one way business class award on EVA within the 2 week window. I was going to be in Taiwan for 4 weeks total so I figured that I would chance it and try to get another business class award 2 weeks before I needed to return to the US.
After about a week in Taiwan, I was anxious to try to figure out my flight home so randomly one day I searched United's website for I class awards thinking that I wouldn't be able to find anything further than 2 weeks out. To my surprise, the I class magically reappeared on United's website again! At this point instead of using just my points again, I decided to give the SAUA another go. I purchased a one way Y fare on EVA's website and immediately went to United's website to do the SAUA. It worked perfectly this time and I flew home in RL.
2nd experience: 3 weeks ago, I started to research tickets again for LAX-TPE. The outbound would be in Nov, but the return was for mid-Dec. United's website had I class availability for the outbound, but none for any of the days on or around my mid-Dec return date. I thought maybe it was the whole 2 week restriction thing again so I decided I would risk it and purchased a B class economy ticket from a Chinese travel agency in LA. My outbound flight upgraded with no problem as expected, but here's where I encountered my 2nd anomaly with this process. When I searched on United's website and expertflyer for the specific flight and date of my return leg, nothing showed up at all. Meaning the flight didn't even show up in the results list (no standard/saver economy or business seats at all). However I thought it wouldn't hurt to put myself on the waiting list for the upgrade so I went through the SAUA process anyways on United's website. To my surprise...it upgraded me successfully! I now have a confirmed flight back in RL in mid-Dec, even though United's website still shows no award seats available during those dates.
Anyhow sorry for the long and boring post, but thought I'd share in case others can benefit from my experience. Cheers!
Nov 3, 2016, 1:12 pm
#84
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: MileagePlus Premier Platinum; Marriott Rewards Gold; SPG Gold
Posts: 55
Hey guys,
This may seem like a stupid question but I've searched around and can't seem to find anyone with a similar experience.
I have a B ticket from SIN - TPE - SFO - LAS (with just SFO - LAS on United and the rest on EVA). Now United rules state that S.Asia - USA *A upgrades cost 30,000 miles, but when I try to upgrade it only lets me do it segment by segment, meaning I'd have to spend 45,000 miles to upgrade myself from SIN all the way to SFO.
Is there any way to get around that and spend just 30,000 miles upgrading myself since it's technically a S.Asia - USA itinerary and is reflected on United as such?
I distinctly remember a colleague paying just 30,000 miles to upgrade himself on a similar itinerary (SIN - SFO) on ANA via NRT. Just wondering... Hmmm
This may seem like a stupid question but I've searched around and can't seem to find anyone with a similar experience.
I have a B ticket from SIN - TPE - SFO - LAS (with just SFO - LAS on United and the rest on EVA). Now United rules state that S.Asia - USA *A upgrades cost 30,000 miles, but when I try to upgrade it only lets me do it segment by segment, meaning I'd have to spend 45,000 miles to upgrade myself from SIN all the way to SFO.
Is there any way to get around that and spend just 30,000 miles upgrading myself since it's technically a S.Asia - USA itinerary and is reflected on United as such?
I distinctly remember a colleague paying just 30,000 miles to upgrade himself on a similar itinerary (SIN - SFO) on ANA via NRT. Just wondering... Hmmm
Nov 3, 2016, 8:44 pm
#85
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Hey guys,
This may seem like a stupid question but I've searched around and can't seem to find anyone with a similar experience.
I have a B ticket from SIN - TPE - SFO - LAS (with just SFO - LAS on United and the rest on EVA). Now United rules state that S.Asia - USA *A upgrades cost 30,000 miles, but when I try to upgrade it only lets me do it segment by segment, meaning I'd have to spend 45,000 miles to upgrade myself from SIN all the way to SFO.
Is there any way to get around that and spend just 30,000 miles upgrading myself since it's technically a S.Asia - USA itinerary and is reflected on United as such?
I distinctly remember a colleague paying just 30,000 miles to upgrade himself on a similar itinerary (SIN - SFO) on ANA via NRT. Just wondering... Hmmm
This may seem like a stupid question but I've searched around and can't seem to find anyone with a similar experience.
I have a B ticket from SIN - TPE - SFO - LAS (with just SFO - LAS on United and the rest on EVA). Now United rules state that S.Asia - USA *A upgrades cost 30,000 miles, but when I try to upgrade it only lets me do it segment by segment, meaning I'd have to spend 45,000 miles to upgrade myself from SIN all the way to SFO.
Is there any way to get around that and spend just 30,000 miles upgrading myself since it's technically a S.Asia - USA itinerary and is reflected on United as such?
I distinctly remember a colleague paying just 30,000 miles to upgrade himself on a similar itinerary (SIN - SFO) on ANA via NRT. Just wondering... Hmmm
On the other hand now that SQ have started SIN-SFO non-stop then that flight becomes upgradeable at 30,000 miles. Though I'm quite sure that SQ 'B' fares are a lot more expensive than BR 'B' fares.
DAK
Nov 4, 2016, 1:51 am
#86
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: MileagePlus Premier Platinum; Marriott Rewards Gold; SPG Gold
Posts: 55
SAUA are by segment, not by itinerary. So yes you require two awards to upgrade SIN - TPE - SFO as there are two segments in that itinerary. 45,000 miles is correct. This is one of the disadvantages of SAUA.
On the other hand now that SQ have started SIN-SFO non-stop then that flight becomes upgradeable at 30,000 miles. Though I'm quite sure that SQ 'B' fares are a lot more expensive than BR 'B' fares.
DAK
On the other hand now that SQ have started SIN-SFO non-stop then that flight becomes upgradeable at 30,000 miles. Though I'm quite sure that SQ 'B' fares are a lot more expensive than BR 'B' fares.
DAK
Also, now that SIN - SFO has PE class, upgrading straight from B seems a loong shot at best. Would like to know if anyone has managed to pull that off!
Nov 4, 2016, 7:29 am
#87
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Oh definitely. The fares are one thing, but I doubt United miles can be used to upgrade on SQ metal, particularly the 777s and the A380s. I remember quite severe limitations set in place.
Also, now that SIN - SFO has PE class, upgrading straight from B seems a loong shot at best. Would like to know if anyone has managed to pull that off!
Also, now that SIN - SFO has PE class, upgrading straight from B seems a loong shot at best. Would like to know if anyone has managed to pull that off!
Both BR and SQ have a premium economy product. On BR the B class fares definitely upgrade into Z class (business) skipping the premium economy cabin. I do not know about SQ -- that is a fairly new product for them. However the SAUA rules do seem to have changed... they used to say "upgrade to business class" now they say "one cabin upgrade" but do not specifically address premium economy other than to explicitly permit upgrading from PE booking codes (e.g 'K' on BR and 'S' on SQ -- warning, these are the more expensive PE fare classes, so you cannot upgrade from discount PE fares)
https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con....aspx#Carriers
DAK
Dec 30, 2016, 2:11 pm
#88
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EWR
Programs: UA .5M, Vistana 1-Star owner
Posts: 992
BR RL redemption from UA only T-14d?
Does BR only open RL availability for either straight booking or upgrade at T-14d[ays]?
I either buy 2 seats JFK-TPE-JFK in RL (H,Q) class on BR (695) stock then use UA pts to upgrade or cash for 3 seats CI's PremEcon (W,U,E) for 1 year-old infant & wife coming along.
I either buy 2 seats JFK-TPE-JFK in RL (H,Q) class on BR (695) stock then use UA pts to upgrade or cash for 3 seats CI's PremEcon (W,U,E) for 1 year-old infant & wife coming along.