Need help on COPA upgrades for United M+
 

I intend to fly SCL-PTY and PTY-LAX in January 2015 on economy class M on COPA. Does this provide instant upgrades to 1K members?

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont.../upgrades.aspx

I believe it books into Z which can be hard to find. But if that's available it should process when you call.

Any idea how the CPU upgrades work on COPA?

I was unable to use my RPUs in advance (no Z space), yet I received an offer in e-mail to bid for upgrades, and don't appear on the upgrade list.

Yet my boarding passes for tomorrow state PREM1K.

(The COPA phone agents are pretty much useless and just tell me "it should work". I guess I have to ask at the airport?)

Yes the CM phone agents are generally worthless for upgrade issues. If you're not on the upgrade list, something is wrong. They usually process CPU's around T-24. They will also clear them at the gate. I'd get there as early as possible.

They supposedly don't sell upgrades unless all premiers have already cleared.

It seems like the contributors to this thread are quite knowledgeable, so here goes my Copa upgrade question.....

I have a flight booked with Iberia (MAD-HAV) in late April and early May. The first portion (MAD-PTY) is with IB and the PTY-HAV portion is with Copa.

I submitted an upgrade bid with Copa and won't know about it until late April if it is successful. However ...

Any idea what the Business booking class would be with Copa if my PTY-HAV (and return) upgrade bid is successful? I sent an inquiry to Copa, but their website states it takes 15 days for a reply...

If suitable for transfer, I would have the upgrade miles" transferred to my Miles and Bonus A3 account (if they are worth miles) - otherwise I might as well stay in economy and get around 2K of "miles" for a possibility.

I would expect to earn based on the coach fare you originally paid for, even if the upgrade clears. And that would apply via bidding or via miles or instrument-based upgrades.

No such thing.

http://www.copaair.com/sites/cc/en/a...-upgrades.aspx

You will earn miles (presumably in your Aegean account) based on the original booking class with Copa.

My limited experience with Copa is that they do not open up the upgrade inventory as the flight approaches, which is different from United with whom they share the FF program. So I think the only chance that this paid upgrade works is if the upgrade inventory (Z) is open in advance and stays that way until T-23 when any eligible Mileage Plus upgrades have been cleared.

When I flew Copa with an "instant upgrade" class ticket they did not upgrade me until the gate, and the flight went out with several empty seats.

Thanks! It seems that an upgrade for more "miles" is useless. OTOH, the enhanced comfort is another dimension .... :)