Sam_AE

I have a flight booked on United in Y class. I know they have a complimentary upgrade program for MP members, but do they provide immediate upgrades to star alliance gold members too? Do I need to call United to get on the waitlist or are the complimentary upgrades done 24 hours prior to departure anyway.

I tried to search this thread to see if this issue was covered but I could not find any related posts.

United757

Sorry, comp upgrades are only for UA MP Premier members.

choster

Automatic upgrades are virtually nonexistent as a concept outside of U.S. domestic flights, and no U.S. airline gives complimentary upgrades to elite members of alliance partners' programs.

Sam_AE

Thanks for the replies. Oh well, worth asking.

PersonalFlotationDevice

Actually, choster, KLM Elites can get upgraded on domestic US Delta flights. I don't know the tier requirements but this is possible.

zrs70

It may be worth looking at other options. If you are on a full Y fare, the discount A fare may be less, and that books right into F. Do you need flexibility? If not, it is worth looking at.

There are other fares in lower booking classing that often book right into F. Those fares end in "UP."

What is your routing/ date?

GYEWorldTraveler

As has been pointed out it does exist in other alliances. KLM/AF elites get upgrades on DL flights that are complimentary upgrade eligible as do AS elites and I believe AM (either currently or in the future) elites as well.

choster

I stand corrected on KLM/AF, and of course back in the day, DL/NW/CO did as well, but upgrades on AS are not based on alliance-wide benefits, and it remains true that automatic upgrades are a rarity in the world, especially when not a "native" to the carrier.

flykodo

Would certainly be nice if you could get the upgrade, but you only get *A Gold benefits like priority checkin, boarding, etc

Time traveller

You should be able to use miles to upgrade if you really want an upgrade for a specific segment if you are booked in Y.

Sam_AE

I was on United.com and tried to see if I could "buy up" to first class on my Y class ticket. It wouldn't let me. BUT, if I just click to change my itinerary it allows me to change the YYZ-SJD portion to First Class for an additional cost of $204. That seems like a good deal.

Any thoughts? My routing is YYZ-IAH layover 1 hour 40 min then IAH-SJD.

The YYZ-IAH is a crappy CRA 700 with no amenities... but the IAH-SJD seems like a nicer plane. Both flights are approximately 3 hours.

Seems like a good deal to me... I'm typically an Air Canada user -- on AC I'd jump at this option... but i'm not sure if UA's first class is worth it?

trekwars2000

FWIW, I would much much rather be in F on a RJ700 than Y. If you would jump at the option on AC I'd say do it on UA.

emcampbe

Sorry if I'm going OT a bit, but if you want "crappy" on this route, try doing it on a ERJ-145, which is what CO ran pretty much exclusively on this route pre-merger.

Sam_AE

I decided to just pay the $204 and upgrade to J. Now, totally off topic (and I've searched but haven't found an answer to this question) -- can I request a special meal for the IAH-SJD leg?

I did place my order with the agent when I upgraded and she said there was a meal -- just not sure why it says on united.com that there are no "special meals" on that flight.

ralfp

Last Dec. I got an upgrade to F on US from a low fare Y cabin ticket. This happened at the gate (IIRC correctly the gate reader flagged my BP and the GA immediately printed out a new BP).

This was a full flight with few US elites. The UG may have been an op-up (Y was full). They had previously requested volunteers for a bump, at which point I started walking to the gate. On the way the GA announced the offer (F next day + $200 voucher), at which point I immediately turned around. The GA was amused.

I concur with choster; my point is that OAL *G may have some benefit, albeit rarely, in regards to free upgrades.