Sep 21, 16, 8:13 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
How to upgrade a partner flight using UA MileagePlus miles:
See UA's Star Alliance Upgrade Awards Page
Key points:
See this thread for the no-longer-available award chart (disappeared from united.com as of October 2018): https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...d-website.html
Error codes
For UA operated flights see Using Miles to Upgrade on United
See UA's Star Alliance Upgrade Awards Page
Key points:
- Only a few fare classes (and expensive) are eligible -- depends on the carrier (see the UA page)
- Needs to be native flight numbers, codeshares are not eligible
- Generally no waitlisting but ANA allows waitlisting
- Most can be requested after ticketing (NH/ANA & ET cannot be requested earlier than 8 weeks to departure -- still true??) and must be done at least 24 hours prior to departure
- Max of 4 passengers can be upgraded
- Generally the available of award space is a good indicator of upgrade space (but not guaranteed) - typically requires (I) inventory
- Upgrade request can only be made electronically
- Upgrade requests are per segment
- It may increase your chance of success to request only one segment at a time on the upgrade page, even though it allows you to enter two (YMMV).
- For mileage requirements, see Interactive travel destinations awards chart
See this thread for the no-longer-available award chart (disappeared from united.com as of October 2018): https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...d-website.html
Error codes
- "We were unable to complete your request due to a technical problem. In the U.S. and Canada call 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) within the U.S. or Canada, elsewhere use the local phone number. (Error code: 110).
- "We were unable to complete your request due to a technical problem. In the U.S. and Canada call 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) within the U.S. or Canada, elsewhere use the local phone number. (Error code: 118)"
- "The traveler has the same name as an existing traveler on this flight. Please contact the operating airline for the required information and try again. (Error code: 384)"
- "Upgrade not available (Error code: 511)."
- "The number of travelers indicated does not match the number of passengers in the reservation. Please correct your information and try again. (Error code: 528)"
- "insufficient MileagePlus Balance (Error code: 2001)"
For UA operated flights see Using Miles to Upgrade on United
How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers
Jun 6, 18, 12:25 am
#751
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1K 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Ti, LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 55,187
Need some advice, wasn't sure if I should put it here or not.
Looking for upgrade capabilities on Star Alliance flights, with a large stockpile of points on both Singapore and United. One person is Singapore Gold, and the other is United Premier Platinum, both looking to requalify on their airlines this year. Looking to buy premium economy or full fare economy from LAX to France early next month (can fly from New York or land somewhere else in Europe for cost/upgrade availability).
Is it best to book a singapore flight and upgrade iwth singapore points on both flights, and have one credited to united? Or book both on a United codeshare and upgrade with united points on both? Is there any routes I should look into for better chance of upgrade?
Looking for upgrade capabilities on Star Alliance flights, with a large stockpile of points on both Singapore and United. One person is Singapore Gold, and the other is United Premier Platinum, both looking to requalify on their airlines this year. Looking to buy premium economy or full fare economy from LAX to France early next month (can fly from New York or land somewhere else in Europe for cost/upgrade availability).
Is it best to book a singapore flight and upgrade iwth singapore points on both flights, and have one credited to united? Or book both on a United codeshare and upgrade with united points on both? Is there any routes I should look into for better chance of upgrade?
Save your SQ miles for award flights on SQ (in business or first class).
Last edited by Kacee; Jun 6, 18 at 1:21 am
Jun 13, 18, 10:20 pm
#752
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,062
Which flight? I wouldn't necessarily count on getting a sane error message from the *A upgrade tool regardless of the reason. I see business award space on the 6:10 PM departure but not the 1:05 PM. The mileage upgrade awards clear into I inventory, the same as a business class award.
Thanks.
Is the 'I' inventory still the valid bucket to clear upgrade awards? Is there more to this than 'I' availability? I see award space available on the flight (could this be a phantom availability?) but the upgrade tool returns: 'Upgrade not available (Error code: 511)'
Thanks.
Thanks.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jun 14, 18 at 12:28 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Jun 13, 18, 10:39 pm
#753
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,257
Is the 'I' inventory still the valid bucket to clear upgrade awards? Is there more to this than 'I' availability? I see award space available on the flight (could this be a phantom availability?) but the upgrade tool returns: 'Upgrade not available (Error code: 511)'
Thanks.
Thanks.
Jun 13, 18, 10:56 pm
#755
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1K 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Ti, LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 55,187
Jun 16, 18, 6:30 pm
#756
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,062
SFO-MUC
The upgrade finally went through successfully and I now have a certificate number confirming my upgrade. The itinerary in LH website reflects business class (I) upgrade but the United itinerary still shows Economy (G), hopefully the system will catch up and update to show the upgrade.
One weird thing I noticed on the Lufthansa site was an annotation stating that I need to check-in at the Economy counter (really doesn't matter in my case as my origin is AUS and I'm already in First class for the AUS-SFO leg) and that I don't get lounge access.
Do I gain access to the SFO Polaris lounge with this upgrade or will I have to settle for the United Club lounge?
Thank you!
One weird thing I noticed on the Lufthansa site was an annotation stating that I need to check-in at the Economy counter (really doesn't matter in my case as my origin is AUS and I'm already in First class for the AUS-SFO leg) and that I don't get lounge access.
Do I gain access to the SFO Polaris lounge with this upgrade or will I have to settle for the United Club lounge?
Thank you!
Jun 16, 18, 6:33 pm
#757
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,257
I would fully expect access to the Polaris lounge at SFO as a passenger on an outbound LH J flight, regardless of how I got into J. I don't see anything in the rules to say otherwise.
Jun 16, 18, 11:30 pm
#758
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1K 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Ti, LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 55,187
I would ignore all that. It's now a business class ticket. LH IT is not the best.
Jun 17, 18, 2:00 am
#759
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 13,872
The upgrade finally went through successfully and I now have a certificate number confirming my upgrade. The itinerary in LH website reflects business class (I) upgrade but the United itinerary still shows Economy (G), hopefully the system will catch up and update to show the upgrade.
An SFO departing LH J boarding pass will grant Polaris Lounge access. Enjoy!
Jun 19, 18, 9:44 am
#760
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 6
One of the great things about int’l MileagePlus awards is that you have plenty of flexibility to stitch together itineraries based on one-way awards. The only real benefits to round-trip tickets are the Excursionist perk and reduced fees if you cancel or change your itinerary, but while they’re nice, flexibility is more useful.
Jun 19, 18, 10:01 am
#761
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott/SPG/Hilton Gold, PreCheck + Clear
Posts: 2,306
Ah I doubt we will be using them for round trip tickets anyway. We make regular trips to Europe but part of that is domestic until we take the SAS flight for the international leg. We really just want to use the points for upgrades to international business class if possible. That's where I think it really pays off.
The best use of miles in any cabin is for saver awards.
Jun 19, 18, 10:21 am
#762
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 6
In that case I’m not sure I follow. If you’re flying SK for the TATL leg, how would you expect to use UA miles to upgrade? Alas that’s not possible — and FYI, even on UA metal it’s rarely worthwhile to use miles to upgrade existing paid economy tickets, not least because of the extortionate copayments UA demands.
We normally take a UA metal from our local city to Chicago or Newark or something like that and then we catch a SAS flight to Europe. We use SAS because we often fly into Copenhagen. We then do the same thing back. Typically we simply buy all the tickets at one time through the SAS website because we also have Eurobonus points we accumulated. Last trip we had enough to upgrade to business class for the international portion of the flight home. I thought that was pretty awesome we started looking into mileage cards. Unfortunately we don't live in Europe so we couldn't get a SAS card so we did the next best thing and got the United (since they said you could apply points with other Star Alliance).
Jun 19, 18, 10:37 am
#763
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,257
I'm pretty new to using these programs so please forgive me if I'm unfamiliar with all the terms and stuff like that. I did some research when I signed up for the UA program and their credit card. It clearly said that you could use UA points with their Star Alliance members. SAS is a member of the Star Alliance. What I assumed this meant was that I could buy an economy plus type ticket with SAS and then ask if there was an available seat upgrade I could apply my United points towards. Am I misunderstanding how those points could be used?
How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...de-awards.html
However, only the most expensive tickets can be upgraded; so-called full-fare premium economy* tickets. I don't know where you're starting from, but to give you an example -- from DEN to CPH, for random dates in July, the base fare (not including fuel surcharge, taxes, etc) for the cheapest upgradeable SAS fare is $2790 per person, round-trip. While that's still cheaper than the $4070 business class fare, it's not that much cheaper. (By comparison, the cheapest base fare on that route for those days is $990 in economy or $2090 in premium economy -- so you're paying a stiff penalty for the chance to upgrade).
International business class awards can be a great value, though -- while they take more miles, you only have to pay the taxes and fees -- usually around $100 or so for a TATL flight. I would focus on that rather than trying to use upgrades.
Note that you're allowed to combine Star Alliance partners in one trip. So, you can start from your city, fly United to EWR, and transfer to an SAS flight to CPH, all on one ticket.
* fare classes B, S, and Y. While Y and B are usually full-fare economy, SAS has decided that if you're paying full-fare economy prices, you deserve to sit in Premium Economy instead, so they've written those as premium economy fares.
Jun 19, 18, 11:05 am
#764
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 6
However, only the most expensive tickets can be upgraded; so-called full-fare premium economy* tickets. I don't know where you're starting from, but to give you an example -- from DEN to CPH, for random dates in July, the base fare (not including fuel surcharge, taxes, etc) for the cheapest upgradeable SAS fare is $2790 per person, round-trip. While that's still cheaper than the $4070 business class fare, it's not that much cheaper. (By comparison, the cheapest base fare on that route for those days is $990 in economy or $2090 in premium economy -- so you're paying a stiff penalty for the chance to upgrade).
Jun 19, 18, 11:22 am
#765
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,257
Note that not all Premium Economy fares are eligible. SAS appears to have five Premium Economy fare classes -- Y S B P A, in order from most to least expensive. Only Y, S, and B are eligible; P and A are not. So, if you see a great fare sale on SAS PE, there's a good chance you wouldn't be able to upgrade it.Also, you cannot waitlist Star Alliance upgrades. They're either accepted or they're not (and you can try again later). Recent experience suggests that, at a minimum, the flight you want to take will need business class award space that partners (e.g., UA) can see, and even that might not be enough. So, if you decide to go this route, you should understand that there's a chance you'll end up sitting in PE.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jun 19, 18 at 12:56 pm Reason: split thread
