Sep 21, 2016, 7:13 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

How to upgrade a partner flight using UA MileagePlus miles:

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

As a general rule, with exceptions, SAUA need I space (for the partner) to have a chance of clearing.

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)"

Mileage required? Capturing here the last known information, as information is disappearing, no guarantees how long this will be true

For UA operated flights see Using Miles to Upgrade on United

Archive; How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers {Archive}

How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers

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Apr 13, 2024, 10:10 am

#361

bocastephen

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: LAX/TPE

Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC

Posts: 42,198

I tried to upgrade a new BR ticket booked in B class - I did not receive the invalid booking class error, but I did receive the 'upgrade not available' error. Unfortunately the NH tool will not allow you to check availability or process an upgrade for anyone except the NH account holder, but I'm not going to transfer miles into my NH account and orphan them just to test.

Apr 13, 2024, 10:21 am

#362

mang0

Join Date: Dec 2022

Posts: 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by bocastephen

Hmm that's interesting. Does that show in the rules/documentation somewhere? Because when applying for the upgrade, it does ask for name and which AMC account you want the points to come from.

I could test it later today, but I'd have to buy a test ticket

Apr 13, 2024, 12:14 pm

#363

bocastephen

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: LAX/TPE

Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC

Posts: 42,198

Quote:

Originally Posted by mang0

I am not sure about the NH rules aside from not being able to use NH miles for anyone except the account owner and their immediate listed family. That could be the issue - the name on the AMC account is different from the account owner (I used a colleague's account) and the passenger is not one of the listed family members.

So it makes error checking the United SAUA tool difficult given AC no longer permits *A upgrades - not sure which other airlines have a working SAUA tool.

Apr 13, 2024, 12:25 pm

#364

mang0

Join Date: Dec 2022

Posts: 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by bocastephen

Ah, I see. Just for the ability to check!

I'll probably check United's in another month or so.

Apr 14, 2024, 2:17 am

#365

TrotylTN

Join Date: Feb 2018

Location: SEA / YVR / HKG / PVG

Posts: 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by bocastephen

In my recent experience and cross check with other *A upgrade tools (NH, AV), I can stably repro that when there’s some SAUA visible availability on transpacific flight (Asia regional flight is fine), SAUA will report error code 2 “paid class ineligible to upgrade” and keep you on the same webpage (with some malformed JS functionality). That would temporarily hold the seat for 15 minutes as well.

When there is no SAUA visible seat, the website will report error code 511 “upgrade not available” and throw you to an empty error reporting page.

Leaving e-ticket number empty which would result in “duplicate name” error has been well-known so no elaboration.

I submitted the technical details to UA customer service but not sure if they can escalate it to the correct place given how they neglected the system...

SPN Lifer likes this.

Apr 14, 2024, 3:54 pm

#366

bocastephen

A FlyerTalk Posting Legend

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: LAX/TPE

Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC

Posts: 42,198

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrotylTN

If you or anyone else has an open ticket with these errors please DM me a screenshot of the error including the full URL of the site, your ticketed airline, your PNR and name. I have a direct channel to support now and this is what they need to troubleshoot.

SPN Lifer, Xyzzy, TrotylTN and 1 others like this.

Apr 15, 2024, 9:01 am

#367

CNJMichael

Join Date: Sep 2005

Programs: SQ Silver; HH Diamond; UA Premier Plat

Posts: 123

Hi all,
I have used Star Alliance upgrade awards in the past on United, but when I navigate to MileagePlus Flight Upgrades | United Airlines, I can't find the link anywhere. I keep going around in circles, trying to find it. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for your help.