Kacee

I tend to think it is. OP's experience supports it, given that I shows but the (i) the upgrade didn't confirm, and (ii) BR told him there was no upgrade availability.

Note that CM also uses Z as an unpublished upgrade fare class.

KVS

As noted in the BR section of the KVS Tool User Guide, *A Upgrades on BR flights require I Class Availability (shown as CS in the KVS Tool) and are then [re-]ticketed in Z Class.

Kacee

Perhaps you should update that to reflect that (as reported multiple times) available award (I) inventory is not sufficient for the *A upgrade to clear.

naumank

I definitely second Kacee. The KVS Tool statement regarding BR upgrades is no longer accurate. (It appeared to be the case prior to 2018.) In my case, there is plenty of I Class availability but they haven't opened up upgrade space (Z class). I spoke with two agents in Taiwan on the phone last night, and it sounded that they would rather have people redeem miles for the tickets than upgrade economy tickets.

So essentially KVS Tool (same with EF) can no longer tell us if there is upgrade space available on any particular BR flight.

bocastephen

This is not new - while I never used the KVS and cannot speak to its usefulness, I will say that Z space has been a prerequisite for a long time since I started upgrading personal and family BR flights a few years ago - it was never I class. The shortcut is calling EVA and asking them about Infinity program upgrades *not* Star Alliance upgrades - they will insist, incorrectly, that Star Alliance upgrades require a different class which is not available, but in the end, both types of upgrades require Z class so you should focus the question to the phone agent on whether Z class seats exist or not - most of the decent agents will disclose this, and from there, just use the UA tool to process the upgrade if Z inventory exists. I've worked with BR sales management in the US and Taiwan on this issue extensively after a foreign travel agent booked a ticket for a family member and that agent decided to cancel the upgraded segments after we used the UA tool - after harshly scolding that travel agency, it was over a week of back and forth with BR trying to get more Z space opened so we could redo the segment upgrades that were reinstated in coach. It was a mess, but most certainly reinforced that only Z class matters in the end.

KVS

We have asked our contacts at BR to clarify if there have been any changes with regard to their *A Upgrade Booking Class and will update the KVS Tool User Guide if necessary.

lushwave

I bought, on UA ticket stock, a ticket for some LH Premium Economy flights (fare class E). Before booking, I called LH directly to make sure there was mileage upgrade space so I could then use 30k miles each way for the upgrade. They confirmed that the upgrade space was available to be confirmed immediately both ways. The legs are JFK-FRA and FRA-MIA on the return.

I bought the ticket, and UA told me that they don't see any upgrade space. I tried using the online tool and get an error message. So I called LH again, and they reiterated that they still see the upgrade space. After calling UA web support again, I asked them to get a LH agent on the phone. The LH person said that there is no upgrade space available now, despite what the earlier agent told me. She said that while she sees I class available (which is needed to upgrade), it doesn't mean UA should be able to see it. Though earlier in the day, I specifically asked the LH agent if this upgrade space was only for LH's own members or if partner airlines should be able to see it too.

Anyway, my question is - does this seem odd? And also, does LH tend to release more upgrade inventory as it gets closer to the flight? I asked the agent and she gave me the generic "wait and see, who knows" response, but I was curious what other people's experiences have been with this.

Thanks in advance!

WineCountryUA

This is consistent with the situation of using UA GPUs on LH. The available upgrade space available to UA is less than I - business award space (I space seems necessary but not sufficient).

The wiki of
Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic (How to use, will it clear?, issues w/flight credit,... provides more detail.

wco81

Has anyone successfully upgraded NZ flights, saver awards (80k each way? doesn't seem like much of a savings over outright saver awards) in recent years?

Even if you can get it, you pay probably at least $2000 for the NZ ticket and then dole out 160k?

Infinite1K

So if you get the 511 error and you can't waitlist, does that mean just come back and try again?

Kacee

Every day.

th14

Sharing a success story.

Have a friend that's flying J from SFO to Tokyo next month for work. I recommended JAL or ANA. Chose ANA b/c it was better schedule for her. She had some flexibility on dates so I was doing some searches on EF to try to find her one of the better window seats. Noticed there was one First (O) available for the return.

Checked ANA's site and the seat was showing available for award booking.
Checked United and the seat was NOT showing available for award booking.

So split decision on it being available award booking. No idea what that meant for upgrades.

After work issued her ticket, I tried out the United Star Alliance upgrade request online tool for the first time ever. Entered her name, ticket number, flight info and based on this thread, apparently got extremely lucky. Seat available and confirmed!

Just sharing to let everyone know it is possible. I had to book my award space nearly a year out last year so I do realize its hard to come by. Mainly letting people know EF and ANA information proved to be good. Or maybe I just got very lucky b/c space was not showing available on UA.

th14

Some additional data. EF was showing 5 seats available for the date I was able to confirm on the return. In looking at EF, between now and departure next month, there are multiple days with 5 or more seats (7 out of 8 in several cases) available yet nothing available for Award. Including same day of the week.

This includes close in departures for next week.

It's possible they're only clearing off their own waitlist. But there appears to be no logic whatsoever to how they are releasing space (or rather, not releasing space). Compare this to JAL who pretty reliably releases excess space t-14 and then again t-7.

StatusChallenged

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?

jsloan

Singapore doesn't offer any flights from the US west coast to France, so I'm a little confused as to what you have in mind. Regardless, it is not possible to upgrade longhaul SQ flights with United miles. They exclude the 380, 77W, and 350 from the *A upgrade program, which makes up all of their longhaul aircraft.

If you were asking about upgrading a UA-operated flight with SQ miles, you'd need a Y or a B fare and availability that KrisFlyer can see. I would guess that this would be Business Saver award inventory, which is quite challenging to find. Depending upon flight dates, this may actually be more expensive than a discount business class ticket.

Their best bet may be to purchase Lufthansa PE in G or E class (not N class, which is discount PE and is not upgradeable). In theory, that can be upgraded with either United or KrisFlyer miles, although given the current dearth of Lufthansa award availability on United.com, I don't have very high hopes.

Note that there are no waitlists for *A upgrade awards; the partner either accepts the request or rejects it, and you would have to try again later.

Finally, note that codeshare flights cannot be upgraded under the *A upgrade program. If they're flying on a Lufthansa flight, it must have an LH flight number or the upgrade will not work.