elizadoo

I'm talking about this page, Upgrade Awards http://pss.united.com/web/en-US/apps...ardTravel.aspx
Going from North America mainland to southern Africa.

Am I reading it right by seeing that if I am in Z or S and I pay $600- and 35K miles, I am upgraded?

If so, what am I being upgraded to? It doesn't say in the chart. And it doesn't say if this is for all partners or just UA.

I'm trying to do a longhaul from the US to S Africa, maybe onwards to India. I want to take Qatar Airlines. I'd be willing to pay an extra $600- plus miles to go from back of the bus to J on such longhaul flights.

But this chart is very uninformative. Am I missing something? .

Boulder

The upgrade is to go from your current class of service to the next. So, if you are on a Z (discount Business) fare, you would end up in First. I on S (discount Economy), you would end up in Business.

The chart is for MileagePlus upgrade awards, which are only valid on United-operated flights. To upgrade on Star Alliance partners, you need to be on a full-fare ticket. As to an upgrade on Qatar, I'm not sure you can use United Miles for that.

jsloan

You're right; this page is missing a lot of the important information. You'll want to start here, where the different upgrades are explained. Unfortunately, as Boulder said, Qatar Airlines flights do not appear to be eligible for upgrades using Mileage Plus miles, so, unless you're flexible on your choice of airline, MP miles aren't going to help you here.

What you need, and what they've effectively hidden on the website, is the Non-Interactive Chart (PDF). The United/Copa upgrade awards start on page 4, and the *A upgrade awards start on page 6. As you can see, *A upgrades require Y or B fares in coach (to upgrade to business) or J, C, or D fares in business (to upgrade to first). UA flights can be upgraded from any fare class, but require a co-pay.

The co-pay applies in each direction, so if you want to upgrade an S fare round-trip to business, you're looking at $1200 plus the miles. Note that it is not permissible to upgrade from coach to first on three-class aircraft.

Finally, as you can tell from other threads in the forum, finding upgrade availability, mileage-based or otherwise, can be tricky, so when you ask "Am I reading it right by seeing that if I am in Z or S and I pay $600- and 35K miles, I am upgraded," the answer is that you may apply for an upgrade, but that there's no guarantee you'll receive one.

Hope this helps!

bsmnsr

Clearly the chart is missing something. In general an upgrade is for +1 class of service.

trooper

If two class upgrades are not possible.. then why would they need to specify Y>J or J>F?

That's all that IS possible...right?

elizadoo

Thanks, all.

What is it with these website designers for US airlines? Why can't they design user-friendly, comprehensive, and accurate award charts? It can't be that difficult--other (non US) airlines can do it. (sigh)

And yes, the non-interactive chart is far more informative.