Hi everyone,

I have 4 leftover RPUs from the 2014 MP year that have an 1/31/15 expiration date. I also have a set of newly deposited RPUs for the 2015 MP year that expire 1/31/16.

My friend asked me to upgrade his flight in March, and I applied an RPU which was deducted from the good, longer lasting RPUs rather than the about-to-expire pool. Is this a mistake, or is it because the flight is beyond 1/31?

I guess I thought the RPU expiration meant that the RPU had to be applied before the expiration date, not necessarily that the travel should also occur before the expiration. (It seems strange that before the new RPUs were deposited I wouldn't be able to upgrade any travel beyond Jan 31).

As always I appreciate the comments. Thanks!

travel before expiration date. Always been this way. Plenty of threads on RPU/GPU usage here on this forum.

Unfortunately the agent is correct, since UA operates other LAX-EWRs flights between your two flights (and it is therefor possible to hav ea connection <=4 hours) you have booked two one-ways. Whether this ended up being fared as open jaw, stopover, or just a basic multi-city is irrelevant... you will need two instruments.

Were you planning on leaving the airport? If you haven't booked yet and you're going to burn a separate instrument on the domestic segment I would look for R-space LAX-JFK... at least then you get a lie-flat for your RPU/miles.

That is not correct. The availability of earlier flights does not magically convert a connection to a stopover.

OP, hang up and call again.

But wouldn't the connection never be bookable as such? If OP ended up paying for two separate fares (which I see as the only option considering UALs rules and timetable) then the question is whether they continue to be treated as such from an instrument perspective.

At this point it's an argument of whether those two fares should be treated as a connection or not (since it isn't uncommon to book multiple fares if they can be cheaper than the actual point-point fare). IMO that argument is more easily won (and in my experience recognized by the system as needing one upgrade) when the connection would be legal in the first place. In OPs case if the connection wouldn't have been legal than I would expect an uphill battle trying to use a single upgrade.

I have no idea what you're talking about. UA routinely offers multiple connection choices, ranging from less than 1 hour to more than 12 hours, all on a single fare. Choosing the longer connection does not turn the ticket into two separate one-ways. It only becomes a stopover at 24 hours.

As far as the ticket, on an international itin, anything under 24 hours is a connection (and not a stopover). HOWEVER, any connection (international itin) over 12 hours* breaks a GPU -- so the agent was correct that a 12.5 hour connection would require separate upgrade instruments. (Note believe mileage upgrades are not bound by the same limitation.)

* Note -- some have reported online exceeding the 12 hour limitation at times (see up thread).

I have a EUG-SFO-HNL-GUM-HKG and returning on HKG-GUM-HNL-DEN-EUG trip coming up next week. Originally I used 2 RPUs and it cleared on all eligible flights, both going there and coming back. Yesterday I logged into my account and it said to call UA because my ticket needed to be reissued. I called the 1K line and CSR said it was because the upgrades cleared and the computer would just re-issue the tickets automatically. Today when I logged on, sure enough the tickets were re-issued but my account was also credited 2 RPUs and 2 GPUs were taken out. Now it appears my itinerary is upgraded by using 2 GPUs. Is this a computer glitch? Do I call the 1k line or MileagePlus help desk to get this issue solved? To me it seems awkward and unfortunately my segments from HNL-GUM-HNL are not GPU upgradeable.

Which buckets indicate that a GPU is likely to be approved? Is it ON and R, assuming that W+ fares are available?

For non-GS, business upgrades are from R. For GF, it is ON.

if the first flight of a reservation is 1/29, can i have a 1/31 expiry date RPU be applied to the return leg of that reservation, even though the return commences on 2/2?

no -- the RPU needs to be used with a flight prior to expiration. In the past and think still true -- connection flights that are valid to use with the first flight for a RPU can be after expiration. But a 2/2 flight can not likely use the same RPU as a 31 Jan flight.

Should be easy to test if you have a book reservation.

thanks - @united had the same answer. bummer.

I can understand that a flight may be R1, and then when I book a flight, it goes to R0 before my ticket is issued. However, I just booked a flight that was R9, and it all disappeared during the ticketing process. Now I'm on the waiting list. This just seems flat-out wrong. Could this be a glitch in the system?

I will admit up front I'm too lazy to read/re-read this entire thread. Here's my question:

I had two friends today on a flight with a significant delay. As other passengers were re-routed, F and R space were opened up as the cabin emptied. I attempted to call and upgrade them with expiring RPUs *after* the originally scheduled departure time for the flight.

By the time I called, I could no longer see if there was R space availability as we were past the scheduled departure time. The agent says at that point there was none (but there had been an hour or two earlier). The agent claimed to apply the upgrade, but they *never* appeared on the waitlist. They finally asked at the gate and the agent reluctantly "added" them to the waitlist for the flight where they showed up completely at the bottom of the list (hard to believe as they would be instrument-supported, inherited 1Ks on cheap fares--surely someone else on that flight was hoping for a CPU). They *never* appeared on the mobile app or website waitlist that I could see remotely.

Is this expected behavior or should I complain?