Apr 8, 2015, 3:27 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
One of the more confusing aspects of cash upgrades is "does this upgrade get premium cabin mileage bonus and is the fee included in PQD?"
The best assumption is no bonus and fee is not included in PQD but there are some cases where there will be a premium cabin bonus and amount will count toward PQD.
There are multiple cash upgrade paths and different ones are offered at different times (and can be quite hard to separate).
The key is what is the new fare basis after the upgrade. Note R, RN, P, PN, ZN, ON, A and others have been reported.
The following are generally not eligible for PQD or bonus:
However the offer, in "My Reservations" via the cash method tab "Buy Up to First" under "View {Upgrade} Options" is likely to be eligible for PQDs & PQM bonus.
**** Due to UA changes in May 2018, this statement may not be relieable ****
**** This now appears to be an Upgrade Fee (no PQDs) and may book into Upgrade fare class (no extra PQMs) or into a mileage earning bonus fare class (PQMs earning). Unclear if that is a way to tell which will happen ****
Generally these will be reflected on the receipt as
Notice the words "generally" and "likely" -- those are weasel words to protect the wiki author because of the lack of transparency in this system 
For instance, some time of checkin paid upgrades that book into P, will earn PQM bonus but not earn PQDs.
Checking the actual fare basis during booking when you are given access (or using the Saudi site) is key in understanding the outcome.
UA Insider commented on this a while back, but there has been no improvement in the confusion / clarity in the meantime.
The best assumption is no bonus and fee is not included in PQD but there are some cases where there will be a premium cabin bonus and amount will count toward PQD.
There are multiple cash upgrade paths and different ones are offered at different times (and can be quite hard to separate).
The key is what is the new fare basis after the upgrade. Note R, RN, P, PN, ZN, ON, A and others have been reported.
- Many of the upgrade offers results in R/PN/ZN fare class (and post as Zx) -- so like a regular upgrade the mileage posting is based on the original fare class. The upgrade fee does not earn PQDs.
- Others bump the fare basis to a -UP fare which reports as a P/Z/A fare class, these are now earning PQMs at the up-fared fare class and the up-fare costs earns PQDs.
- And others book into a true P/Z/A fare basis and will earn the PQM bonus and the up-fare cost will earn PQDs.
The following are generally not eligible for PQD or bonus:
- Pop-up upgrade immediately following purchase on united.com
- Last minute upgrade at check-in
Additional Charges:
Date/CreditCard XXXX was charged xxx USD for the Merchandising / EDD
xxx USD for: Premium Cabin Upgrade
Date/CreditCard XXXX was charged xxx USD for the Merchandising / EDD
xxx USD for: Premium Cabin Upgrade
**** Due to UA changes in May 2018, this statement may not be relieable ****
**** This now appears to be an Upgrade Fee (no PQDs) and may book into Upgrade fare class (no extra PQMs) or into a mileage earning bonus fare class (PQMs earning). Unclear if that is a way to tell which will happen ****
Generally these will be reflected on the receipt as
Add Collect: An additional amount for the difference in fare was charged to {card} on {date}. $yyy USD per ticket for an additional total of $yyy USD was collected.
For instance, some time of checkin paid upgrades that book into P, will earn PQM bonus but not earn PQDs.
Checking the actual fare basis during booking when you are given access (or using the Saudi site) is key in understanding the outcome.
UA Insider commented on this a while back, but there has been no improvement in the confusion / clarity in the meantime.
Hi Everyone,
I’ve done a little bit of research on this, and I wanted to share some background on the scenario vandrei shared.
At a high level, and as a some of you have noticed more recently in the thread, the buy-up offer we sometimes present immediately upon booking an economy ticket is indeed distinct from the one presented when viewing a reservation in My Account at some point after the flight has been ticketed and confirmed. For example, the offer at booking enables customers to the flexibility to confirm an upgraded seat on a segment-by-segment basis, whereas the one in My Reservations is based on the line of flight.
Additionally, from a functional perspective, the offer immediately upon booking does not change the underlying fare basis for the original purchased fare (even though the visible fare class is reflective of the buy-up inventory), whereas the one in My Reservations results in a complete re-issue of the existing ticket. It is this aspect of the functionality which drives mileage accrual, which is based on the original purchased fare for the offer immediately after booking, but based on the new fare class for the offer in My Reservations. These policies are disclosed in each offer’s respective (and indeed, different) terms and conditions.
Longer-term, the vision is indeed to align mileage accrual policies between the two types of offers. In the meantime, the tradeoff between the two offers continues to be one of additional miles vs. the flexibility to confirm on a segment-by-segment basis.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
I’ve done a little bit of research on this, and I wanted to share some background on the scenario vandrei shared.
At a high level, and as a some of you have noticed more recently in the thread, the buy-up offer we sometimes present immediately upon booking an economy ticket is indeed distinct from the one presented when viewing a reservation in My Account at some point after the flight has been ticketed and confirmed. For example, the offer at booking enables customers to the flexibility to confirm an upgraded seat on a segment-by-segment basis, whereas the one in My Reservations is based on the line of flight.
Additionally, from a functional perspective, the offer immediately upon booking does not change the underlying fare basis for the original purchased fare (even though the visible fare class is reflective of the buy-up inventory), whereas the one in My Reservations results in a complete re-issue of the existing ticket. It is this aspect of the functionality which drives mileage accrual, which is based on the original purchased fare for the offer immediately after booking, but based on the new fare class for the offer in My Reservations. These policies are disclosed in each offer’s respective (and indeed, different) terms and conditions.
Longer-term, the vision is indeed to align mileage accrual policies between the two types of offers. In the meantime, the tradeoff between the two offers continues to be one of additional miles vs. the flexibility to confirm on a segment-by-segment basis.
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager - Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
Some Paid Upgrades Count Towards PQD & mileage bonus and some DON'T!
Dec 20, 2018, 5:18 pm
#586
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
I sorted out the problem with the help of a pleasant agent at the Mileage Plus Service Center.
There were actually two issues.
I needed to accrue a few more Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQDs) this year to reach Premier Gold level. I had assumed that if upgrading to Economy Plus yields some PQDs, then a significantly more expensive upgrade to First would yield more PQDs. Not so. For that, you get zero PQDs. Oddly, United incentivizes us to spend less, not more, if we need PQDs. The agent was not able to help with that.
The other problem was that a previous flight had been rerouted due to equipment problems and the Economy Plus PQDs from the original route had not been credited to my account. The agent was able to solve that problem. Yay!
Upshot is if you need PQDs, don’t consider an upgrade other than to Economy Plus.
There were actually two issues.
I needed to accrue a few more Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQDs) this year to reach Premier Gold level. I had assumed that if upgrading to Economy Plus yields some PQDs, then a significantly more expensive upgrade to First would yield more PQDs. Not so. For that, you get zero PQDs. Oddly, United incentivizes us to spend less, not more, if we need PQDs. The agent was not able to help with that.
The other problem was that a previous flight had been rerouted due to equipment problems and the Economy Plus PQDs from the original route had not been credited to my account. The agent was able to solve that problem. Yay!
Upshot is if you need PQDs, don’t consider an upgrade other than to Economy Plus.
-James
Dec 20, 2018, 5:39 pm
#587
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: CHI
Programs: UA 1K, MR Titanium, IHG Gold, National Exec
Posts: 3,841
And spend on MileagePlus credit cards can waive PQD for up to Plat for US-based members.
Dec 20, 2018, 7:32 pm
#588
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,400
You will earn PQDs for an up-fare. Upfaring requires calling UA; if you're connecting, you'll want to up-fare the entire direction in almost every case. (So, if you're flying AUS-IAH-DTW, don't try to "save money" by only up-faring IAH-DTW; it'll actually cost you much more, in most cases, than up-faring the entire route).
Jan 9, 2019, 1:55 am
#589
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: California
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 107
You will earn PQDs for an up-fare. Upfaring requires calling UA; if you're connecting, you'll want to up-fare the entire direction in almost every case. (So, if you're flying AUS-IAH-DTW, don't try to "save money" by only up-faring IAH-DTW; it'll actually cost you much more, in most cases, than up-faring the entire route).
I had a booking recently with a connection where the first leg was lie-flat seats and ~4 hours (departing ~5am), the second leg a 737 and just 2.5 hours.
The upgrade offer was $209 for the first leg and ~$409 for the second. $209 for the first part was a good deal (to me) where $600 for the whole trip wasn't. (I had almost $20k PQD last year so I hope I won't be $350 short of $15k by December now :-) )
*edit*: eh, no -- I paid $208 for upgrading the first leg and it's now listed on my ticket as "P class". There's no accrual table on the receipt, so not sure what PQM I'll get. (Shrug). Is the "ends in $9" guideline for "won't get PQM/PQD" still a thing?
Last edited by polarbears; Jan 9, 2019 at 2:01 am
Jan 9, 2019, 8:06 am
#590
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,400
Ever since they changed the process to allow sticker-type upgrades online between purchase and check-in, the ends-in-9 thing has been slowly disappearing. The process you described is a sticker-type upgrade, and you will not get PQD for the $208. Whether or not you'll get PQM is hit-or-miss; in P, I'd say you have a pretty good chance to get 150% PQM, but it's not guaranteed.
Jan 9, 2019, 11:47 am
#591
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
The only caveat is that the upfare for the entire trip may very well have been much less than $600 -- you just can't know based on the offers. But yes, this is generally a good use of the sticker upgrades.
Jan 23, 2019, 5:47 pm
#592
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: USA
Programs: UA Platinum
Posts: 108
Additional data point -- I had a roundtrip LAX-MEL-LAX booked into G. I'd considered doing a MileagePlus upgrade which would've been the normal $600 copay + 30,000 miles each way and been waitlist. Curiously, from the My Reservations page, I saw a cash-only offer of "starting at $1399," confirmable at once, which felt like it must be wrong, because these cash upgrade offers always seem to be a comically large amount. But indeed, the cash-only upgrade price on the return was $1399 (the outbound was $9999).
If United miles are worth about $0.02 (I realize this is a controversial statement), then the upgrade "value" of $600 + 30,000 miles is $1200, so not far from this $1399 price point. And I found this thread and figured I'd give it a shot because the extra status miles would be pretty cool (although I'm still annoyed United P class is now 150% earning instead of 200% earning).
So I did it (on my United Select, which earns 3x United miles on United charges, with the first $5000 in United charges also counting towards PQMs) and it indeed went through and booked me into P.
Pretty happy about it. As originally booked I'd earn 15,840 PQMs, but now with the 50% P-class bonus on one leg plus the charge to the Select card, I'll earn 5,359 more PQMs. And for only $199 more than I'd intended to spend, rationalizing the costs as I have above.
If United miles are worth about $0.02 (I realize this is a controversial statement), then the upgrade "value" of $600 + 30,000 miles is $1200, so not far from this $1399 price point. And I found this thread and figured I'd give it a shot because the extra status miles would be pretty cool (although I'm still annoyed United P class is now 150% earning instead of 200% earning).
So I did it (on my United Select, which earns 3x United miles on United charges, with the first $5000 in United charges also counting towards PQMs) and it indeed went through and booked me into P.
Pretty happy about it. As originally booked I'd earn 15,840 PQMs, but now with the 50% P-class bonus on one leg plus the charge to the Select card, I'll earn 5,359 more PQMs. And for only $199 more than I'd intended to spend, rationalizing the costs as I have above.
Feb 5, 2019, 4:52 pm
#593
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: United 1K
Posts: 38
What's the easiest way to tell if an offer is an upgrade w/ no additional PDQ/PQM versus one that DOES count for count for additional PQM?
I know there are a variety of "upgrade" offers, including on the day you book, as well as the day of departure, and of course from the Manage Reservation screen (with "purchase upgrade" vs. "use miles to upgrade" options).
Obviously, RPU/GPU and MUAs do not count for PQM, but what about the other ways? Is there a quick rule to discern which is what type of upgrade?
I know there are a variety of "upgrade" offers, including on the day you book, as well as the day of departure, and of course from the Manage Reservation screen (with "purchase upgrade" vs. "use miles to upgrade" options).
Obviously, RPU/GPU and MUAs do not count for PQM, but what about the other ways? Is there a quick rule to discern which is what type of upgrade?
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Feb 5, 2019 at 5:05 pm Reason: moved to the master thread
Feb 5, 2019, 5:04 pm
#594
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
But recently most cash upgrades change to a paid fare class (generally P, sometimes Z) and will earn the PQM bonus. There still may be some that book on PZ and those will not earn PQMs - not sure what cases those occur in (check-in??) - I have lost track of that situation.
PQDs are a different story -- unless done at booking or thru a change flight / upfare-- generally the upgrade fee will not earn PQDs. If the receipt has Add./ Collect the upgrade fee, it will earn PQDs, otherwise not.
Feb 5, 2019, 5:12 pm
#595
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: New Jersey
Programs: UA MM 1K, AA MM Gold, Marriott LT Platinum
Posts: 3,235
What's the easiest way to tell if an offer is an upgrade w/ no additional PDQ/PQM versus one that DOES count for count for additional PQM?
I know there are a variety of "upgrade" offers, including on the day you book, as well as the day of departure, and of course from the Manage Reservation screen (with "purchase upgrade" vs. "use miles to upgrade" options).
Obviously, RPU/GPU and MUAs do not count for PQM, but what about the other ways? Is there a quick rule to discern which is what type of upgrade?
I know there are a variety of "upgrade" offers, including on the day you book, as well as the day of departure, and of course from the Manage Reservation screen (with "purchase upgrade" vs. "use miles to upgrade" options).
Obviously, RPU/GPU and MUAs do not count for PQM, but what about the other ways? Is there a quick rule to discern which is what type of upgrade?
May 8, 2019, 12:53 pm
#596
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: UA1K | *A Gold
Posts: 767
Would a TOD up to PP earn 1.5 PQMs?
May 8, 2019, 12:59 pm
#597
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
It depends on the fare class after the TOD. If it goes to RN, then no. If it goes to R, A, O then yes.
The only way to be sure is to do an upfare (or do it at purchase).
Note -- as for PQDs, the answer is no regardless of the fare class. Need to refare to get PQDs.
The only way to be sure is to do an upfare (or do it at purchase).
Note -- as for PQDs, the answer is no regardless of the fare class. Need to refare to get PQDs.
May 9, 2019, 7:53 pm
#598
Join Date: Apr 2019
Programs: UA Plat
Posts: 36
I have trips that I have to book through Concur, which as many know means I have to buy the cheapest ticket available. Usually if I wait 2-3 weeks before I have to leave I can fly UA as the cost between SWA/AA/UA is negligible that it doesn't get flagged. I've read through the more recent posts and can clearly see that to get PQD (which is what I need) I need to call in and do an upfare, not upgrade. When you do an upfare can you pay immediately then? The reason I'm asking is I need my company to be billed the Econ ticket then I want pay the rest to get into P/Z/C/D/J, without a refund going to the company. Hope that's clear, had trouble wording it properly.
May 9, 2019, 8:06 pm
#599
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,850
You will only be able to upfare after ticketing and the economy fare has been paid.
May 10, 2019, 7:23 am
#600
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,410
It can be tricky to up-fare agency tickets since you need to get a UA agent to take over the ticket, and this could mess with the record. If you plant to do this regularly, I would consider the consequences and how uptight your company is.