Feb 6, 2024, 11:37 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread, the active thread is Using PlusPoints on NH / ANA
Upgrading on flights operated by ANA
Multiple reports Z works also contrary to the above. Don't ask, just do it (for now), since at least 2022
Each NH/ANA segment requires an unique GPU. A a single GPU can not be used for two ANA segment nor for a connecting UA segment
Summary of Practical Advice from this thread:
* If you have bought a ticket from United (e.g., cause you want PQDs), you likely have UA codeshares of NH-operated flights. However, only NH-ticketed flights can have upgrades requested. When you have these flights, you need to call United (e.g., the 1K desk) and tell them you want to use GPUs on this itinerary. What they will do is modify your ticket so that the codeshares are replaced with the native flight numbers. This takes 10-15 minutes. You will still need to separately request the upgrades using the United GPU request form (link below) for LH/ANA flights.
* The web form will ask for information from your ticket. You will need to enter the NH flight numbers. Also it will ask for your confirmation code and can use the United-issued confirmation code (not the NH confirmation code)
* You should be able to verify in advance whether the upgrade is going to clear based on NH inventory. I class is for Y->J upgrades and O class is for J->F. These are also the business and first 'saver' award buckets, and can be estimated by doing phantom bookings of award travel for the same flights. If saver awards are showing up the classes should be available.Expertflyer and other sites can also show the availability.
* The T&Cs suggest that you cannot request upgrades until 8 weeks before the flight, but various flyertalkers have confirmed upgrades beyond the 8 week window.
* If your upgrade is not confirmed, you can keep trying before the flight. Waitlisting is now an option (for NH/ANA)
* There seems to be mixed opinion on whether O and I class inventory is put back into the system as the flight gets closer, but several have reported finding inventory show up 2-3 weeks before the flight.
* Fare mapping from ANA to UA:
J/C/D/Y/B = J/C/D/Y/B
G/E = O/A
Below are various T&Cs from United relevant to the applicability of fares, etc, copied from the website.
Upgrading on flights operated by ANA
PlusPoints can be used on flights operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) for one-segment, one-cabin upgrades on any multi-cabin international flight operated by ANA and marketed by ANA or United. Upgrades are subject to availability and valid for paid, published fares only. The following ANA fare classes are eligible for PlusPoints upgrades: B, C, D, E, G, J, M, U and Y. PlusPoints can’t be used to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy on ANA-operated flights. Please see the terms and conditions below for specific eligibility rules.
The PlusPoints upgrade system with NH/LH appears to be a slightly modified version of the star alliance upgrade award system (using PP instead of miles obviously). Given Z is a valid booking code on NH for a SAUA, not really surprising if there was an oversight in adapting the system to work for PlusPoints upgrades and someone forgot to either add Z-fare being allowed in the official T&C, or forgot to take Z-fares out when the upgrade request system validates the booking code.
Each NH/ANA segment requires an unique GPU. A a single GPU can not be used for two ANA segment nor for a connecting UA segment
Summary of Practical Advice from this thread:
* If you have bought a ticket from United (e.g., cause you want PQDs), you likely have UA codeshares of NH-operated flights. However, only NH-ticketed flights can have upgrades requested. When you have these flights, you need to call United (e.g., the 1K desk) and tell them you want to use GPUs on this itinerary. What they will do is modify your ticket so that the codeshares are replaced with the native flight numbers. This takes 10-15 minutes. You will still need to separately request the upgrades using the United GPU request form (link below) for LH/ANA flights.
* The web form will ask for information from your ticket. You will need to enter the NH flight numbers. Also it will ask for your confirmation code and can use the United-issued confirmation code (not the NH confirmation code)
* You should be able to verify in advance whether the upgrade is going to clear based on NH inventory. I class is for Y->J upgrades and O class is for J->F. These are also the business and first 'saver' award buckets, and can be estimated by doing phantom bookings of award travel for the same flights. If saver awards are showing up the classes should be available.
* The T&Cs suggest that you cannot request upgrades until 8 weeks before the flight, but various flyertalkers have confirmed upgrades beyond the 8 week window.
* If your upgrade is not confirmed, you can keep trying before the flight. Waitlisting is now an option (for NH/ANA)
* There seems to be mixed opinion on whether O and I class inventory is put back into the system as the flight gets closer, but several have reported finding inventory show up 2-3 weeks before the flight.
* Fare mapping from ANA to UA:
J/C/D/Y/B = J/C/D/Y/B
G/E = O/A
Below are various T&Cs from United relevant to the applicability of fares, etc, copied from the website.
updated May 2023
- Upgrades are valid only on ANA.
- Requests for upgrades can be made after you have purchased your ticket. Upgrades can be requested until 24 hours prior to departure. Your MileagePlus account number and password are required to complete the request.
- PlusPoints upgrades may not be requested when you travel on industry discount, agency discount, deeply discounted promotional tickets, award tickets using miles, or tickets purchased on websites where you don’t know the exact flight itinerary or airline until after you’ve paid for the ticket.
- ANA may impose blackout periods where upgrades are not permitted.
- You may request PlusPoints upgrades for up to four people traveling on the same reservation. The amount of PlusPoints required is listed per passenger for each itinerary and deducted at time of request; to upgrade additional people, you’ll need to use additional PlusPoints. (If the reservation has more than four travelers, you will need to call the operating carrier.) You do not need to be traveling with the passengers to request the upgrades and you can request upgrades for travelers with a different last name than yours.
- While you can only request upgrades for one segment at a time, you may upgrade more than one eligible segment on the itinerary.
- Double upgrades from Economy to First are not permitted on three-cabin aircraft.
- Standby is not permitted, but waitlisting is permitted. Waitlisting is now an option (for NH/ANA)
- An upgrade may be confirmed within eight weeks of departure, if a seat is available.
- Mileage accrual is based on the original ticketed booking class, not the upgraded class of service.
- Requests for seat assignments, special meals and amenities should be made directly with the operating carrier.
- If you wish to make changes or cancel your PlusPoints upgrade request, please contact ANA.
- If an ANA segment of your itinerary is canceled, the upgrade request for that segment will also be automatically canceled. Your PlusPoints will be automatically redeposited 24 to 48 hours after the cancellation.
- PlusPoints upgrades are not available through general selling agents.
How to request
Once the ticket has been issued, requests can be made online through the Global Premier Upgrade on ANA or Lufthansa request page. You can make upgrade requests for ANA-operated flights beginning eight weeks before departure until up to 24 hours before departure. You can make upgrade requests for Lufthansa-operated flights beginning 331 days before departure until up to 10 hours before departure.
You may request Global Premier Upgrades for up to four people traveling on the same reservation. You will need one Global Premier Upgrade for each traveler. (If the reservation has more than four travelers, you will need to call ANA or Lufthansa.) You do not need to be traveling with the passengers to request the upgrades and you can request upgrades for travelers with a different last name than yours. While you can only request upgrades for one segment at a time, you may upgrade more than one eligible segment on the itinerary.
If upgrade space is available at the time of the request and the requester chooses to confirm the upgrade, United will automatically deduct Global Premier Upgrades from the requester's MileagePlus account.
How to request for codeshare flights
If you are traveling on an ANA- or Lufthansa-operated codeshare flight with a United flight number, upgrades may be available and can be requested by calling 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) within the U.S. and Canada, elsewhere call your local United Customer Contact Center.
Once the ticket has been issued, requests can be made online through the Global Premier Upgrade on ANA or Lufthansa request page. You can make upgrade requests for ANA-operated flights beginning eight weeks before departure until up to 24 hours before departure. You can make upgrade requests for Lufthansa-operated flights beginning 331 days before departure until up to 10 hours before departure.
You may request Global Premier Upgrades for up to four people traveling on the same reservation. You will need one Global Premier Upgrade for each traveler. (If the reservation has more than four travelers, you will need to call ANA or Lufthansa.) You do not need to be traveling with the passengers to request the upgrades and you can request upgrades for travelers with a different last name than yours. While you can only request upgrades for one segment at a time, you may upgrade more than one eligible segment on the itinerary.
If upgrade space is available at the time of the request and the requester chooses to confirm the upgrade, United will automatically deduct Global Premier Upgrades from the requester's MileagePlus account.
How to request for codeshare flights
If you are traveling on an ANA- or Lufthansa-operated codeshare flight with a United flight number, upgrades may be available and can be requested by calling 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) within the U.S. and Canada, elsewhere call your local United Customer Contact Center.
Using PlusPoints on NH / ANA {Archive}
Sep 20, 2018, 8:57 pm
#166
formerly wunderpit
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ONT-SNA-LAX
Programs: UA1K-HHDiamond
Posts: 1,339
Upgrades on partner airlines on same ticket
Please merge if this subject is out there.
Hypothetical flight LAX>NRT>TPE next June. Long leg is UA Dreamliner, but connection is only ANA. If I use GPU for upgrade, does it upgrade the ANA leg? It would be booked through UA, so 016 ticket.
Or would I be banished to the horrible economy knee-crusher for 3 1/2 hours?
I'm trying to avoid the LA Area to SFO connection which is frequently delayed, and then the SFO>TPE becomes a track meet with my 5-year old. Not to mention it seems the SFO>TPE route now uses the POS 772 when it used to use the dearly departed 747.
TIA!
Hypothetical flight LAX>NRT>TPE next June. Long leg is UA Dreamliner, but connection is only ANA. If I use GPU for upgrade, does it upgrade the ANA leg? It would be booked through UA, so 016 ticket.
Or would I be banished to the horrible economy knee-crusher for 3 1/2 hours?
I'm trying to avoid the LA Area to SFO connection which is frequently delayed, and then the SFO>TPE becomes a track meet with my 5-year old. Not to mention it seems the SFO>TPE route now uses the POS 772 when it used to use the dearly departed 747.
TIA!
Sep 20, 2018, 9:55 pm
#167
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,386
No. You could use a separate GPU for the ANA leg -- but you'd need a pretty expensive fare to do that.
Oct 19, 2018, 4:26 pm
#168
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: United 1K, AC 50K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriot Platinum
Posts: 684
Is it possible to upgrade a ANA C or D fare to First Class with a GPU if it is on LH ticket stock? I've read here that it is possible for UA ticket stock, but I don't see an asnwer to this question if it is on LH stock.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Dec 2, 2018, 9:01 pm
#169
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 22
Just wonder is there any data point that successfully upgrade from ANA C to F by using GPU without having a O space? Still trying to figure if upgrade space is tied to O or it's kind of hidden bucket that's a superset of O.
Dec 5, 2018, 11:06 am
#170
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
No - absolutely never successful without O space, and always successful with O space, so for me that part has been 100% related.
Dec 6, 2018, 5:37 pm
#171
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,017
Dec 7, 2018, 1:55 am
#172
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Portland OR & Bangkok
Programs: United GS, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 662
Dec 7, 2018, 2:00 am
#173
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Portland OR & Bangkok
Programs: United GS, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 662
However, I have been successful in applying a United GPU to an LH flight on 220 tickets. So if that could be done, logic tells me it should be doable with NH flights on 220 tickets as well.
Dec 7, 2018, 2:10 am
#174
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Portland OR & Bangkok
Programs: United GS, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 662
A side note for those trying to upgrade C,D,J -> O on NH (from my experience):
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
Dec 7, 2018, 7:37 am
#175
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the air
Programs: Occasional RTW club
Posts: 6,924
A side note for those trying to upgrade C,D,J -> O on NH (from my experience):
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
I’ve previously released space, and no luck getting it back into inventory - had to fly business.
Dec 8, 2018, 6:23 pm
#176
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 22
A side note for those trying to upgrade C,D,J -> O on NH (from my experience):
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
1. NH doesn't seem to release more "O" space closer to the flight even up to date of departure. Flight will go out with lots of empty seats.
2. "O" if canceled, will immediately go back to inventory - if nobody is wait-listed for it (you have to be an NH member, using NH miles to do so) it will be available. If there is a wait-list, it'll go to the first in queue.
3. At check in, you can upgrade with NH miles if there are empty seats. What I do is transfer miles, just enough to cover the required upgrade (generally 50k for NRT-SFO), to my ANA account from AMEX ready to be used at the gate.
Dec 8, 2018, 8:30 pm
#177
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Posts: 32,017
Thanks for the note, so I'm watching SFO-NRT at Dec. 22nd now(booked into C), seat map shows 2/8 seats are occupied so far(since 1A always blocked, I assume only 1 booked seat), they haven't release more O space as of today(T-14). From what you mentioned in 3. I assume If I have some miles transfer to NH and request upgrade waitlist then I have a pretty good chance to clear before departure?(I have called NH and they said no one waitlist F right now)
Dec 8, 2018, 9:15 pm
#178
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Portland OR & Bangkok
Programs: United GS, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 662
Thanks for the note, so I'm watching SFO-NRT at Dec. 22nd now(booked into C), seat map shows 2/8 seats are occupied so far(since 1A always blocked, I assume only 1 booked seat), they haven't release more O space as of today(T-14). From what you mentioned in 3. I assume If I have some miles transfer to NH and request upgrade waitlist then I have a pretty good chance to clear before departure?(I have called NH and they said no one waitlist F right now)
With less than 2 weeks to go and showing only 2/8, I would be surprised if you don't get to sit in F for take off
Dec 8, 2018, 11:51 pm
#179
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 22
Dec 12, 2018, 5:18 pm
#180
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum
Posts: 22
A very interesting data point. I have set alerts for O space on EF for both Dec 21st and Dec 22nd flights(NH7), because 21st is just one day prior to my flight and also 2/8 booked. I got a notification email on Dec 10th showed that 1 O space became available on 21st flight, then I went to EF check the seatmap which showed 1/8(only one blocked), so I guess someone canceled his/her award ticket and returned O space to inventory. AS of now, I found the O space has gone and the flight's seatmap still in 1/8 and F7 in inventory. Not sure if this means ANA actually reclaim O space as approaching departure day or just because it's during Christmas peak.