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-   United Airlines | MileagePlus (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus-681/)
-   -   UA Upsell Offers to Business/First/PP at Purchase to Day of Departure (TOD) (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1812065-ua-upsell-offers-business-first-pp-purchase-day-departure-tod.html)

Hawkeyefan Feb 5, 2023 6:39 pm

Offered $429 from Y to J, GCM to ORD, on a 739. At around $100/hr still a little high I think.

OrdinaryTurtle Feb 6, 2023 2:49 am

Another data point: at the end of December from SFO-TLV, the offer at check-in was $350 for PP or $999 for Polaris

This was from a Q fare. Wife and I took the PP option. The flight was not full, but there were no fully open rows in E/E+. PP was full with 5-10 empty seats in Polaris

Toronto1970 Feb 9, 2023 11:37 am

Mid-March flight SFO-HND

Two tickets in paid economy (K), and two tickets in award economy (XN).

Offered $300pp at purchase to upgrade to PP. Sold! (Although realistically, our group moving from the 4 seats of the front Y bulkhead to 4 middle seats in PP isn't that big an upgrade).

United747 Feb 9, 2023 11:55 am

Absurd offers on my HND-ORD XN award in May-

PP for $5,976
Polaris for $6,393

nomad420 Feb 9, 2023 12:16 pm


Originally Posted by OrdinaryTurtle (Post 34989160)
Another data point: at the end of December from SFO-TLV, the offer at check-in was $350 for PP or $999 for Polaris

This was from a Q fare. Wife and I took the PP option. The flight was not full, but there were no fully open rows in E/E+. PP was full with 5-10 empty seats in Polaris

Hey welcome to FT!! For that route about as cheap of a TOD upgrade offer I have seen. Probably why you saw as many as 10 empty Polaris seats. I would have jumped on either offer as well fwiw. Others here I am sure can break it down into cents/mile and dollars/minutes, it can get pretty detailed and crazy....LOL

BigFlyer Feb 9, 2023 12:52 pm

This one is truly insane. Flying from SFO to MEX non-stop on UA (miles ticket.)

I have checked in. The website is now offering an upgrade to "United Business" (looks like domestic first class to me) for only $2,699.

On the other hand, if I just want to go to united.com I can buy a "Business" ticket on the same flight for $881.

nomad420 Feb 9, 2023 4:03 pm


Originally Posted by BigFlyer (Post 34999099)
This one is truly insane. Flying from SFO to MEX non-stop on UA (miles ticket.)

I have checked in. The website is now offering an upgrade to "United Business" (looks like domestic first class to me) for only $2,699.

On the other hand, if I just want to go to united.com I can buy a "Business" ticket on the same flight for $881.

All I can do is shake my head. Maybe people are actually falling for these basically scam offers?!

JapanFlyerT Feb 10, 2023 8:36 pm


Originally Posted by Toronto1970 (Post 34998909)
Mid-March flight SFO-HND

Two tickets in paid economy (K), and two tickets in award economy (XN).

Offered $300pp at purchase to upgrade to PP. Sold! (Although realistically, our group moving from the 4 seats of the front Y bulkhead to 4 middle seats in PP isn't that big an upgrade).

Same for me. I have Silver status that will expire either this month or next.

KIX-SFO $300 or 30,000 offer to "upgrade cabin" Y to PP. $5807 or 30,000+$550 Y to Polaris.
I also have an XN flight but the offer is $5,700 for PP and $6,603 for Polaris, so no joy there.

SFO-HND $300 or 30,000. $5946 or 30,000+$450 Y to Polaris.

Also, for the XN return SFO-ICN is $2274 PP and $3074 for Polaris

VRFast Feb 11, 2023 5:56 pm

Bought tickets yesterday.
IAH-ORD (V): buy-up to First at time of purchase $422, same price today.
ORD-IAH (T): at purchase $311, today $199, yes I took it and now on a P fare. Upgrade price less than the ticket price delta ($290). It’s on the 757-300, so look forward to sitting in 1A/1B.
Looks like $199 is perhaps the lowest buy-up price for these city pairs?

paule123 Feb 11, 2023 7:24 pm

Bought ticket for YYZ-IAD-CLE in May. Offered $59 for upgrading the YYZ-IAD leg (E175) - took it. Offered $420 to upgrade the IAD-CLE leg (B737). No thanks.

Kacee Feb 11, 2023 8:33 pm


Originally Posted by VRFast (Post 35004390)
Looks like $199 is perhaps the lowest buy-up price for these city pairs?

UA sets the buy-up prices based on the differential from Y to available F (without regard to your actual fare). If there's P available, the buy-up will be priced at the lowest differential, which does appear to be $199 on this route.

Hawkeyefan Feb 12, 2023 12:15 pm

$396 PP Y to J EWR to AUA on 739. Seems close to worth it?

FriendlySkies Feb 12, 2023 12:19 pm


Originally Posted by Hawkeyefan (Post 35005825)
$396 PP Y to J EWR to AUA on 739. Seems close to worth it?

It's a bit under 2,000 miles and just the domestic F seat, so I probably wouldn't take it. If you've got lounge access at sEWeR, you could certainly load up on better food and drink there than the (possible) slop they'll feed you on the flight. Just my two cents.

PushingTin Feb 24, 2023 11:47 pm

I guess I'm still confused about what I thought were different ways upgrades can be paid/accounted for. I thought I read the WIKI that said that it doesn't matter now how the fares are changed?

I have some TATL flights that I'd like to move from E+ to PE with dollars and then put some Points or miles down to waitlist to an upgrade to F. The first time I did this was all through a travel agent. Bought the E+ ticket (company CC) and then had them change to PE (My CC), put down points for F (one leg has cleared (PZ), one still waiting (O) ). So I assume that I have a 'real' PE seat. (Mainly concerned if things go sideways on the upgrade F seat, that I'll get punched down to E+).

I just bought another E+ TATL on UA.com and got the offer to upgrade to PE that looked right about at the fare difference. I didn't take it. I'm going to call back in and get a PE seat, but does it matter how they do it? Is GG BUYUP and UP FARES still different things or relevant?

Mainly am concerned that I'll lose the PE 'bump' money if I have to move flights and if the extra PE seat money get put into my PQDs for the year.
I know I've made a mess of the terminology. Just getting back into the swing of international travel.

jsloan Feb 25, 2023 10:25 am


Originally Posted by PushingTin (Post 35040050)
I guess I'm still confused about what I thought were different ways upgrades can be paid/accounted for. I thought I read the WIKI that said that it doesn't matter now how the fares are changed?

I have some TATL flights that I'd like to move from E+ to PE with dollars and then put some Points or miles down to waitlist to an upgrade to F. The first time I did this was all through a travel agent. Bought the E+ ticket (company CC) and then had them change to PE (My CC), put down points for F (one leg has cleared (PZ), one still waiting (O) ). So I assume that I have a 'real' PE seat. (Mainly concerned if things go sideways on the upgrade F seat, that I'll get punched down to E+).

Agreed. The only way that a travel agent can move you to PE is to buy a PE fare.


Originally Posted by PushingTin (Post 35040050)
I just bought another E+ TATL on UA.com and got the offer to upgrade to PE that looked right about at the fare difference. I didn't take it. I'm going to call back in and get a PE seat, but does it matter how they do it? Is GG BUYUP and UP FARES still different things or relevant?

You'd definitely still want to upfare. GG BUYUP covered waiving the chang fee when buying up, so it's no longer relevant. I'm just not sure I entirely believe that UA's batch of new agents will know the difference between accepting a sticker-type upgrade and a true upfare. Maybe ask them if the value will be retained if you need to make a flight change?


Originally Posted by PushingTin (Post 35040050)
Mainly am concerned that I'll lose the PE 'bump' money if I have to move flights and if the extra PE seat money get put into my PQDs for the year.
I know I've made a mess of the terminology. Just getting back into the swing of international travel.

You'll get PQP credit in either case. You may get a higher PQP credit on the sticker-type, non-transferable upgrades because they're not subject to US airfare tax. (On fully domestic itineraries, 100% of the sticker-type upgrade price becomes PQP).


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