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Complimentary upgrades when UA's PremPlus / Polaris cabin(s) are open? (No)

Old Feb 12, 2018, 2:25 pm
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Last edit by: drewguy
There are no complimentary upgrades on "Polaris" or premium transcon service or Hawaii (to/from ORD/EWR/IAD/IAH) flights for elites. Elites need to support their upgrades with Plus Points or miles+copay. A complete table is here

Some international flights are CPU eligible (mainly North American)

On very rare occasions if a lower cabin is overbooked, some passengers (usually by elite status) will be operational upgraded (op-up'ed)
Consolidated - Chance of Operational Upgrade (Op-Up) on my flight?

did united ever offer complimentary upgrades on international routes?

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Complimentary upgrades when UA's PremPlus / Polaris cabin(s) are open? (No)

Old Feb 12, 2018, 10:50 am
  #76  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 211
Originally Posted by mjg59
What's the route? There's no automatic upgrades other than in the regions covered by https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con.../upgrades.aspx
GRU-ORD (Sao Paulo - Ohare)

Premier Gold....not exec....sorry about that - I used to fly United a lot but shifted to other carriers for international trips so out of synch with the new UA....

Thanks for the link - answers my questions....
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Old Feb 12, 2018, 10:56 am
  #77  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: TPA
Programs: UA GS, 1MM
Posts: 96
No, there is no automatic upgrade to first on an international route. If you booked J,C or D fare class then the GPU will clear in order of status (GS, 1K, P, G, S) if there is a seat available. The seat map is not a good indicator of whether there are seats available. Tickets can be sold without seats being selected. If you bought a Z or P class then a GPU will not help, it's miles and money for the upgrade. Good luck.
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Old Aug 12, 2018, 10:56 pm
  #78  
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 1
Upgrades on trans-Pacific flights

I will soon have gold status on UA. I mainly take UA between HKG and EWR in economy. I will likely do this trip or a similar flight like HKG to ORD at least 3 times in the coming 12 months. Is it possible I will be upgraded on this route? Any way to make it more likely?
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Old Aug 12, 2018, 11:04 pm
  #79  
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Originally Posted by northnorthwest
I will soon have gold status on UA. I mainly take UA between HKG and EWR in economy. I will likely do this trip or a similar flight like HKG to ORD at least 3 times in the coming 12 months. Is it possible I will be upgraded on this route? Any way to make it more likely?
Welcome to FlyerTalk!

There are no complimentary upgrades on trans-Pacific routes for anybody unless coach is oversold, in which case they will upgrade by status -- and there will be a lot of passengers with higher status than gold on most of those flights.

You can use miles plus a copay to upgrade, but the cost is steep -- as high as $600 plus 30K miles each way, and even then you may not clear (but you'd get the miles and copay back).
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 7:57 am
  #80  
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Originally Posted by northnorthwest
I will soon have gold status on UA. I mainly take UA between HKG and EWR in economy. I will likely do this trip or a similar flight like HKG to ORD at least 3 times in the coming 12 months. Is it possible I will be upgraded on this route? Any way to make it more likely?
With Gold status, at least you get to choose an E+ seat at booking and lounge access on the route. Your chances of a free upgrade aren't zero, but they're pretty close to it.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 8:05 am
  #81  
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Posts: 56,223
Originally Posted by jsloan
There are no complimentary upgrades on trans-Pacific routes for anybody unless coach is oversold, in which case they will upgrade by status -- and there will be a lot of passengers with higher status than gold on most of those flights.
There are a couple weeks a year when Golds commonly score op-ups on TPACs. It's very specific, and corresponds to school holiday periods.

That said, I agree generally that the odds of an op-up overall are so low it's not really even worth discussing. I've never gotten one in over 1MM on UA.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:00 pm
  #82  
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Programs: United
Posts: 2
Chance of upgrade

Hi - it's my brothers birthday in a few weeks and we are traveling on the same reservation from SFO-ICN. I am a 1k and he has no status. We are on the same reservation in W class. I only have 2 GPUs for the rest of the year and have a ton of long-haul flights ahead so I am debating using one on this route because there might be a chance we clear regardless of using the GPU... I am curious what everyone thinks I should do as I would love to save the GPUs if I can.

When I booked the flight it asked me to upgrade for 2k and I can upgrade with 30k miles....so this tells me that they have space.
  • Available fare classes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ9
  • IN9
  • I9
  • Y9
  • YN9
  • B9
  • M9
  • E9
  • U9
  • H9
  • HN9
  • Q9
  • V9
  • W9
  • S9
  • T9
  • L9
  • K9
  • G9
  • N9
  • XN9
  • X9
Depart: UA 893

Thu, Jul 18, 2019

10:35 AM

SFO

Wed 7/24 UA806
ICN-SFO
  • Available fare classes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ4
  • IN0
  • I0
  • O9
  • ON9
  • A9
  • R9
  • RN9
  • Y9
  • YN9
  • B9
  • M9
  • E9
  • U9
  • H9
  • HN9
  • Q7
  • V2
  • W0
  • S0
  • T0
  • L0
  • K0
  • G0
  • N9
  • XN0
  • X0

What do you all think my chances are of clearing for the upgrade without using a GPU?
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:13 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by Brianna Page
What do you all think my chances are of clearing for the upgrade without using a GPU?
how do you want to clear w/o a GPU? There is no mechanism for this. PZ is available, so you can confirm right away ... I would do that.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:13 pm
  #84  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: SBA
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 939
Originally Posted by Brianna Page
Hi - it's my brothers birthday in a few weeks and we are traveling on the same reservation from SFO-ICN. I am a 1k and he has no status. We are on the same reservation in W class. I only have 2 GPUs for the rest of the year and have a ton of long-haul flights ahead so I am debating using one on this route because there might be a chance we clear regardless of using the GPU... I am curious what everyone thinks I should do as I would love to save the GPUs if I can.

When I booked the flight it asked me to upgrade for 2k and I can upgrade with 30k miles....so this tells me that they have space.
  • Available fare classes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ9
  • IN9
  • I9
  • Y9
  • YN9
  • B9
  • M9
  • E9
  • U9
  • H9
  • HN9
  • Q9
  • V9
  • W9
  • S9
  • T9
  • L9
  • K9
  • G9
  • N9
  • XN9
  • X9
Depart: UA 893

Thu, Jul 18, 2019

10:35 AM

SFO

Wed 7/24 UA806
ICN-SFO
  • Available fare classes:
  • J9
  • JN9
  • C9
  • D9
  • Z9
  • ZN9
  • P9
  • PN9
  • PZ4
  • IN0
  • I0
  • O9
  • ON9
  • A9
  • R9
  • RN9
  • Y9
  • YN9
  • B9
  • M9
  • E9
  • U9
  • H9
  • HN9
  • Q7
  • V2
  • W0
  • S0
  • T0
  • L0
  • K0
  • G0
  • N9
  • XN0
  • X0

What do you all think my chances are of clearing for the upgrade without using a GPU?
There's PZ space on both flights so it would be confirmed instantly even if using miles. 30K miles and no co-pay? If so I would use that, if you want to keep your GPU's.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:15 pm
  #85  
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Programs: United
Posts: 2
I thought as a 1k you could clear complimentary 4 days before?
Okay, so 1ks dont ever clear without using an instrument (. Gpu or miles) ?

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jul 3, 2019 at 6:37 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:34 pm
  #86  
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Originally Posted by Brianna Page
I thought as a 1k you could clear complimentary 4 days before?
That would be nice wouldn't it no such thing for SFO-ICN ... but it is a SUPER easy route to use GPUs which is why you are seeing PZ being available. No need to waitlist ... you can confirm right away.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 4:39 pm
  #87  
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Originally Posted by Brianna Page
Okay, so 1ks dont ever clear without using an instrument (. Gpu or miles) ?
Not unless a lower cabin is oversold.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 5:14 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by Brianna Page
What do you all think my chances are of clearing for the upgrade without using a GPU?
Zero.
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 5:47 pm
  #89  
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Posts: 21,106
Originally Posted by tstauck
There's PZ space on both flights so it would be confirmed instantly even if using miles. 30K miles and no co-pay? If so I would use that, if you want to keep your GPU's.
The co-pay on this route would be $550 per person, plus the miles.

Originally Posted by findark
Not unless a lower cabin is oversold.
And there’s no particular reason to think this flight is.

Use the GPUs. You can always use the miles later, but GPUs expire and miles don’t (assuming you keep flying).
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Old Jul 3, 2019, 6:20 pm
  #90  
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Originally Posted by jsloan
And theres no particular reason to think this flight is [oversold].
Exactly. X9.
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