Originally Posted by bjdj94

Couple problems. First, the only segment in your itinerary that United offers complimentary upgrades is HNL -> SFO. Second, Premier Silver is low upgrade priority. Combine that with current travel demand, and your odds on HNL -> SFO are extremely low.

You could look into MileagePlus Upward (miles plus copay). You’d probably end up waitlisted right now, but you might have a chance that way.

Originally Posted by dgtsf

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of United. They were my primary career until about 7 years ago. Then I gave up on them and finally switched out to a combination of Delta and Alaska for my travel (about 150k/year split between the two). However, I work for the federal government now, so I fly the carrier they tell me to fly. I usually can find some wiggle room, but I'm heading to Guam soon, which has no gov contracts from the states other than United. So as of right now, I don't have anything but lowly Silver on United, which if I recall correctly I'm getting free via my lifetime Marriott Titanium. Or maybe it was Hertz President's Circle. I don't know, doesn't matter. I didn't earn any status on United with my butt in a seat on its planes.

Routing is SFO --> NRT --> GUM on the outbound. Return is GUM --> HNL --> SFO.

I fly out on a Friday and return on a Sunday.

My fares are government-contract Y class in economy. I'm military traveling on official orders. I have already paid $341 out of pocket for Economy Plus seats. The pricing for Premium Economy and higher is a non-starter -- it's around $3,330 on the way out and $1,600 on the way back.

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a complimentary upgrade? It's a long, long way to Guam. I'd love to be in Premium Economy, but I'm betting Silver won't get me anything, especially out of San Francisco. I'm willing to change my outbound routing to go through HNL instead of NRT if it might increase my odds. But that seems unlikely too.

EDIT: I have nothing left in my United mileage account except 41k miles. So not enough miles to secure anything with, and even if I got a card, the miles won't post soon enough to be useful.

Just curious for thoughts from anyone who still travels on United regularly. I'm probably not going to have a choice but to fly United a lot more going forward.

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

SFO-NRT, GUM-HNL are not CPUable
NRT-GUM and HNL-SFO are CPUable

For CPU, I would guess NRT-GUM is easier than HNL-SFO --- but day of the week matters. Weekends are harder then weekdays

Originally Posted by dgtsf

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of United. They were my primary career until about 7 years ago. Then I gave up on them and finally switched out to a combination of Delta and Alaska for my travel (about 150k/year split between the two). However, I work for the federal government now, so I fly the carrier they tell me to fly. I usually can find some wiggle room, but I'm heading to Guam soon, which has no gov contracts from the states other than United. So as of right now, I don't have anything but lowly Silver on United, which if I recall correctly I'm getting free via my lifetime Marriott Titanium. Or maybe it was Hertz President's Circle. I don't know, doesn't matter. I didn't earn any status on United with my butt in a seat on its planes.

Routing is SFO --> NRT --> GUM on the outbound. Return is GUM --> HNL --> SFO.

I fly out on a Friday and return on a Sunday.

My fares are government-contract Y class in economy. I'm military traveling on official orders. I have already paid $341 out of pocket for Economy Plus seats. The pricing for Premium Economy and higher is a non-starter -- it's around $3,330 on the way out and $1,600 on the way back.

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting a complimentary upgrade? It's a long, long way to Guam. I'd love to be in Premium Economy, but I'm betting Silver won't get me anything, especially out of San Francisco. I'm willing to change my outbound routing to go through HNL instead of NRT if it might increase my odds. But that seems unlikely too.

EDIT: I have nothing left in my United mileage account except 41k miles. So not enough miles to secure anything with, and even if I got a card, the miles won't post soon enough to be useful.

Just curious for thoughts from anyone who still travels on United regularly. I'm probably not going to have a choice but to fly United a lot more going forward.

Originally Posted by bjdj94

HNL -> GUM is specifically listed as no complimentary upgrades, but is that also true for the opposite direction?

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

Originally Posted by fumje

Isn't 30k miles adequate to upgrade SFO-NRT? And no copay on a Y fare. Looks not too hard to clear also, and you'll get your E+ fee back for the flight.

Look for buy-up offers to PE or J when you check in. No guarantee, but they may be much better than what you see now. And if you offset by the E+ cost, maybe palatable.



No CPU either direction.

I'm not aware of any unidirectional CPU routes.

Originally Posted by dgtsf

Does United treat all Y fares equally? GSA/government/military contract Y fares are often half or less the cost of commercial. Some airlines treat discounted Y on a lower priority.

I didn't think 30K miles would be enough, but I'm trying to figure out where on united's site right now it would let me upgrade with miles, so I can double checj. Not seeing an option right now.

Originally Posted by askyamaz

Did United or any other airline ever offered comp international upgrade? ...

Originally Posted by askyamaz

I mainly use United for international travel, so is it worth it to get at least gold status?

Originally Posted by WineCountryUA

Generally no.
UA offers Complimentary Premier Upgrades for most flights in USA, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Northern South America, Caribbean, ....
But long haul international -- TATL, TPAC, intercontinental, .... require supported upgrades: miles+copay or PlusPoints

There is the rare case where economy is oversold and the upgrade waitlist is shorter than the open premier cabin seats, airline will do operational upgrades (Op-ups) and status can help. This are very rare.

For upgrades no, but UA Gold provides lounge access for international trips.

Originally Posted by askyamaz

does this mean there’s 46 people trying to use plus points to upgrade on this international long haul

Originally Posted by fly talk

Or is there a general rule that you need to use PlusPoints to get upgraded simply because it's a long international flight? And United will just leave all those seats vacant?

Originally Posted by fly talk

Hi, I'm a new United Platinum Member and trying to understand how international flight upgrades work.

Let's say I want to buy a non-stop ticket from NYC to Tokyo, Japan and the flight has these availabilities:

• 20 of 50 Business/First class seats purchased (30 Business/First seats available)
• 10 of 30 Premium Plus seats purchased (20 Premium Plus seats available)
• 10 of 40 Eco Plus (30 Eco Plus seats available)

If I buy tickets for myself + 1 in fare class Q or V and DO NOT use any PlusPoints, do we have a chance at getting upgraded to business/first based on my elite status, the ticket's fare class, and all that free space up front? Because I'm understanding that upgrades work in this order:

• Global Services requests (not me)
• PlusPoints and mileage upgrade awards (not used)
• Elite status (Platinum)
• Fare class. More expensive fare classes clear first (Q or V fare class)
• Etc.

Basically I'm trying to figure out if we can still get upgraded on an international flight from NYC to Tokyo without using PlusPoints?

Or is there a general rule that you need to use PlusPoints to get upgraded simply because it's a long international flight? And United will just leave all those seats vacant?

Thanks