BeeeJay

Is there any way to pay to upgrade economy award travel without rebooking into a 50,000 mile standard business class award?

I am currently Platinum, but will reach 1K on a flight this Thursday. I have an economy award ticket booked round trip Fri-Sat.

I do not have a United credit card.

My understanding is with certain United credit cards, you are able to upgrade award travel. Is this done similar to a normal flight where i can see upgrade offers on the Manage Reservations page?

Are GPU/RPU able to be applied to award travel with or without the credit card?

Are TOD offers ever available for award tickets?

Is there a way to book economy award travel, then waitlist business saver in case that becomes available?

Miles Ahead

Yes, but not always. When I have seen them, they have been significantly more expensive than on revenue travel.

sfo789

I have seen the converse: if there's a ToD to be offered, ime, it is usually the same (i.e. $829 TATL, $299 on PS, etc.). Typically ZN>0 is a good indication you will receive such an offer (sometimes P required).

The only reason I can see the system offering a different offer to a revenue vs award ticket holder is that when you're a UA elite, the "ToD" is occasionally reported to be the buy-up to a YBM fare that then instant upgrades into PN. Obviously, no such equivalent exists for an award ticket, so ToDs of this nature may well appear exclusively for revenue pax.

Two other options to upgrade, in addition to a ToD:

1. You can "Plan B" the ticket -- waitlist for IN (saver first/business) class, deducting an additional 12,500 miles, which are then refunded if your request doesn't clear. Such a request may (or may not) put you ahead of revenue upgrade pax at the gate. See here.

2. If your CC makes you UG-eligible, it should just appear as much on your res and you'll be added to the list in the normal way. An agent can add you if it doesn't work automatically. That said, receiving a CPU on a CC can be difficult (I have never had a UA CC, so can only speak from the anecdotes of others here).

GPU/RPU can't be used on award tickets unless you're GS.

jsloan

I've experienced the same thing; I've never noticed a difference in the TOD offers between revenue and award tickets. OTOH, I've never cared for the value proposition -- domestic first just isn't worth that much to me. (Assuming OP is looking to travel domestically due to the 50K number).

This also doesn't preclude you from receiving TOD offers, so if you're not willing to pay 50K miles but you are willing to pay 25K, this isn't a bad choice.

This. It only works for the person who has the card -- companions are not eligible. The upgrade list is sorted first by status and then by fare class, so you'd be last in the list for your status level. I've cleared several CPUs on award tickets, but then my clearance rate is quite good overall since I don't travel hub-hub and avoid peak business travel times.

Correct.

findark

The cards make you (and only you) CPU eligible on award travel. Your are prioritized after all revenue fares in your status group, so essentially added to the fare classes as: K, G, YN, HN, XN, X.

No. This is only possible with GS instruments and miles.

Yes.

You can only waitlist saver if you have a confirmed saver booking. You cannot book Standard and waitlist Saver.

I've never had any trouble getting "standard" offers to print as a 1K: $249 for SFO-IAD, $79 for BOS-IAD, $199 for SFO-ORD, etc. There was a while where the fare-difference buyup would price online as the difference to B, but that seems "fixed" (price is still wrong a lot, but not wrong in that way).

sfo789

findark

Ah, that might be possible. The version I remember was that the "Buy Up" option would price to B for Premiers, even if there was a cheaper A/Z/P fare available.

emcampbe

Sorry to tag on here, but can you describe how this works on a itinerary with more than one segment, in my case, a ~500 mile flight connecting to IAD-SFO. I. booked a saver Y ticket for week before X-mas, where somehow it wasn’t too difficult to find Y but no F at all. Surprised that it wouldn’t be the other way around. If you waitlist for saver F, do i assume if the short flight clears and the TCON doesn’t, you’re stuck paying the higher price. And does it need to be married segment availability prior to day of, or will if clear segment by segment.

Interestingly enough, a while ago, Jan. of this year, IIRC, I was CPUd in advance on an award ticket. I think I paid with my UA card, but it was a select, which doesn’t have the CPU benefit (which is my only UA card). I thought maybe it was an OP UP or something, but Y was not even close to full.

findark

In theory, yes.

Should be segment-by-segment availability. Backend mechanics are identical to using an RPU, except replace R with I(N).

BeeeJay

thanks guys, greatly appreciate the information.

Yes, this is domestic travel of the $199 upgrade variety. outbound was Saver with a ton of first open, inbound was standard with 1 seat. I'll prob take chances on TOD on the way out and medicate with Tito's on the return in E+. (prefer to save miles to use in place of expensive cash price last minute fares).