paramedichess

UA is my preferred airline on the Business Platinum, so I get the 35% MR back on Y tickets as well. I often look for inexpensive J fares, but in this case my goal is to find something in Y that I can purchase for my whole family (5) with at least 2 confirmable upgrades available (we make our teenage kids fly in the back). I was just hoping that there was a quick way to search a date range for that upgradable space, but it seems that I just have to search day by day.

cfischer

If 'I' (not IN) is available then your chance of PZ being available are high. So looking for 4 business awards can be a good way to look across a calendar of days looking for 80k to Europe (or 88k which means there is an EU connection on a partner)

acnev

Not sure if my questions belong in this thread - moderator can move if not

I'm seeing some strange stuff show up when trying to price flights and also use plus points to upgrade - hoping someone has a logical explanation for this.

1) Trying to book the outbound DEN-FRA-PRG and see a message that "Upgrade is not available" and there is no PZ code showing in the details. I've never encountered this message before. Also, if I drop the PRG segment, the PZ fare bucket shows and one can waitlist for the upgrade

Message that displays

Upgrade can be requested if I drop the PRG segment


2) Wanted to book a one way LAX-SFO-MNL in economy and upgrade to Polaris. The pricing that shows is crazy +7K for an economy ticket (where as if I just bought the bus class ticket it prices out at 3K+). The strange thing is that I booked the same routing and same flights using multi segments and it priced out at $745 and allowed me to put in for the upgrade. Here too, the PZ bucket doesn't seem to exist.

Any explanation for what is happening here?

jsloan

Yes. You're trying to use part of the website that hasn't ever really worked right. Don't. Do your searches and ticket purchases through the regular tool and then apply for upgrades afterwards.

acnev

I was always afraid that if I book a ticket normally, that I may may not have booked it in the right fare class to upgrade. Also, since I've always done this on the website, how to do I apply for an upgrade using the website or do I need to call UA to apply for it?

Thx.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

Once ticketed, you can go into your reservation and you'll see "Upgrade Cabin" tab.

acnev

One follow up q - after ticketing does it show me the options and cost of using 80 PP v/s 40 PP as I am trying to spread my PP over a number of tickets and so don't mind paying a little more to be able to use just 40 PP to upgrade.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

40 vs 80 depends on fare you purchase, so if you want to cough up only 40, you'll likely end up paying more to get into a higher fare class. I can't find a list of the fare classes for 40 vs 80, but I'm sure someone else knows...

On your initial post, you saw "upgrade not available" - that was for a Lufthansa-operated flight. It can be available, but you have to apply to LH for that.

Kacee

W or higher is 40 points.

Repooc17

As mentioned, the number of PlusPoints requirement is based on the fare bucket you have. You don't get a choice after ticketing.

While paying for a higher inventory bucket would allow you to use less PlusPoints, you should assess the overall clearing success of the route. On an elite heavy route, waitlisting at #12 is the same at waitlisting at #8 if the front cabin is full, while you paid more for the same seat. There are various threads here with user data points which may be of use for reference.

You should also review the priority of upgrade clearing, so there are clear expectations. Note all PE cabin and GS PlusPoints will always go ahead of request from economy cabin. Within economy cabin requests, there are further tie-break priorities.

Good luck.

acnev

Thank you all. Saved me from spending a lot more money using the clunky upgrade screen at UA. I also realized that I ended up paying almost $200 extra on a RT to GVA in late August because I was trying to waitlist for an upgrade looking at the matrix and shooting for the 40 PP upg. This was already an H fare - time to cancel and rebook or do multiple changes to get back to the original flights and a credit.