I have never had an issue doing more than a week out on my phone. But as others stated, must use web browser, not UA app.

Called United a few minutes ago (that was a long 58min call) and came across a few nuggets
1. The EWR - JNB flight may show open business seats but the agent claimed that no more seats are available, I'm on waitlist #3 and the chances of 3 seats being cancelled between now and Monday are very slim. After a few min, she said she could offer a business seat for that flight costing $3000+ as a spot upgrade. When I questioned her about seats magically available (to sell) but not available for upgrades, she didn't have a good answer.

2. EWR - JNB - I'm #4 for P+ upgrade and since there are 9 open seats, there's a good chance my upgrade will go through, wait and watch.

3. spent oodles of time to get a Lufthansa flight number for inbound so we could request plus points upgrade. after 30+ min, I found out that since my economy ticket is a codeshare ticket, we cannot apply for an upgrade. I would have to first buy a prime flight ticket and then submit an upgrade request.
4. Tried to assign a simple seat request on both Lufthansa flights but agent wasn't able to help and when I called Lufthansa call center, they referred me to their website, and no ability to speak to an agent.

after close to an hour, I've had enough and politely ended the call

That's the point where you end the call. Why deal with a lying agent? It's not going to get any better.

Btw, UA188 on Nov. 13 is J9 P9 and showing booked 37/48 with 15 on the Polaris waitlist. There are 3 empty seats in PE with 13 on the waitlist.

My guess is miscommunication (versus lying agent). No upgrade seats available, but buyups are. Not sure why agent would say “no business seats available”.

Agents make stuff up all the time. It's certainly easier to say "no seats available" than to explain how upgrade inventory works to a customer who doesn't understand the system. It's like the hotel front desk saying "I'm sorry, there are no upgrades available." That's often shorthand for "we have better rooms, but we're not going to give you one of them." Guess which version is more likely to result in further discussion vs. ending the conversation.

This is not too dissimilar to any business telephone receptionist saying, "He's not available right now, may I take a message?"

The seats were not available to clear the upgrade waitlist.

Huh? I’m not following.

Of course your flight is a codeshare, or you wouldn’t be trying to convert it to the prime booking code. I’m assuming LH is operating the flight, right?

If you have a UA-coded, LH-operated flight, it is eligible for PlusPoints iff it is first converted to an LH-coded flight. UA can do that without you having to purchase a new ticket, although if LH doesn’t have inventory in your fare class, it can be difficult / impossible. Note that LH requires an H fare or higher to use PlusPoints.

This has been broken since June. United "fixed" this.

There is allegedly another loophole that somebody on this board has been able to exploit but has never posted how.

-RM

you are correct - the rub here is, they are charging me a fare difference of $400. Even if I were to go forward with this purchase, there are no guarantees that I'll get an automatic upgrade for one or both of my inbound flights. It's a little comical, when i call UA, they refer me to LH. When i call LH, they refer me to UA.

i've been consistently having this issue where the (offshore) phone agent is giving out different numbers of seats available in J than what the app shows. They will say a different number from JX and seats available on the seat map so EZR is probably showing a different number somehow than in the revenue management system or DCS.

Thanks for the advice!

This is what I see as of a few minutes ago - i'm #5 on the list. folks who've gone through this many times, do you think i have a good shot at making the cut?


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a913498570.png
upgrade list

I called LH again a few minutes ago and they told me that for the first inbound leg, JNB-FRA (11/27), there's 19 business seats available while for the next leg, FRA-SFO (11/28) there's 14 available. so the question of the day is, should i roll the dice and pay the united charge to bump up the ticket to H class/prime and then apply for upgrades for both legs?
folks who've been doing this for a while/experts, would love to hear your thoughts...and if there's any specific questions I should ask LH or UA.

Again, thank you so much for the help/education....this is getting addictive!

I'd be optimistic, cautiously. It's not guaranteed, but you'll hopefully clear at about 9a eastern tomorrow. If you were two to three places down I'd be a lot more nervous.

Upgrade Chances
 

LHR-SFO
Took a confirmed Premium Plus upgrade a couple weeks ago. Called to see if we could also get on the Polaris waitlist with an MUA (because I now think I need the PQPs).
They said they’d have to rebook us into economy to apply the MUA to Premium and Polaris. So do I risk the Premium Plus upgrade for a chance at a Polaris upgrade?
2 days out. 10 People on Polaris List, 2 on Premium Plus List.
J9,P9 O2, A2, R1 (giving up our PP seats would add to the fare bucket I’d assume)

Since #6 is #1 on the list this morning I assume they cleared the first five including you (congrats!) and it's still showing 16 empty seats.

GOR, V is still #5 on that list.

But now has likely cleared, since name has disappeared.

yes sir!
woke up this morning and just as you/fumje had predicted, 9am EST brought the wonderful news on the upgrade going through. put a HUGE smile on my face as it's a grueling 14.5hr flight...

This is making me embolden to call UA and have them re-issue my inbound flight to LH prime by paying the fare difference and then applying for pluspoints upgrades for both sectors since they show 19 and 14 seats available.

Again, this forum has been a godsend and a wonderful community who's always willing to help - huge thanks!

I’m still having a little trouble following. If you have a fare less than an H fare, you’d have to pay the fare difference to get to H before (a) they would be willing to convert it and (b) you’d be eligible to upgrade it. So, if that’s what the $400 is, then that makes sense.

If there are award seats available on United.com for the non-stop LH flight you want, that’s a pretty good indication that your upgrade would clear. But otherwise, you’re right — you’d buying a lottery ticket. That’s how many people felt about the GPU system that predated PlusPoints, as GPUs required a W fare on long-haul routes, but there was no guarantee your upgrade would clear, so some folks ended up paying hundreds of extra dollars for no tangible benefit. :(

a lot of people still do pay the upgrade lottery tax given that sub w fares cost 80 plus points

1. I purchased a W class economy ticket and it's not eligible for upgrades on LH operated flights. the fare difference would be $301 (i was wrong about it being $400).
2. I have folks willing to help me with 80 plus points (40 for each leg JNB-FRA and FRA-SFO) but i'm still debating if I should go ahead and upgrade my flight to H class or higher and then apply for upgrade.
3. When i called LH yesterday, they mentioned they had 19 and 14 seats available but if there's an alternate method to glean how many seats are truly available for upgrades vs number of people on standby, it would be good to know (vs relying on agents).

hope this clarifies

I can’t imagine paying more than maybe $50 to save 40 PlusPoints unless I was either (a) absolutely certain the flight would clear (e.g.., existing PZ space, or an empty cabin, not too distant, and PN9) or (b) planning to cancel the flight if the upgrade didn’t look likely.

OK, that makes sense then. UA is doing the right thing. It’s unfortunate that the fare difference is that high, but at least I understand where they’re coming from now. :)

That’s very generous. :)

I don’t think LH puts an explicit cap on the number of upgrades. What I would do is do a United.com award search for JNB-FRA and another for FRA-SFO. If business class awards exist on those segments, there’s a good chance you’d clear. If not, you might still clear but I’m not sure if I’d pay $300 to find out. (Others who upgrade from LH Economy to Business, feel free to chime in. :)

Used to be that LH prioritized UA upgrades over its own elites, since UA pays them cash for the upgraded seats.

I'd still hesitate though - it's a bit of a sucker's game paying more just for a chance at an upgrade.

That implies you value PP at ~$12/ea? (Or at least, the risk adjusted value of them) You must have a lot of PP so they go unused or you rarely get upgraded? Over the last few months we are saving typically $1000-1200 in cash upgrade costs per 40 PP, with a 100% success rate (6/6). If UA would let flyers sell PP I would buy all I could possibly get at $12/ea

My advice, though, is check the price for R if available. On a recent flight K-W was $10 more that K-R. No brainer to guarantee at least a PE seat, plus saved 10PP per J UG. (For two travelers, we paid $600 to save 100PP on what would have been ~$3700 in K-J cash UG costs)

Recent change? I thought it went down to Q. At least that's what UA website still says.

Well, risk-adjusted is the key. I very, very rarely waitlist — I’ve cleared two this year only because it seemed that UA was going to be stubborn about PZ space even on a route where they have no realistic hope of filling the cabin. In most cases, I will continue to look around until I find PZ space. Then, I might be willing to pay a small amount extra for a W fare, but only if I expect to have a strong need for more PlusPoints.

Most of my flights are domestic, and my upgrade rate on them is approximately the same with or without PlusPoints.

OK, but most people aren’t taking 6 flights in “a few months” that cost $1000+ for upgrades and clear easily. Your experience is atypical.

Here I agree; when R is reasonable, it makes a lot of sense — but I doubt I’d buy up from K to do it.

My mistake. Yes, Q is eligible — I missed it when I reviewed them. gordita I hope that’s what UA was selling you, but just in case I wanted to call your attention to this correction. Sorry about that (and thanks, econ).

About 20 people went through on this one today, including me. Think the full upgrade list was about 25 long, with 24/60 being the booked count before this mass got pushed through.

Wonder what my chance of 1K upgrade on the 8:30pm flight from MCO-DEN on 12/9 (my birthday) under a G fare. Any thoughts?

Probably zero for a CPU. 7 seats left up front. Better w/ miles or PlusPoints, but a little early to give better/worse than 50/50

Hi all, I am complete new to this upgrade game and I am looking for some advice. I am booking a flight SFO - PVG for Dec 18 and it seems that it still has plenty of business seats left. I am wondering what is my chance of getting upgraded if I book a PE (O) ticket and spend 20k miles for the MUA upgrade waitlist? Is it still too early to say anything? To me the PE seat itself is not worth the price so if the chance of upgrade is slim I will not buy it. I rarely fly so I don't have any fly member status.

Thanks for any advice! Please let me know if there is any other information I should look for.

• J9
• JN9
• C9
• D9
• Z9
• ZN9
• P9
• PN0
• PZ0
• IN0
• I0
• O9
• ON9
• A9
• R9
• RN0

It's too early to say for sure, but that inventory is promising. As a general member on an O fare, you would still be behind anyone using an upgrade instrument from a Global Services member's account, plus anyone with status in the PE cabin. However, you'd be ahead of anyone on a non-GS instrument in the economy cabin.

Keep in mind that not everyone picks a seat. I would say your chances are good, but there's certainly no guarantee.

Miracles do happen. Upcoming flight this Wednesday (day before thanksgiving) 4 of us flying together on the same reservation with PP applied, DCA-IAH, had all 4 upgrades clear to F at once at pretty much exactly T-120. Seatmap shows 5 of 16 F seats remaining now.

A very light business/elite travel day, and thus good for upgrades. But a nice surprise in any event!

3 days out from my trip on Thanksgiving 11/23
1K with Plus Points applied - booking class W
LAX-HKG
Relevant fare class availability: J9, JN9, C9, D9, Z9, ZN9, P9

Thinking odds for at least Premium Economy are good but hoping for Business, curious what others may think.

100%😄

Add: Now, upgrade WL is visible. Only nine of 48 seats are booked, with 21 on WL for Polaris. I am surprised that UA cleared the Premium Plus WL, but not Polaris WL in advance.

UA 26 on 12/5 - currently in Economy on a W fare. 1K throwing as many plus points as possible but just rebooked to this flight yesterday. Possibilities ? They did take the $125 duty on booking. Thanks !

I'd say chances look good.

For the benefit of the UK govt on premium seating (First/Business/Premium Economy). No bearing on your upgrade chances.

I knew that but when I had the same booking for Dec 3, they hadn’t taken it. However, this reservation has kind of been all over the place, starting with the outgoing flight getting cancelled(by United) awhile ago. For me, it just means a calendar reminder to get it back if the upgrade doesn’t happen.

1K on waitlist for Polaris upgrade on UA 181 on 11/28, originally in A class (premium plus). My naive analysis looks good (P9; seat map shows 24 Polaris seats free). I'm #1 on waitlist, based on what agents told me. Any sense for 1) likelihood of upgrade and 2) when it would clear (i.e., 72hrs, or something)? I have some flexibility - so could move to UA 26 if needed.