How to use united regional upgrades for real long haul biz class

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Mar 22, 2018, 8:37 am

#16

milepig

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: ORD

Programs: UA 1K

Posts: 16,901

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoatyMcBoatface

Ahoy! I fly biz class to Asia a decent amount for work, getting me to platinum status with a couple of regional upgrades.

My spouse is from a small town blue collar background and would never think of spending the money to do this herself but secretly is pretty envious of me flying this way while she gets to stay home and work her job and single mother it while I travel for work.

Thus, I want to find a way to get her the true full experience that I think you only find on long haul intercontinental flights (labeled Polaris I guess with lay flat seats and such).

My research has turned up that you can use "regional" upgrades on flights to Oceania. I am in California. The trouble is, I don't see any united flights to places like Fiji, Tahiti, etc. Just partner airlines like air new zealand.

Any United experts know if I can use my regional points to upgrade to a true biz class somehow to Oceania or any others?

I doubt I will get to 1k status this year for global upgrade points

Thanks for any help!

It doesn't solve the regional upgrade issue, but an recent addition to routing does include SFO/PPT (Tahiti). Seasonal service beginning around the first of November.

Mar 22, 2018, 10:48 am

#17

BoatyMcBoatface

Original Poster

Join Date: Mar 2018

Posts: 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by eigenvector

Your best option is probably to just redeem an award ticket in business class for your wife. This will be much much easier than trying to confirm an upgrade on a premium US transcontinental route. If you are flying business to Asia you must have a good stash of MileagePlus miles!

Pardon my ignorance, but does this mean buying her ticket from scratch using miles or buying a coach ticket in cash and upgrading in miles? Is there a difference or is it in the end largely the same if you treat miles as worth a cent each?

I have something like 150k miles currently. Obviously it is not nearly enough for two multi thousand dollar tickets. This is after blowing 200k miles last summer on 4 tickets to a family reunion in a small city that cost a fortune to fly into for some reason I can't fathom...

Thanks to you and all the other posters for the tips!

Mar 22, 2018, 11:43 am

#18

StuckinITH

Join Date: Nov 2012

Programs: BA Bronze, United 1K, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Marriott Platinum

Posts: 3,477

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoatyMcBoatface

This is after blowing 200k miles last summer on 4 tickets to a family reunion in a small city that cost a fortune to fly into for some reason I can't fathom...

The key word here is "small city". From my small city, sometimes I can get an award to ORD for 10k miles each way but most of the times when I need to use an award to connect to or from an international flight, United wants 32.5k miles each way. Which it's not going to happen....... And the reason I have to look for an award is because booking the connection to ORD with an economy fare international flight increases the cost by $1200 and booking the connection to ORD with a Polaris Business fare increases the cost by $3500. Which is not going to happen either......

Last edited by StuckinITH; Mar 22, 2018 at 11:49 am

Mar 22, 2018, 12:07 pm

#19

jmanirish

Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: LAX

Programs: UA:1k; MR: PLT; Hilton: Gold

Posts: 1,324

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoatyMcBoatface

How flexible is the time before/after your work trips? With 150k miles, you have enough miles for a UA saver J award to Asia (North or Japan - 140k/rt; South/Central - 150k/rt). Will take a lot of effort to plan/find/coordinate, but could fly out before a work trip together and you stay and she flies home. Or in the reverse where she meets you at the end and you stay longer together. The plus side to doing it this way is you don't have to play any 'lottery' - either there is availability and you book, or there isn't and you don't. Note you *could* waitlist awards, but would't do that as it complicates things.

Mar 22, 2018, 12:37 pm

#20

eigenvector

Join Date: Apr 2015

Location: YVR

Programs: UA Premier Platinum

Posts: 3,759

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoatyMcBoatface

A few differences:

1. Upgrading an economy ticket with miles & cash or a Regional Premier Upgrade comes from a different inventory bin than an all-miles award ticket
2. RPUs only work on United flights whereas you can redeem an award ticket on any Star Alliance carrier

#2 basically means you have a lot more options to choose from particularly if you want to go long-haul. For example a "Saver" award in business class from the USA to Europe is 120k miles (round trip) on United or 140k on another Star Alliance carrier and a ticket to Japan would be 140k on United or 160k on a partner. The cost of "Saver" award tickets is fixed based on the origin and destination, so the value of your miles in terms of how much it'd cost to buy that ticket in cash can be pretty high. Much higher than $0.01/mile.

Mar 22, 2018, 1:08 pm

#21

docbert

Join Date: Jul 2007

Location: San Francisco/Sydney

Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC

Posts: 8,151

Quote:

Originally Posted by VWang1111

Regional upgrades are not going to be valid on any routes marketed as Polaris business.

Whilst you can't get Polaris Business with an RPU, you can get United Business!

From SFO, RPU's can be used to upgrade to United Business to EWR or BOS, which will give much of the international business class experience (including lounge access, lie-flat seats, etc).

They can also be used to upgrade to United First on flights to IAD and HNL, some of which have lie-flat seats but you won't get the rest of the experience (lounge in particular).

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