jsloan

Good point; I'd forgotten about that. ^

justsawaufo

I'm curious, totally not related but what do you do for a living? are you only flying international J and F?

MostlyUA

[QUOTE=jsloan;29803741]The Air Passenger Duty is applicable only to outbound flights. Someone looking to avoid it should consider returning from an airport in Ireland, Northern Ireland, or continental Europe.

Outbound from Paris, Air Passenger Duty is around $44 per person upgraded.

CDSEA

I only fly international J or F domestically if connecting to an international leg. For a pure domestic trip, I book in the lowest fare economy I can find. However, in the last 12 months I've only done 3 or 4 of those.

My standard round trip earns 75,000 award miles, 26,120 PQMs, and $6500 to $7500 PQD. I'd guess I do 10 or 12 of those a year. Right now, I'm on my 4th of the year and I'll fly 2 more (6 total) before June is over.

Trying real hard to move my travel to the US. I lose the status the the miles but I'm okay with that.

CDSEA

Thanks for this post.

A few questions.

When do the GPUs expire? I assume certificates earned in 2018 expire in January 1, 2020? Do I have to book them or fly them before they expire?

What is a standard saver J vs a non-stop J in terms of miles from West coast to Europe? How about saver vs non-saver economy? Can the GPU be applied to saver and non saver?

Anything else I'm missing?

findark

They expire on January 31 of the second calendar year following when they are earned. If you earn GPUs based on flight activity in 2018, they will be valid until 31-Jan-20. You must complete travel by the expiry deadline (they cannot be applied to flights after expiry).

The lone exception is that if you have qualified for Premier 1K for the following program year, you may have two GPUs from the current year extended until April 30. For example, if this year you re-qualify for 1K status in 2019 (which you no doubt already have), you could extend two of last year's GPUs until April 30, 2019). However, this option is usually only made available in November, and requires calling to ask.

In Economy, a Saver award to Europe is 30k miles each way, and a Standard Award is 70k miles each way.
In Business, a Saver award is 60k miles each way on United metal, and 70k if on *A partner metal overwater. A Standard award is 155k miles.

You can apply a GPU to either a saver or standard award, but the limiting factor is usually the upgrade space so it's kind of moot. As a GS member, you have unpublished benefits for additional award/upgrade inventory, which include:

- Ability to book a Saver Economy award if the flight has inventory in T class (normally XN is required)
- Ability to book a Saver Business award if the flight has inventory in R class (normally IN is required)
- Ability to upgrade to Business if the flight has inventory in PN class (normally R is required)
- Ability to apply upgrade instruments to award tickets
- Ability to book a Saver Business award or force an upgrade to Business, if you are traveling on the same flight on a paid Business class ticket and there are at least 3 seats in J class. Limit one per GS on a paid ticket.

Shared with all other Premier members, Standard Awards are last-seat availability, so although they are expensive they can be useful in a pinch. Note that Standard Awards are only available on United metal; the website may try to sell you them on partner metal but this is misleading - they are just charging you more miles when a Saver award is also available (although it may open up more connecting options on UA metal).

hscottm

malgudi

These are some very basic questions ... might I suggest reading up on the benefits etc so you can take full advantage of being a GS.

WineCountryUA

The wikis of a couple threads might be informative
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...solidated.html (wiki)

Consolidated Global Services Thread: Benefits, Questions [2018] (wiki)

plus mileage for awards can be determined on UA's Interactive Award Chart
Note Standard awards not longer exist and have been replaced by EveryDay Awards and the listed mileage is the max, some days it can be less

TomMM

This year I've made 3 trips to LHR either from ORD or EWR and haven't had an issue finding R space at booking for my dates. Which surprised me, I thought LHR would be a tough upgrade to grab.