I bought a PE ticket LAX-SFO-FRA for this summer, and put in for an upgrade. I happened to check united.com a few weeks (months?) later, and noted that because of changes in departure times for both LAX-SFO and SFO-FRA, they had rerouted me (through IAD?), on a flight without PE. I am not sure why, since the connection time was the same through SFO, just different arrival/departure times. I called United and told them I wanted my original flights and seats.. The agent fixed it all right then.

And within 24 hours I got an email saying I had been upgraded (to the new Polaris). Would you guess this had anything to do with the mess up with my original routing?

Maybe due to LH offering lower PE booking classes on flights in question ......

The email to 1K voice worked like a charm. I guess I gave them enough information that the GPU was redeposited quite quickly!

That's not at all what I've seen. LH is WAY cheaper.

Is there a big difference between the Premium Plus seat and the Economy Plus seat (with an empty middle seat) ?
I have an upcoming trip with the following flights: EWR-SFO (Business) and SFO-PVG (Economy Plus), but I could use the same-day change for the following flights instead: EWR-ORD (Economy) and ORD-PVG (Premium Plus seat). Would that be worth it to change to get the Premium Plus seat on the 14h flight to China?

Not to be snarky, but why do you think you'll get an empty middle in E+?

Especially to PVG..

​​​​​​
It's more of an assumption than a guarantee, but on my last 4 trips to China this year with United I always got either an empty middle seat or even an entire row to myself in E+. Also, for my next trip this week, EconomyPlus is about 1/6 full. Maybe I'm just lucky !

For me, a seat that is almost 2 inches wider, with 3 more inches legroom, more recline, a larger IFE screen, with better headphones, better catering and a better cabin location is worth considering. Whether it is worth it for you on a particular flight depends on the cost difference and your budget, including who's paying. I would also compare the difference in cost between PP and Polaris to see if I could go all the way to a lay-flat seat. I have not flown United's PP product yet, but have flown AC PE on long (14 hour) flights to Asia (where I think the hard product is similar) and certainly find it miles better than economy on the same routing.

Also, for those of us who need to be careful to make certain status levels, the extra PQM can help for not that much more especially when I'm spending my own $$.

United 180 Premium Plus cabin
 

Yes, the full bar from the cart. I had Buffalo Chase (twice) plus two glasses of wine. NOTE that you are also entitled to the half bottles of premium wine; they may try to pour your wine from the full bottle that Y gets. Ask for the half bottle premium instead.

I'm doing a quick MR ($291 r/t) next week EWR-LAX, outbound on a 787-10 and was able to get 21 J in PP. As Gold, I was able to easily select the PP seat at no extra cost, does that mean it "may be taken away from me" to upgrade a higher level passenger prior to my flight ? And assuming I do get to keep it, will I be served breakfast or should I bring my own? (My return is on a 752 - 10D)