Mar 29, 2019, 3:12 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
GPU Upgrades for aircraft with United® Premium Plus:
- MileagePlus members seated in United Economy can use a single Global Premier Upgrade request to move to a United® Premium Plus seat or upgrade to the United Polaris® business class cabin.
- If you’d like to be considered for a move to a United® Premium Plus seat or an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin, we’ll move you to the first available seat. If the first available seat is a United® Premium Plus seat, we’ll continue to look for space in the United Polaris business class cabin without requiring an additional Global Premier Upgrade.
- Members who have purchased United® Premium Plus upgrade-eligible fares will also be able to request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin using one Global Premier Upgrade.
- United Polaris business class upgrade requests for members who have purchased United® Premium Plus seats will be processed in priority order first, followed by upgrade requests for members who have purchased United Economy seats. Learn more about upgrade priority order.
- There will be no fare class restriction, other than for Basic Economy and Economy (first bag charge/no changes allowed) tickets, for members who have purchased a United Economy seat and request to move to a United® Premium Plus seat, and no fare class restriction for members who have purchased a United® Premium Plus seat and request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin.
- Members requesting to move to a United® Premium Plus seat only and who have domestic portions of their itinerary will not be automatically waitlisted for United First. To be waitlisted for United First on domestic portions of an international itinerary, use your Global Premier Upgrade to request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin.
Mileage Upgrades For aircraft with United® Premium Plus:
- System-wide, all MileagePlus members seated in United Economy can use a single MileagePlus Upgrade Award request to move to a United® Premium Plus seat or upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin.
- If you'd like to be considered for a move to a United® Premium Plus seat or for an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin, we’ll move you to the first available seat. If the first available seat is a United® Premium Plus seat, we’ll continue to look for space in the United Polaris business class cabin.
- If you requested an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin, and we moved you to a United® Premium Plus seat, we’ll refund the difference in co-pay and miles after departure.
- Members requesting a MileagePlus Upgrade Award to a United® Premium Plus seat only will not be waitlisted for United First on portions of their itinerary that do not contain United® Premium Plus.
- Members who have purchased United® Premium Plus upgrade-eligible fares will also be able to request an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin using a MileagePlus Upgrade Award.
- United Polaris business class cabin upgrade requests for members who have purchased United® Premium Plus seats will be processed in priority order first, followed by upgrade requests for members who have purchased United Economy seats. Learn more about upgrade priority order.
How does PlusPoints / Mileage Upgrade waitlist for business work with PremiumPlus?
Jun 13, 2019, 8:35 am
#136
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,422
Extremely sharp peak in high season (fare table usually defines as 11-Dec to 31-Jan), and much easier outside of that. For shoulder months, I would consider the low days of the week to be easy and the high days tougher. "February" could vary from the last Tuesday in Feb (easy) to the first Saturday (hard).
Jun 13, 2019, 9:17 am
#137
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: UA 1K, Marriot Platinum, LH FTl, Hertz PC
Posts: 28
Didn't mention that I booked the trip already, we're flying Feb 17th (Monday) HAM-FRA-SFO-AKL, returning March 9th (Monday). Usually, I made good use of GPU's clearing on Wednesdays but that wasn't an option for this trip. It was only $1600 for an R fare when I booked it, and I was afraid that prices go up very soon. I had two trips on US domestic flights in UA PE already, and enjoyed it. Don't know if it's good enough for an overnight trip... My initial plan was to make use of my miles but no tickets on that route at all, no award tickets on the eastern route with Singapur Airlines or Thai either. I could do an upgrade to Polaris with miles and co-pay but that doesn't look attractive to me (70k Miles + $900 co-pay, of course only waitlisted), what do you think ?
Last edited by djtn; Jun 13, 2019 at 9:24 am
Jun 13, 2019, 10:17 am
#138
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$1,600 r/t for PE on HAM-AKL? That would be a good deal even for Y 
I think the Monday SFO-AKL has a decent shot of an upgrade to J, the AKL-SFO a bit less since Monday is the business day of choice (arrives 6am Monday morning Stateside). The only issue I can see with the upgrades is that you could clear only one of FRA-SFO-AKL, which would be annoying. That, and I guess ex-Europe prices are insanely low these days, maybe J via an eastbound route can be had for $2,xxx. From the US to New Zealand anything less than 4k is rare.
I think the Monday SFO-AKL has a decent shot of an upgrade to J, the AKL-SFO a bit less since Monday is the business day of choice (arrives 6am Monday morning Stateside). The only issue I can see with the upgrades is that you could clear only one of FRA-SFO-AKL, which would be annoying. That, and I guess ex-Europe prices are insanely low these days, maybe J via an eastbound route can be had for $2,xxx. From the US to New Zealand anything less than 4k is rare.
Jun 13, 2019, 3:03 pm
#139
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: UA 1K, Marriot Platinum, LH FTl, Hertz PC
Posts: 28
Infact, it was €1600 which is $1800, still surprisingly good. I just looked up prices for SFO-AKL alone and noticed that they are twice as high as my entire routing from Germany to AKL, now I know what you were talking about.
Regarding GPU clearing, I take it as a gift whenever a GPU clears. And if only FRA-SFO clears then the GPU will not be used as SFO-AKL is the longer leg. This is a big difference over LH where I used to earn miles the last 20 years. High taxes and unattractive upgrade options made me a UA frequent flyer without regrets.
Regarding GPU clearing, I take it as a gift whenever a GPU clears. And if only FRA-SFO clears then the GPU will not be used as SFO-AKL is the longer leg. This is a big difference over LH where I used to earn miles the last 20 years. High taxes and unattractive upgrade options made me a UA frequent flyer without regrets.
Jun 13, 2019, 3:18 pm
#140
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Join Date: Nov 2014
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Posts: 14,422
Either way, it should have a decent shot (GPU or miles+cash), the only better option would be I swear I've recently seen something like ARN-AKL for €2,200 return (in J), which makes me bemoan the US economy
Jun 13, 2019, 3:37 pm
#142
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA MM Plat, UA 1MM, Hilton Lifetime Gold, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold, CLEAR, AS MVP Gold
Posts: 3,621
Jun 13, 2019, 3:47 pm
#143
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: UA 1K, Marriot Platinum, LH FTl, Hertz PC
Posts: 28
ok, my bad , Polaris makes the difference. I recently had a routing HNL-SFO-EWR-FRA and only HNL-SFO cleared, I asked 1kvoice why the GPU wasn’t touched and they mentioned the leg distance thing.
Jun 13, 2019, 3:53 pm
#144
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Sorry, I'm having a hard time getting past the bolded part of your post . . . .
Jun 14, 2019, 2:01 am
#145
Join Date: Dec 2017
Programs: UA 1K, Marriot Platinum, LH FTl, Hertz PC
Posts: 28
Initially, I thought that whenever a GPU clears it's gone. In fact, for my routing HNL-SFO-EWR-FRA-HAM, the GPU was debited from my account before the trip when I decided to try the GPU based upgrade. The HNL-SFO leg did clear, the other's didn't. Some days after the trip, I saw the GPU returning to my stock and hence was surprised. I called 1kvoice and they explained to me that the longest leg of my route (EWR-FRA) did not clear, therefore the GPU was given back to me. Up to now with this discussion, I didn't get the difference of using GPUs for Polaris and Non-Polaris legs. Thx for sorting this out.
Jun 14, 2019, 10:38 am
#146
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA MM Plat, UA 1MM, Hilton Lifetime Gold, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold, CLEAR, AS MVP Gold
Posts: 3,621
Initially, I thought that whenever a GPU clears it's gone. In fact, for my routing HNL-SFO-EWR-FRA-HAM, the GPU was debited from my account before the trip when I decided to try the GPU based upgrade. The HNL-SFO leg did clear, the other's didn't. Some days after the trip, I saw the GPU returning to my stock and hence was surprised. I called 1kvoice and they explained to me that the longest leg of my route (EWR-FRA) did not clear, therefore the GPU was given back to me. Up to now with this discussion, I didn't get the difference of using GPUs for Polaris and Non-Polaris legs. Thx for sorting this out.
Jun 14, 2019, 1:54 pm
#147
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: SAN
Programs: 1K (since 2008), *G (since 1990), 1MM
Posts: 3,219
The shorter leg CDG-SFO cleared. SFO-SYD died at #2 on the upgrade list.
GPU used.
(Cannot wait for PP+ on the SYD routes. E+ is very, very hard. Usually take NZ in their PE but could not make it work for this flight).
Jun 15, 2019, 2:37 am
#148
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SBA
Programs: UA & AA 1 million miler
Posts: 1,134
I still don't understand how GPU works now...
I am thinking to buy an economy W fare ticket, and SFO-NRT segment shows PZ=9 now.
In this case do I get an instant upgrade to Polaris Business from Economy (skip PE) when a GPU is applied?
Or, do I need to buy PE (R fare) ticket to get upgraded instantly when GPU is applied?
The fare difference is $300 between W and R fare (one way ticket), by the way...
I am thinking to buy an economy W fare ticket, and SFO-NRT segment shows PZ=9 now.
In this case do I get an instant upgrade to Polaris Business from Economy (skip PE) when a GPU is applied?
Or, do I need to buy PE (R fare) ticket to get upgraded instantly when GPU is applied?
The fare difference is $300 between W and R fare (one way ticket), by the way...
Jun 15, 2019, 2:47 am
#149
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,413
No. Buy whichever is cheaper. In this case, it sounds like that’s the W.
Jun 15, 2019, 4:29 am
#150
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