MatthewLAX

Those are your only two options unless UA offers a cheaper buy-up at check-in. Keep checking the price. It fluctuates.

garykung

Because cash or miles+cash are the only options available to you.

Often1

UA, just like DL and AA, does not give freebie UG's on international flights (with some limited exceptions, apparently not including your flights.)

Either you support your upgrade with cash, miles, or a certificate or the flight is overbooked and at risk of oversale and UA upgrades you for its own operational convenience (very, very, very unlikely for a Silver).

UA charges what experience tells it some passengers will likely pay. Bargains are in the eye of the beholder.

username

A co-worker did the Mileage + Copay upgrade for TPAC and there were some oddities...

A - the outbound was charged a single $600 co-pay but the return was charged $300 + $300?
B - the mileage was not deducted for some reason and UA could not figure out why

He confirmed into PP on the outbound immediately (there was RN available) and PNR shows WL for Polaris. The return WL segments (for PP and Polaris) are all there.

Questions:

1 - any idea why A above happened? 2 segments each way, connecting at SFO, Outbound was K and return was L
2 - do tickets get re-issued for upgrades?
3 - he is concerned the PP -> Polaris upgrade will skip him because something might be wrong (i.e. no mileage has been deducted). UA cannot figure out why. Should he be worried? How can it be figured out/fixed?

Thanks.

WineCountryUA

No
It generally gets noticed, eventually
Miles and/or CoPay not deducted on award booking/ upgrade

woodburyhome

AKL - SFO I have a PP (fare bucket O) and am waitlisted for Polaris using miles (no status). Unfortunately, United just did an equipment swap and the 14 empty Polaris seats just went away, now there are only 6 with 90 days to go until flight. Is there anyway to tell where I am on the wait list this far out or is it only 5 days prior to departure? I'm thinking of swaping flights if I have zero chance (and I suspect that is the case)

jsloan

There's no realistic way to tell where you are on the waitlist until just prior to departure.

You have zero chance, but I wouldn't change unless I saw open PZ space on a different routing. Otherwise, you're just wasting a change fee.

findark

Even 46/60 on a 77W at 90 days you would still have no chance. Agree with jsloan though that a change is good money after bad unless you can find PZ space.

woodburyhome

Thanks, I have a good fare $1,600 so I may suck it up. But for another 1k, I can take Latam Biz to AUS layover 3 hrs then United (fake) Polaris home.

IADFlyer123

Does the GS in Y trumps ticketed in PP still hold true? As per the latest priority order update, UA's language has been updated for flights with PP. Right in front of the priority order, the first line (Status) has a foot note that reads "PP ticketed passengers will be higher priority over those in E".

I have UA 48 (EWR-BOM) coming up in 15 days with ticketed in R class and waitlisted for Polaris using my GPU. This language ambiguity is what worries me:

Waitlist priority for all flights

• Premier upgrades (Regional Premier Upgrades, Global Premier Upgrades or PlusPoints) and MileagePlus Upgrade Awards
• Premier status of the traveler*
• Fare class
• Chase United MileagePlus Club cardholders and Presidential Plus cardholders
• United Chase Cardmembers with $25,000 in annual spending
• Date and time of request

*On flights equipped with United Premium Plus, we will process requests to upgrade to business class for customers ticketed in United Premium Plus (fare classes O, A, R) before processing requests for customers ticketed in economy.



So will GS in Y still trump a lowly 1K in PP?

jsloan

Prior to departure, absolutely -- the GS GPU is waitlisted for PN, whereas yours is waitlisted for PZ. Furthermore, at T-72, if there are sufficient seats remaining, a GS can call and force the upgrade through.

At the gate, the wording suggests that a 1K in P+ would be ahead of a GS in Y, but I don't know if we actually have any proof of that. I'm somewhat skeptical.

IADFlyer123

That's what I was afraid of. Guess will keep my fingers crossed! Thank you.

flyingrohit

Hi guys, I have a question about applying a GPU to my itinerary. So I just wanted to see the general upgrade price, co-pay, all that good stuff. I was going to originally book myself into premium economy. It says there is no upgrade eligible fare from premium economy to Polaris. But that's just what it says here. This doesn't mean that a GPU can't be applied here right? I figure that restriction here is only because the LAX-EWR flight doesn't have a formal Premium plus cabin. But a GPU should still be able to be applied without any issues right? Just wanted to ensure this before having my relative apply a GPU to my flight. I understand that if an upgrade isn't available then I'll be waitlisted which is fine but just wanted to ensure. Thanks! Thanks in advance!

jsloan

All United-operated flights booked into Premium Economy are eligible for upgrade with a GPU. You may safely ignore the fact that it doesn't say that it's upgrade-eligible.

flyingrohit

Sounds good, Thanks! I wish they'd give Gold members 1 or 2 GPUs like once ever 3-4 years of remaining gold but i guess can't have everything right? Thanks anyways!

Let me know how your upgrade goes! Will be flying in Jan. First time trying a GPU on this route. Anytime I fly this route, there's too many 1Ks/Plats to even be in the upgrade list for Polaris.