Old Feb 12, 2019, 1:21 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is the archive thread, the active thread is Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic (How to use, will it clear?, issues w/flight credit,...)

For general information on upgrading ANA or Lufthansa flights with a GPU, see Upgrading Flights Operated by ANA or Lufthansa. You actually request the upgrade through the online form, here: Request a GPU for a Select Partner Airline.

Per United web support, you only need to fill in the required* info.

**The LH flight you are upgrading must be an LH flight, not a UA codeshare flight. If you have a UA codeshare flight, you can call websupport and they will (put you on hold and] change your itinerary to one with an LH flight#.

Note that UA websupport might give you a new ticket # when you do the above, but if the original ticket # was 016 UA stock, it will remain so, and thus you will still be earning RDMs at the UA rate (11x for a 1K), not the *A rate. In case of a $6000 biz fare for LAX-FRA that you are trying to upgrade to F for example, as a 1K you would earn 66,000 UA RDM if booked as a UA flight. And even though after booking you get them to change the UA flight # from a UA codeshare flight to an LH flight, the 016 ticket stock sticks, and you earn 66,000 RDMs.

(FYI, had the ticket stock been an LH stock, the RDM's earned would be 5790 miles x 150% = 8685 RDMs. Big difference)

Note that sometimes the online upgrading does not work, and you may get an error message to call an 877 number, which is now defunct but still resides on .bomb...Ignore it and just call web support. They might put you on hold while they call LH but they will get the job done.

Eligible Economy Fares to Apply a GPU

Upgradeable to business fares include U/H/Q the lowest eligible economy fares. G&E the two top premium economy fares and Y/B/M the most expensive economy fares. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24219165-post205.html)
While UA has not changed their T&Cs, LH appears to have expanded the potential fare classes
Originally Posted by oliver2002
For C->F upgrade, J, D, C fares are eligible, Z and P fares are not.
Originally Posted by andywaw
Effective April 20th, 2018, all Lufthansa revenue Business Class fares, including P and Z, are eligible to be upgraded to First Class using miles or eVouchers. ...
LH booking class P, Z upgreadable for miles and eVouchers
Appears this also applies to use of UA GPUs IF booked as native flight number on LH or UA ticket stock.
Presently UA is not converting codeshare to native flight numbers, as required for this process, if P or Z fare
From April to September 2018 it was possible to confirm and waitlist P ,Z-class LH flights with a GPU. Confirming and waitlisting is no now longer possible, but previously waitlisted segments will continue to clear as/if available.

Checking for Upgrade Availability

Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24861289-post342.html)

In case of upgrade clearing but eticket refresh problems:

Originally Posted by oliver2002
Both longhaul LH segments cleared into I after being on waitlist . The first didnt get stickered, so the DCS ( amadeus altea ) rejected online and agent checkin . The eticket helpdesk had to manually update the first coupon for the DCS to accept the coupon. My seat in C was safe, since the PNR was updated correctly, just the ticket was not updated completely to the satisfaction of the DCS. Everyone looking at the booking agreed the upgrade was legit, so you will not be denied boarding or downgraded, just budget enough time
Originally Posted by oliver2002
The LH GA must have called the eticket helpdesk and pointed out the * SSR remark in your reservation that shows an upgrade was applied and the e-ticket just needed a fix/sticker. See my experience above.
Checking for availability prior to calling
Originally Posted by oliver2002
Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too.
Use ANA or even united.com to see availability.

To check if C/F upgrades may open up, ask in this thread: Determining LH Y/C/F loads? [the help me guesstimate loads thread]

Regarding ticket stock, Oliver reports:
Originally Posted by oliver2002
Any ticket stock will do.
Each LH flight segment requires a separate GPU
A single GPU can be used to only upgrade a single LH flight segment, And that GPU cannot be extended to include another LH flight segment or another UA flight segment.


Problems getting mileage credit for upgraded LH segments

Numerous reports of denial of mileage credits (RDMs, PQMs, PQSs, PQDs) for upgraded tickets. This issue is probably due to LH uses the same fare bucket for mileage awards and upgrades. It seems patience, persistence, and documentation of the originally paid fare are needed to get credit.

You probably won't get credit by simply submitting the online form or asking a CSR to do so for you. A CSR needs to submit a System Issue Form, together with the mileage request, explaining that you flew in I class, but you paid for a mileage-earning booking class.

T-10

While the original system did not allow the upgrade waitlist to carry on past t-10 hours, the have been multiple reports that this is no longer the case. If not cleared in advance - the upgrade wait-list will last all the way until the door closing. UA has not updated the text on the LH GPU upgrades to reflect this change.

Archive Thread: Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic {Archive}

Related Thread
How to upgrade with UA miles on Star Alliance carriers
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Lufthansa GPUs Go Electronic {Archive}

Old May 22, 2015, 9:41 am
  #331  
 
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An adventure...

Flew CDG-FRA-IAD, UA-designated. Called MP to upgrade FRA-IAD, was transferred to another agent (not sure where). She seemed to know the process, told me she had to call LH, then rebook and reissue. About 25 mins on the phone, all done, upgrade deducted and I got a confirmation email (with a ticket number, but no PNR).

But when I looked at my res, that segment was missing. Thought it might have been on another PNR, but wasn't showing in my reservations. Of course can't search by ticket #. Called LH for a seat, after lots of searching they said they found it, but ticket was mismatched. Called UA again, they said everything was fine. Of course I knew it wasn't, but didn't have more time to chat on phone so I printed out the confirm and hoped for the best.

CDG is now outsourced, they said they didn't see the segment and I should deal with it in FRA. FRA immigration let me through with itinerary, so I headed to Senator. Agent there didn't see a res at all, sent me to biz lounge, where there's a UA agent sitting with LH one. (Who knew?)

Anyway, long story short -- the LH agent was excellent, completely took ownership ("don't worry, we will fix this"). Many interagent discussions and several phone calls later, ticket was reissued and I got my BP.

Without a very long connection and a really determined agent, not sure what would have happened. A warning...
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Old May 23, 2015, 8:53 am
  #332  
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Originally Posted by Alpha Golf
Agent there didn't see a res at all, sent me to biz lounge, where there's a UA agent sitting with LH one. (Who knew?)

Anyway, long story short -- the LH agent was excellent, completely took ownership ("don't worry, we will fix this"). Many interagent discussions and several phone calls later, ticket was reissued and I got my BP.

Without a very long connection and a really determined agent, not sure what would have happened. A warning...
There has always been a UA agent in the C-lounge FRA Z-gates. This can be very helpful when sorting out issues since LH/UA systems are just not integrated at all.
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Old May 23, 2015, 9:46 am
  #333  
 
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Is it possible to call and findout if the upgrade space is available at time of booking?
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Old May 23, 2015, 11:44 am
  #334  
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Originally Posted by hockey7711
Is it possible to call and findout if the upgrade space is available at time of booking?
check online if an award is available, that should do it.
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Old May 23, 2015, 2:06 pm
  #335  
 
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Originally Posted by cfischer
check online if an award is available, that should do it.
I called LH MM and the agent told me there is NO method to search for upgrade inventory in advance. One has to make the request and hope for the best, but there seems to be a correlation between award space for free C & F tickets and upgrade award space.
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Old May 23, 2015, 2:29 pm
  #336  
 
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Originally Posted by chitownflyer
I called LH MM and the agent told me there is NO method to search for upgrade inventory in advance. One has to make the request and hope for the best, but there seems to be a correlation between award space for free C & F tickets and upgrade award space.
Obviously very small sample sizes, but in my experience if UA shows a free award ticket, that means your upgrade will clear immediately. However, the opposite is not necessarily true. As I've had a C>F upgrade clear immediately when no F award space was available to UA (didn't check *A or MM).
If you're concerned with absolutely clearing at booking, then I would assume you could buy the ticket on UA, and try to upgrade. If not, cancel under the 24 hr free cancellation policy.
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Old May 23, 2015, 6:22 pm
  #337  
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Originally Posted by chitownflyer
I called LH MM and the agent told me there is NO method to search for upgrade inventory in advance. One has to make the request and hope for the best, but there seems to be a correlation between award space for free C & F tickets and upgrade award space.
that's b.s.

if none is available then you cannot predict if one will become available before departure. Of course you can you can search for upgrade inventory.
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Old May 23, 2015, 6:48 pm
  #338  
 
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Booked LH flight on ual.com. Applied GPU to the LH flight and now that flight is missing from the UA itinerary online.

UA agent says that once a GPU on LH has been confirmed, that segment would disappear from the itinerary. True?
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Old May 23, 2015, 7:05 pm
  #339  
 
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Originally Posted by bamboola
Booked LH flight on ual.com. Applied GPU to the LH flight and now that flight is missing from the UA itinerary online.

UA agent says that once a GPU on LH has been confirmed, that segment would disappear from the itinerary. True?
I had the same happen with my itinerary. In fact, I cannot even pull it up on UA.com anymore. Agent also warned me about this. However, everything is going fine with my flights.
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Old May 23, 2015, 7:31 pm
  #340  
 
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Originally Posted by Europeanexplorer
I had the same happen with my itinerary. In fact, I cannot even pull it up on UA.com anymore. Agent also warned me about this. However, everything is going fine with my flights.
Good to know. Thanks!
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Old May 23, 2015, 8:09 pm
  #341  
 
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Originally Posted by cfischer
that's b.s.

if none is available then you cannot predict if one will become available before departure. Of course you can you can search for upgrade inventory.
What the agent told me was that they can not directly check for upgrade award space in their system. Whether this is correct, I am not sure. However, there appears to be a correlation between C or F award space and upgrade availability.
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Old May 24, 2015, 1:20 am
  #342  
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Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too.
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Old May 24, 2015, 6:03 pm
  #343  
 
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
Upgrades to E, C and F come from the N, I and O fare bucket, but its a subset, which theoretically is not the same as the award subset. If awards are available it is a strong indication the upgrade is available too.
So it is best to search for an LH C or F award on the UA website, book a ticket, and then attempt to upgrade? This sounds like the best strategy.
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Old May 26, 2015, 3:04 am
  #344  
 
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Originally Posted by zephyr
Is there any reason to have my ticket reissued by UA when it's showing "A modification has been made..." when traveling on LH?

Background:
I purchased a ticket on 016 stock for LH flight numbers in premium economy, applied GPUs and the outbound has cleared which resulted in the out of sync ticket. Everything looks fine on the LH site but would appreciate any guidance. I'm reluctant to call UA for a reissue if not necessary (it's been showing the modification state for a week). Is it safe leave things as is?

Thanks for any advice.
My reservation had the same message with my upgraded LH flight showing the correct LH flight number but 1200AM departure time and a 12:00AM arrival time. When I called UA they stated that I should leave it alone.

On my Day of departure, when I tried to OLCI though the LH site I got an error. When I got to ORD the UA club by the LH gates has a LH desk. She also was not able to issue my BP but got UA to reissue the ticket and then it all worked. In my case it didn't hurt to wait. Hope this helps.
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Old May 28, 2015, 9:22 am
  #345  
 
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It is a process if your flight is codeshared with UA flight number. Called in last night - agent was unfamiliar with the process and said I needed to have Y or B fare, but then passed me on to the supervisor who was ready and able to help. Unfortunately, this requires a call to the LH helpdesk, and they are only open until 1630 central. So, called back this morning and have been on hold for 20 minutes. They're working on it -- I get why it takes some time, but be ready for it if in this situation!
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