upgrade with miles + co-pay on waitlist, can I cancel upgrade if seat is undesirable?
 

I paid for an upgrade with miles + co-pay on one of the TPAC flights in my reservation.

The other TPAC flight is only showing all-cash upgrade as available. Miles + co-pay is showing waitlist.

The seat map for the flight currently shows only 9 seats as open... 2 are straight window seats and 7 are angled seats in the center row in the rear section of the 777-300ER Polaris business class.

If I pay with miles + co-pay and get on the waitlist, can I cancel if the only remaining open seats are the dreaded angled seats in the center? If not, I guess I'll just keep monitoring the upgrade situation and only pay for the upgrade if a straight forward-facing seats remains open...

Thanks!

You can cancel for free at any time up until the point you are upgraded. After that, there may be a re-credit fee depending on your status:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...ticketing.html

It won't matter, because if there are only 9 seats available, the chances are that you won't clear, but I would take a "dreaded angled seat in the center" over any seat in Economy.

If upgraded, you can downgrade
- If with miles there will be a mileage redeposit fee
- Additional if original fare class is not available, then there will be a fare differential to the lowest available fare
- At the gate, the GA can downgrade you without at fare differential BUT the choice of economy seats will be limited

Generally, a downgrade is a bad idea due to the negatives

Actually, UA has traditionally charged a redeposit fee any time the upgrade request is cancelled, even if it has not yet cleared. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...grade-fee.html

What is an undesirable upgrade seat? I don't think I've seen one.

I’ve never tried, but added myself to waitlist on a SFO-IAD Flight with miles. I asked, and agent said they won’t charge the redeposit fee if there are no segments that have cleared. Like I said, didn’t try, so YMMV.

Technically, fee is for having mileage out back into your account, though personally, I’d say if nothing has cleared, you haven’t really used the award anyway. Not sure if UA sees it that way, but like I said, agent I spoke to seemed to agree.

Not "undesirable" per se, but I've felt the same way as the OP in some instances. For a TPAC flight, I might bear parting with 30,000 miles + $600 for a straight window seat, but if the only type available is an angled center seat, I'd prefer saving the miles and copay and take an Economy Plus aisle.

Last year I waitlisted for Premium Plus (30,000 miles + $0 copay). It cleared, but only a center middle seat was available. I canceled that upgrade and got the miles redeposited without penalty as a 1K. Turned out that Premium Plus was fully occupied, but I got a whole row (three seats) of Economy Plus to myself!! That was a good decision :D

Nice! I haven't had all 3 seats to myself on a 777 since I swapped with some family on SFO-OGG in 2010. Won't ever forget that flight

Never trust what a phone agent tells you. It has absolutely been policy to charge the fee.

I understand having a seat preference but what is "dreaded" about a seat in the center section? Polaris has dividers to keep you out of direct contact with your nextdoor neighbor, do they not? It's not like on Asiana and others with the "honeymoon" seats in business class literally sleeping face to face with a stranger.