henry999

United will happily sell me a ticket involving a 44-minute domestic-domestic connection at ORD. Is that just daft? The thing is, the second flight is the last of the day. If the incoming is late (and it wouldn't have to be much, would it?) and I miss the connection, I don't suppose they would give me a hotel voucher (sardine class, no FF status). If it worked, it would be great; I'm just afraid that it's too big of a gamble.

jsloan

If the delay is caused by something within their control, UA will provide a hotel voucher. If it’s caused by something out of their control — like summer evening thunderstorms at ORD — you’d be on your own. (For domestic-domestic, you’d even be on your own if you were in F).

Is it daft? It depends upon your risk tolerance. I’ve booked (and made) similar connections before. I’ve also booked (and missed) longer connections than that.

UA may hold the last flight of the day to a given destination by a few minutes for connecting passengers if it won’t have any effect on the overall arrival time. And, of course, if your flight is delayed due to weather at ORD, your connection probably is delayed also.

VRFast

Have a trip in September and I want to apply a MUA for the outbound flights (waitlist). We are a party of 3 and it will cost $ and a total of 60k miles. I don’t have 60k miles in my account so I’ll have to either transfer miles to my wife’s acct. or vice versa. Does it matter who on the PNR applies the MUA? I’m Gold and wife is Silver. If she applies the 60k miles from her acct. are we stuck as Silver on the waitlist or Gold? Reason asking is, she requires less miles than me to get the 60k.
Not interested in splitting itinerary although I know that would improve the chances of upgrading.

Kacee

You're better off just buying miles (or transferring from Chase or Marriott) rather than transferring them from another MP account. Waitlist priority is determined by the highest Premier status on the reservation.

WineCountryUA

The waitlist priority is based on the highest elite on the PNR.
The source of the miles can only be from one member if on a single PNR. You could split the PNR and use miles from multiiple accounts. But that than would impact the waitlist priority as the Gold member would only be one PNR.
Transferring or buying miles is not cheap -- 1.5 cpm to transfer UA miles, 2+ cpm to purchase (higher price but you effectively get 2x miles as the other account does not lose their miles). Hopefully you aren't talking a lot of miles.
The award cancellation fees are based on the status of the source of the miles but there are ways to avoid the fee.

The real issue is your chance to get 3 upgrades to clear -- that will depend on the route, your Gold status, purchased fare class, and day of the week. Far from a given in most cases. And the mileage purchase / transfer is non-refundable.
[Consolidated] Chance of upgrade clearing on my flight

hotscot

If I buy a United flight using my CHASE Sapphire points is that treated as cash for the purpose of elite qualification/points accrual?

EJRofChicago

Yes, airfare booked THROUGH the portal (contra with points transferred FROM the portal TO the airline) count as cash bookings for all purposes.

jsloan

Yes; however, if you need to make any changes, you’ll have to work with Chase Travel customer service, which is managed by Expedia.

BusinessCasualSport

What are chances of getting CPU'd with plus points from ORD - OGG or Honolulu - ORD as a 1k?

Contemplating buying with cash to use plus points and score an upgrade. But if it's rare I'd rather use miles. Travel days would be Saturday/Sunday -> Saturday or Sunday during Feb/March.

mahasamatman

CPU and PlusPoints are two different things. Your chances of a CPU are zero. The only Hawaii flights eligible for CPU are to/from the West Coast.

SPN Lifer

​​​​​​CPU = complimentary (free) Premier upgrade

If you use Plus Points (PP) or redeemable miles (RDM), the upgrade is no longer "complimentary" but "paid" for in the "currency" of PP or RDM.

jsloan

Your chances of an upgrade of any kind, from Chicago to/from Hawaii nonstop, on a weekend in February / March, are approximately nil. If you want to sit up front, you’ll either need to buy a business class ticket or redeem a business class award.

WVmike

I have been flying to, from and through ORD almost every week for the last 12 years and my answer would be it depends on a few facts/questions.

1. Will your flight be mainline to mainline or commuter to commuter plane? if the answer is positive for either scenario your chances are better because your walk from one flight to the next should be max 5 to 10 minutes. If the flights are mainline to commuter or vice versa, you are likely looking at potential walk between flights approaching 20 minutes.

2.If your first flight is on a CRJ, will your bag fit in the overhead? if yes, that saves 5 or 10 minutes versus a gate check bag..

As another poster mentioned, United has been pretty good of holding the last flights out a bit if you are close. If it were me, I would give it shot. Maybe call the 1K desk the day of departure and ask if they can back you up on the first flight out in case it goes bad.

If the question was AA via Charlotte, I would say hell no!

rbakker

As I understand it (but I haven't been able to find a website that says so) we earn points up until Dec 31 (for the next year's status) but our benefits don't end until Jan 31? Thanks.

jsloan

Yes, that's correct.