superflysocal

I have a long flight that has a segment that only costs $500 to upgrade to Premium Plus (on the return it cost $1600). I was originally intending on using PP to upgrade to Polaris on a waitlist. Is it possible to pay for the Premium Plus upgrade and then afterwards submit the Polaris upgrade using PP? I heard Premium Plus seats have the highest upgrade priority (one article said it's even higher than GS with Y ticket), so if this is possible, it would seem like a great chance for Polaris upgrade. However, from the past, it seems like once you submit any kind of an upgrade, none of the options are available afterward. I asked web support and they said it cannot be done, but just wanted to see what the experts here say.

cfischer

If you upfare to prem eco then you can use +Ps and waitlist for Polaris. Upgrading can be tricky; may work or not work. The problem is that if the UG books into RN you are stuck and UGs are not refundable. How much is the upfare?
You can put prem eco and Polaris on the same waitlist. Is RN available? In that case it should confirm that right away.

eng3

If you have no cleared upgrades and the price is still the same or lower, you could cancel the entire itn and rebook it. When you book PP, your priority is higher and you use less PP (30 instead of 40)
You could also try the change button and try to select PP and see what price it gives you. Then you can reapply the PP

sometimes, when you book two segments and one does not have PP, it wont let you apply PP to the entire leg. However, booking PP seems to often give me B on the other segment so I'd upgrade out of PN which SEEMS easier at times.

superflysocal

What is RN? This is what it shows for this flight right now if I try to book again:
Available fare classes:

• J9
• JN9
• C9
• D9
• Z9
• ZN9
• P9
• PN0
• PZ0
• IN0
• I0
• O9
• ON9
• A6
• R0
• RN0
• Y9
• YN9
• B9
• M9
• E9
• U9
• H9
• HN9
• Q9
• V9
• W9
• S0
• T0
• L0
• K0
• G0
• N9
• XN0
• X0

So no RN and no R.

The upgrade cost to prem economy is $500 for this segment. So you are sure, if I do the upgrade by money, I will still have an option to upgrade to Polaris using PP afterward? The United Web support person said no, I cannot.

eng3

There is a difference between booking into PP and an upfare from economy.
Looks like if you booked now, you'd get an A fare. If the price is right, you could try a change to the A fare and see what the price difference is. You should be able to reapply your PP in that case.
Otherwise you can cancel and rebook it.

superflysocal

The cost of the Premium Eco upgrade for that 1 segment is $500. If i rebook the ticket changing just that 1 segment into Prem Eco then the it is an increase of almost $1000. I am only considering this because that $500 seems like a good deal (on the way back, that reverse segment cost $1700 to upgrade to Prem Eco) but only if I would still have a chance of getting Polaris upgrade with PP.

superflysocal

Can you explain what you mean by the difference between booking into PP and an upfare from Economy?
If i do a paid upgrade from my eco ticket now, it cost $500 for that 1 segment to go to Premium Eco. If I rebook the ticket selecting Prem eco for that 1 segment and everything else is economy, then the difference in airfare is about $1000.

TBH, spending 1000 for Prem eco for that segment is not really an option I would consider. I would do $500, but only if I still have an option to use PP afterwards to upgrade to Polaris AND if by doing the paid upgrade would increase my chance to get Polaris using PP.

WineCountryUA

RN is upgrade inventory space for PremPlus. RN0 means you will be waitlisted for non-cash upgrades. Cash upgrades to PremPlus will many times book into RN but the inventory is not from RN (yeah, that's as clear as mud -- but this is airline operations)

fare classes

eng3

The issue is that it is difficult to know if you will book into RN or not. I would have suggested calling in/chat as perhaps they can see before pulling the trigger. Based on your OP, it sounds like bad news. You could try asking again, sometimes the agent is misinformed.

You've tried clicking "change" to see the fare difference? or did you just look at the difference in price of rebooking? Sometimes it doesnt match

superflysocal

I don't understand what is the implication of getting booked into RN if I am doing a paid upgrade to Prem Eco. Does it mean I cannot use PP to upgrade any further? Does it mean I won't have an advantage over economy in upgrade request?

drewguy

The difference is that it's an upgrade, and you can't upgrade from an upgrade. What United is offering you for $500 is a cash upgrade (instead of using miles/plus points) - but it is an upgrade, not a fare class change.

It's rather similar to when UA had Global First, but it was extremely rare to be able to upgrade to Business and then get a "double upgrade" to first - you couldn't just apply more SWUs or miles or whatever. Same idea applies here - you are buying an upgrade from E to PP and that's all you can do.

eng3

Upgrades are done two different ways. They can book you into (O,A,R) where it is the same as if you bought that fare. (Often you are paying the fare difference) Or they can "upgrade" you. I forget the term for this, "up-fare". This is where you get put into RN. With the former, you can apply a PP and upgrade further. With the later, you cannot. The problem is, that when you get an upgrade offer it is very difficult / impossible to know which one. Since an "upgrade" is not refundable, you are gambling. This is where it helps to ask the agent ahead of time which bucket you will get put in.

VegasGambler

Is it possible to call an agent and ask what it will book into before processing it? Or do they not have visibility into the upgrades offered on the app/website?

threecap

I am almost certain this is not true under any circumstances. I’m a 1K and booked into PremPlus transatlantic, applying +Pts to upgrade into Polaris, and I can see that there are GS’s booked in coach that are ahead of me on the Polaris waitlist. Just FYI, in case that’s a major factor in your decision. Good luck.

eng3

I believe the OP days he already asked
How do you know the status level of the people on the list.
I think it goes by status first then booking class. I assume your above 1k in Y