oceanscape

I've never flown UA and have no status but have a work trip coming up and UA is best option. Work policy is economy only and they will book me via Amex Corporate Travel using Concur. Every time I have travelled BA I am not able to make any changes to the ticket until T-24 as it stays under Amex control. Is it the same with UA or will I be able to look at and pay for upgrade options via UA app or manage my booking online?

Thanks

Sykes

Under most circumstances United will allow you to purchase upgrades on agency tickets at any time using united.com or the United app. Beware that often these types of upgrades are fully nonrefundable and you'll lose the funds if you make any voluntary changes to the itinerary (be sure to check the terms and conditions at the time you purchase the upgrade). United will generally refer you back to Amex if you need to make any other sorts of changes to the itinerary (e.g. date or routing changes).

cfischer

I am doing this all the time. Upgrade is not an issue. Upfare is a problem though. UA can resolve fare issues on corporate agency tickets, but it takes a lot of work on the end and an invol situation. As long as you are just upgrading and thus not touching the ticket itself, no problem with UA and generally not with Amex/Concur either

PTahCha

+1. Our agency would send an automated email letting me know that I've been upgraded, after doing the buy-up on united.com.

TBD

The root issue here is whether the airline would need to reissue and take control of the ticket in order to process the upgrade.

In all cases, the company wants to retain control (and therefore visibility / reporting) of the ticket. This is why airlines refer you back to the company agency for changes.

Some airlines, including United, are pretty adept at upgrading w/o taking control. Some airlines, like AA, are not.

The agency is still notified of the change, but the agency retains control of the ticket - same as would happen for a schedule change. Your confirmation email from your company agency noting the seat/cabin has changed just shows that the process is working correctly.

martinknutson

My personal experience with Concur and United is that this usually works they way you want, but certain fare classes are not upgradable even for raw money, much less miles or PlusPoints. Check the fare class before you book, if you can.

huey_driver

I read this thread with interest. I have never asked the question, but I wonder if anyone has experience with this and Govt/DOD tickets.
While I have a reservation at time of booking, generally the agent doesnt ticket the trip until a few days before departure.
I can manage the reservation, and pick whatever seat I want, but I cant upgrade. The seats (and fare code) show available, but I dont get an option to upgrade using any instrucment ($, +P, miles).
Also, the earnings (PDP and miles) are empty.
But as soon as the agency tickets, everything is as normal as if I bought it (except I cant make a flight change that results in added cost because govt CC is used).
Anyone figured a way around this? To be clear, I'm talking about an add-on upgrade (ie, like day of travel upgrade) not changing the reservation to rebook in F.

selo

I know this does not answer huey_driver's question but to the OP, as others have said, you can upgrade easily. My university works with Concur and I am restricted to choose fully refundable tickets only and it takes 1 day to ticket the reservation. After that, I go to UA website and apply plus points. In fact I first search for PZ availability in advance and once detected I jump to Concur and book the ticket and then apply the plus points. On one leg two weeks ago, and, on both legs in August, I was able to upgrade to Polaris LAX-NRT-LAX.