PlusPoints Question
 

I am currently looking to fly from IAD to DPS with 2 stops. One in SFO and one in SIN. When I try to book economy and request the upgrade it says 40 points each way. Does this mean for the total trip it will use 80 plus points or is it 40 points total? When I do a mock check out it says Total (due later) is 40 PlusPoints. FYI we are doing a one way flight to DPS. From there we will hop around asia to BKK, SGN and then HND.

I'm planning my 40th birthday trip in June so a group of my friends are coming with me and I would like to upgrade most of them to business if possible. Any tricks or tips will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

It's 40 each way - 80 total -- and just a warning -- the SFO - SIN / SIN - SFO are VERY challenging upgrades, IAD - SFO / SFO - IAD may be a little easier though... If I were you I would be planning for you and most of your friends to be in Y for most of the trip... I'd also suggest you be very flexible with dates and routing -- for example check out other connections like via TPE, ICN, NRT / HND -- or even possibly routing via the EU to get better chances at flying in J...

Have you priced your trip home yet? Unless you use miles, Japan to the US is going to b outrageously expensive.

40 PlusPoints is the correct price for W-class economy fares and higher. Lower fares would be 80 PlusPoints.

What status do you have with United? What day of the week are you planning to travel? How many PlusPoints do you have available, and how many travelers?

One other refinement - if you apply pluspoints and only some of the segments clear, you may still use the 40PP (if one of the international segments) or 20PP (if just the domestic segment clears).

Paying tor premium economy seats (O,A,R fares) will boost you in upgrade chances, which will still be tough. If your friends have no or low status, their upgrades chances are abysmal unless they are in premium economy. Even there, their chances are marginal, but at least they are in a better seat if they don’t get the upgrade.

I think you need realize upgrade chances for a group in economy seats is very poor on that route.

You failed to mention the booking code… that’s a huge factor! From the 40 PPs being used one way, we are assuming you’re not in the lowest booking classes.. long story short..

if you only clear the IADSFO leg, only 20 PP will be deducted. If you clear both legs, the whole 40.

again this is on the assumption of your booking fare bucket


A suggestion - look at the Star Alliance website to price your itin under the CircPac (Circle Pacific) fares. Your itin would include leaving/returning to the US.

each alliance offers these fares, some albeit a tad higher priced gives to the option of using any carrier the flies between your city pairs - that’s not available thru the SA URL - and I would strongly recommend a “Travel Agent” or one of the self help RTW fare websites.

good luck and Happy Birthday!

actually you can find better exchange values when purchasing the ticket with the origin outside of the US.

a month from now… the flight cost one way for a ticket from NRT to IAD is MXN17,000. that’s under a grand USD.

For example: Purchasing a RTW is adjustable with the currency of the country of origin - USA is always more expensive compared to starting the trip in Egypt or Japan.

You're conflating several different things here. Yes, RTWs are cheaper when starting abroad, just as roundtrips to the US are often cheaper than roundtrips from the US to the same destination.

Being able to price out a one-way ticket from Japan to the US in MXN is entirely different, and may be related to either inventory or fare restrictions on a US point-of-sale. However, UA won't sell you that ticket unless you have a credit card with a billing address in Mexico; you'd need a Mexican travel agent to get that price.

I did suggest a travel agent in a previous post to the OG.

I’m holding a 574EUR base fare biz OW BCN to US using a VPN and a US CC. I’m currently in Mexico, without access to my VPN on this site that is the only reason my quote was in MXN - I didn’t feel like converting currency… - that’s cuz I was too lazy to start and stop my VPN… and gave an approximation it was under a grand. that fare in MXN was NOT on UA but OZ via ICN. (*A)

Ah, OK, fair enough. I didn't actually check *A prices for one-way travel from Japan, but I agree that's a good idea. One-way fares from Japan are very expensive on UA/NH, the two carriers where PlusPoints would be potentially effective. But if OP is out of PlusPoints -- or, sensibly, doesn't want to pay UA's outrageous prices for a shot at upgrading, then OZ makes sense.

I guess my original point was that it's likely to be more cost-effective to try to build a circle trip or open-jaw (e.g., WAS-SIN / TYO-WAS) than to do the one-ways as OP originally suggested.

The one-ways from BKK aren't bad right now. Can even build with a stopover in TYO. BKK-TYO-IAD for under a grand on NH/UA.

Thank you everyone for the replies. I just tried the *A website to find round trip flights from IAD/WAS to DPS and there was no results for 6/23-7/5. Can someone recommend me a good travel agent to help me book this if possible? Also to clarify most of the group will be doing IAD-DPS. Myself and maybe 2 others will be doing IAD-DPS-BKK-SGN-HND. I'm more worried for the ones doing the round trip as I'm flexible and have enough points and stuff to make my way through asia. I found something like this on Google flights. Would I be able to use my pluspoints on it since every flight is a *A?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a331e83af8.png

PlusPoints are valid on all UA fares, along with certain Lufthansa (LH) and ANA (NH) fares. PlusPoints are not valid on Singapore Airlines (SQ), although if the SQ flight is just SIN-DPS, I doubt you'll care very much. It's the operating carrier that matters, so if your Germany to Singapore flight is operated by LH and you have a qualifying fare, you can list PlusPoints -- 40 per person per leg you want to upgrade.

Thank you for clarifying that. Do I book the flight through UA or should I book through LH? Also will LH let me apply the PlusPoints on their website or what is the process? Sorry for all the questions I've never used PlusPoints with any other carrier outside of UA.

You can book through either carrier, although you will need native flight numbers in order to apply PlusPoints -- i.e., if your flight is operated by LH, you need a LH flight number, not a UA flight number, to upgrade it. You request the upgrade online, with United.

Make sure to check the eligible fare classes carefully -- the least expensive economy fares, as well as the least expensive PE fare class, are not upgradeable. You can find more details here: https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly...Lufthansa.html

Anecdotally, your odds of clearing LH upgrades are probably better than clearing UA upgrades, especially if, like most people, you're not a Global Services member.