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are award tickets upgraded to premium plus (R fare) upgradable to polaris ?

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are award tickets upgraded to premium plus (R fare) upgradable to polaris ?

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Old Feb 13, 2023, 7:34 am
  #1  
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Upgrade X/XN to PremPlus for Chance of Polaris Upgrade?
I will be flying TATL next week as a 1K with two non-status companions, all on XN award tickets. I understand that this is not a CPU route and there is no offer to upgrade using miles or plus points.

I can upgrade to Premium Plus for $402pp which is not too bad but where does that leave the three of us for possible upgrade to Polaris which has lots of open seats as far as the seat chart is concerned? Will I then be able to throw Plus Points at them for a good chance of an upgrade?
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 7:50 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by kdad
I will be flying TATL next week as a 1K with two non-status companions, all on XN award tickets. I understand that this is not a CPU route and there is no offer to upgrade using miles or plus points.

I can upgrade to Premium Plus for $402pp which is not too bad but where does that leave the three of us for possible upgrade to Polaris which has lots of open seats as far as the seat chart is concerned? Will I then be able to throw Plus Points at them for a good chance of an upgrade?
If you use Plus points and are already in PP that means your upgrade priority should be above everyone else except any GS, so pretty good odds assuming more than 1/3 of business cabin is still open. If it’s pretty full already may not be the best odds.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 7:58 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by escapefromphl
If you use Plus points and are already in PP that means your upgrade priority should be above everyone else except any GS, so pretty good odds assuming more than 1/3 of business cabin is still open. If it’s pretty full already may not be the best odds.
OP is a 1K on an award ticket. Only route for Polaris is another cash upgrade offer. Cannot use PlusPoints.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 8:09 am
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Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
OP is a 1K on an award ticket.
Duh, I somehow missed the award ticket part. Should in theory be able to waitlist IN from XN for all pax.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 8:15 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by kdad
I can upgrade to Premium Plus for $402pp which is not too bad but where does that leave the three of us for possible upgrade to Polaris which has lots of open seats as far as the seat chart is concerned? Will I then be able to throw Plus Points at them for a good chance of an upgrade?
Only if UA has made a serious coding error. Only GS are supposed to be able to upgrade award tix with PlusPoints.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 9:20 am
  #6  
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The only upgrade that I can do at this time is from Economy Plus to Premium Plus (or Polaris) using cash. My question is what happens to my XN ticket at that point if I do upgrade to Premium Plus for cash - does it then become something that I can waitlist into Polaris using Plus Points?

Or as ​​​​​​IAH-OIL-TRASH mentioned the only path to Polaris is cash upgrade?
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 9:30 am
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Originally Posted by kdad
The only upgrade that I can do at this time is from Economy Plus to Premium Plus (or Polaris) using cash. My question is what happens to my XN ticket at that point if I do upgrade to Premium Plus for cash - does it then become something that I can waitlist into Polaris using Plus Points?

Or as ​​​​​​IAH-OIL-TRASH mentioned the only path to Polaris is cash upgrade?
It's a really interesting question. As IAH-OIL-TRASH explained, the underlying ticket is an award ticket which, as a 1K, you cannot upgrade. I believe you want to know if the new fare code of a cash upgrade to PremiumPlus would allow you to apply PP to move into Polaris, negating your original XN fare code.

Anyone out there in a similar situation who can comment?
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 9:52 am
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Originally Posted by uanj
It's a really interesting question. As IAH-OIL-TRASH explained, the underlying ticket is an award ticket which, as a 1K, you cannot upgrade. I believe you want to know if the new fare code of a cash upgrade to PremiumPlus would allow you to apply PP to move into Polaris, negating your original XN fare code.

Anyone out there in a similar situation who can comment?
Yes. XN with cash upgrade to P+. New fare using Plus Points to Polaris.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 10:14 am
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Originally Posted by kdad
Yes. XN with cash upgrade to P+. New fare using Plus Points to Polaris.
It's still an award ticket, so not eligible for using Plus Points.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 10:14 am
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Originally Posted by uanj
It's a really interesting question. As IAH-OIL-TRASH explained, the underlying ticket is an award ticket which, as a 1K, you cannot upgrade. I believe you want to know if the new fare code of a cash upgrade to PremiumPlus would allow you to apply PP to move into Polaris, negating your original XN fare code.

Anyone out there in a similar situation who can comment?
I haven't done it, but I'm like 99.999% sure I've seen it done. Whether this is a consistent thing that you can guarantee is replicable, I am not nearly as confident.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 10:24 am
  #11  
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It's hard to believe that XN + cash upgrade to PE somehow get you A or R or RN fares, and you can upgrade to J using PP.

XN + anything to PE is still an award ticket, can't upgrade to J unless you pay huge amount of cash.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 10:26 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by jcturnbull
I haven't done it, but I'm like 99.999% sure I've seen it done. Whether this is a consistent thing that you can guarantee is replicable, I am not nearly as confident.
Originally Posted by kb1992
XN + anything to PE is still an award ticket, can't upgrade to J unless you pay huge amount of cash.
It's been reported that buy-up to P+ enhances upgrade priority based on the new booking class, so it's possible the underlying ticket coding changes for purposes of applying PlusPoints as well.

If so, it would absolutely be a coding error, and one that I would expect UA to fix as soon as they become aware of it.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 10:39 am
  #13  
Ari
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Originally Posted by kdad
Yes. XN with cash upgrade to P+. New fare using Plus Points to Polaris.
The answer is that it has worked in the past reliably. Should it work? Don't know. Will it still work? Don't know. But it has worked without problems.
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 11:00 am
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Originally Posted by Ari
The answer is that it has worked in the past reliably. Should it work? Don't know. Will it still work? Don't know. But it has worked without problems.
Would expect that you could also apply MUA if
it allows Plus Points?
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Old Feb 13, 2023, 11:01 am
  #15  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
It's been reported that buy-up to P+ enhances upgrade priority based on the new booking class, so it's possible the underlying ticket coding changes for purposes of applying PlusPoints as well.

If so, it would absolutely be a coding error, and one that I would expect UA to fix as soon as they become aware of it.




I have an economy award ticket EWR-HND.

I see $839 cash upgrade offer to Premium Plus. I would love to test your theory but once upgrade fee is paid, it will get lost if I change plan.

Cash offer for Polaris is $4,799..
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