I've never used SDC to switch to a different fare class, so I didn't know it would even be possible to switch to a different class of service (downgrading from business to economy, for example). I'll see what my options are during check-in in just over 24 hours.

I checked my receipt, and I see the following, so yes, it must be refundable:
However, I also just checked the fare rules from another receipt for a different fare (coming up in February), and I see the same message as above. Since the purchase date, I then made a change 4 days ago, and the fare rules remained the same, but then I changed it again yesterday, and now it reads the following:
Any idea why it seems to have gone from REF to NONREF? I still have a P fare, through all of my changes, if that matters.

Because the fare you were rebooked into when making a change was a non-refundable fare. There are multiple fare fililngs at each level of booking code. So there may be a refundable P-fare which you had before, and now you are in a non-refundable P-fare.

An odd situation here (so odd I created a burner account, though I post here with some frequency) - I've been using plus points, with some success, this year. The upgrades clear but the points don't ultimately come out of my account. End result is I have more PP showing than I "should" - can't really detect a pattern because sometimes they are deducted, other times not. There may be some connection with how close to departure they clear, but even that isn't a predictor.

Most of them will expire 1/31/23 anyway, but thoughts on what might happen if I use ones that I don't have before then? (I'd be happy to give them miles for the upgrades . . .)

And perhaps this explains the glut of PPs everyone is complaining about!

However many pluspoints are in your account is the amount you have available to use. Whether you applied them to previous reservations or not doesn't affect them going forward.

Welcome to FT again. There will be a PPburners account coming up soon.🤪

UA has not created another code to deduct your PPs after the fact. But it may happen. I had a recent schedule change related to an award booking. 1K agent did not properly deduct miles from my account when she changed my flights. But UA took my miles a few day later. I had no problem with the correction. I became puzzled with a new email with my itinerary. Then I checked my account activity, which was correctly posted.

I'm sure this must have been asked before but I just can't find it.

I'm booked in W and am #3 on the upgrade list using PP. Is there any way at all to find out if buying up into a higher fare class would get me higher on the list?

Thanks!

Not really, no.

No free way. (The non-free way is buying the higher fare class. 😖 )

Thanks, figured. At least I know I asked!

So we have a round-trip LAX-HND, where LAX-HND is in economy and HND-LAX is already confirmed in PremiumPlus with PlusPoints.

The fare has dropped, so if I change the outbound in economy to LAX-NRT, united.com says we would get $135 back each in travel credits. If I do this, and do not touch the confirmed HND-LAX during this change, will the upgrade be ok or is there a chance it will mess up our confirmed PremiumPlus?

I feel like it should be a straightforward change, but then I know sometimes weird things happen.

call it in. Don't do it on the web. I have had issues w/ this in the past and it took quite a bit of effort to restore.

Current 1K whom will be Gold effective 2/1/23 They currently have PPs with expiry of 7/31/23. What will happen to those PPs once they drop to Gold effective 2/1/23?

Thanks in advance

they remain valid. Your priority will drop when you request an UG after your status drops.

And remember, the fare class required to use the PP is roughly 50%-100% more expensive than a normal economy fare, so be certain they will clear before purchasing the higher fare.

What? On UA there aren't any fare class restrictions (beyond basic economy not being eligible), the only thing fare class influences is the amount of PP required.