Well, to be precise, if SMF-SFO clears, you will be charged 40 points; then, if SFO-LHR fails to clear, you will be refunded 20 points.

This is intended to keep people from locking themselves out of long-haul upgrades by having too many short-haul upgrades clear at once (because, with PlusPoints, unlike GPUs, you can list for more than you can support, and whichever ones clear first will be honored). Imagine you have 40 PlusPoints left, and you waitlist on SMF-SFO-LHR round-trip. Now say SMF-SFO clears. If they only withdrew 40, and the next segment with PZ space were SFO-SMF, then you’d be locked out of getting either Polaris upgrade, and you will have spent your entire upgrade balance on flights you didn’t care about.

Using PlusPoints to upgrade to Polaris after waitlisting for Premium Plus
 

So I had this odd experience on a recent flight. I'd requested an upgrade from economy to Premium Plus on an NRT to SFO flight recently using 20 PPs. Since premium plus was full, but Polaris was wide open, I decided to change the upgrade request to business. Interestingly, for several days before the flight I was unable to do this on both the website as well as the app. (When clicking on the upgrade page, no options showed up.) Since I was traveling internationally at that time, I didn't want to call UA's service number to find out what was going on.

Anyway, on the day of the flight, as soon as my inbound flight on NH landed at NRT, I ran to the gate agent for the connecting NRT-SFO flight. She said she could do anything even though there still were seats available in polaris and I would have been high up on the upgrade list. I asked a few times, and the agent did not give me any explanation. She didn't even look at my boarding pass. She simply said there was nothing she could do. Then I went to the United Club at the terminal, and the agent there said only the agent at the gate controlled this list. The net effect is that although I could have been upgraded, I wasn't. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but my PlusPoints are expiring soon & will probably go waste.

The question I have is: have others faced similar issues in changing the upgrade from premium to Polaris before the flight? If so, under what circumstances is this not allowed?

If you couldn't have called, could you have used the messaging option on the website?

You can not change a PlusPoints request. You must cancel (very easily done online or by the app, if no segments have cleared) and then re-request with the desired modification.

I believe I looked for an option to cancel the upgrade request and either I wasn't looking in the right places, or that option didn't show up. In any case, I didn't know you had to cancel the first upgrade request and re-request, so I probably wasn't paying enough attention. Thanks for pointing this out for future reference.

Online, go to My United and right middle, were you Available and Requested PlusPoints are , next line is View Upgrades. This takes to a page of all your request PlusPoints Upgrades, and each request as a cancel option. Similar process on the App.

In addition to using Chat, Twitter, FB, .. while traveling, Skype. Google Voice and a variety of internet services allow you to "call" from anywhere in the world from a computer or smart phone and there is also WiFi Calling on most mobile phones. May have to use the non-800 UA number with these free services.

sorry if this is a repeat, but i couldnt find the answer in the FAQ. Anybody know if you can apply pluspoints on an NH issued ticket for a flight on UA metal? If so, does it work exactly the same as if there it was on UA stock, or is there anything unusual I should be aware of?

Yes. Just pull up the reservation on united.com my trips and request the upgrade.

thanks!

Question about changes to a PlusPoints-upgraded ticket: I was a GS until January 2023 and am now a 1K. While I still had GS and already had the new PlusPoints, I used PlusPoints to confirm international Polaris upgrades on a number of economy award flights for this year (allowed for GS, but not 1K). I know this should be fine if everything goes well with the flight. But what if it doesn't? Would I lose the upgrades?

For example:

• What if there is a schedule change? Will I be switched into Polaris on the new flight or downgraded?
• What if I booked a round trip and the first flight needs to be rebooked? Would the whole thing be reticketed, and if so would I lose the upgrade on the second flight?
• Can same-day changes be made while keeping the upgrade?
• What about same-day standby? Would I be standing by in Polaris or only economy?

If they change the schedule on you, booking should stay in Polaris. If you voluntarily change flights, you have to start over for an upgrade (and your previous route is now closed). SDC usually keeps the upgrade now, but no guarantee; it's not outlined in the policy, and they change it up from time to time. Standby is generally only for economy; you may be able to find an agent who will work on confirming you into Polaris, but the system isn't made for doing that, and I wouldn't count on it.

Thank you!

Three follow-up questions (same situation of PP-upgraded award flights while GS but now 1K):

• For a schedule change (or flight cancellation or something), what if you don't like the original option they gave you and want to pick a different flight (in a situation in which the schedule change is significant enough that you'd normally be entitled to a free change)? Would you still be able to pick a different flight and keep the upgrade?
• For SDC, would the agent be able to tell you if it will keep the upgrade, or will you only find out when they try to process it and you see whether or not it's successful?
• And if doing either of the above for the first flight of a roundtrip, would it affect the upgrade on the return flight?

By bullet:

• Yes, typically if the default re-accommodation isn't good for you, ask for something else an it should be preserved on making that change.
• If asking an agent to process SDC, most likely you'd go back to economy, but that's much more variable; when using the app function, you'll see what the change option (economy or business) is before making it.
• SDC on the outbound doesn't affect the return.

(these aren't specific to 1K/GS/etc.)

Maybe asked and answered but I couldn’t find it!

I have been tracking my PP (920) and all have been set to expire 31 Jul ‘23. Even emailed UA and asked for extension and was turned down.

Working on GS challenge so booked some flights today and noticed I now have 320 that don’t expire until 31 Jul ‘24.

Did I miss an announcement or something?!

Thanks!