PlusPoints are never taken from an account until they actually used in a successful upgrade attempt. Any “subtraction” prior to a successful upgrade requiring PPs is just an accounting of how many PPs you’ve committed to requests. That’s why one can have more PP request points out than actual PPs in possession. To be clear, was the cancelled itinerary already upgraded? If so, it did pull the 7/31 PPs. If you cancelled, the same 7/31 PPs are redeposited.

if the upgrade was cancelled prior to upgrade, that would mean UA is “freezing” PPs in accounts sequentially against incoming requests. That creates a question as to what happens when one requests more upgrades than point in possession - there’s nothing to freeze at that point.

You could try to call and claim you didn't know the consequences of your actions (well it is true). You might get a sympathetic agent that will redeposit the 20PPs. Doubtful but worth a try... hey it could happen.

Out of luck
If you had cancelled the AAA-BBB request then reapply to the AAA-BBB-CCC, you would have been covered for both.

If you were concerned by losing priority of the original request, the system has changed and there are now 5 factors ahead of time of request, so the time factor rarely comes into play any more.

I guess I was confused by the fact that when I first went to apply the PPs, it wanted to charge me 20 for each segment anyway. Oh well.

Assuming it's a standard connecting flight -- less than a four-hour connection, no change of airports -- if you had selected both of them, it should have said the total was 20. The way PlusPoints work are that you get charged for the highest number of points of any segment that clears.

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...luspoints.html

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6b7973b845.png

No. UA has traditionally extended 80 PlusPoints to July for passengers who requalify for 1K. If you only qualify for Platinum, they will not extend them.

I am sure this has been addressed, but I can't find it.

If a Plus Points upgrade is confirmed and the traveler has to change flights at no fault of his own (e.g., misconnect because of MX/WX), do they get rebooked into the upgraded cabin? How about if there is a voluntary change to the itinerary?

Involuntary: Upgraded cabin on UA metal, whenever the next available seat in that cabin might be. Flyer can voluntarily downgrade back to Y to save time if so desired.
Voluntary: PlusPoints request will be removed from the itinerary. If this was Skip the Waitlist, the points are forfeit; otherwise, they’re redeposited and you can apply for a new upgrade.

Thanks so much for the speedy and complete reply.

What will happen when PlusPoints are applied with 2 pax on the same PNR and the flight at PZ1 (and no one on the waitlist)?

Will both pax be waitlisted?

And is the automated upgrade process essentially stuck until:
- PZ>=2, or
- someone with 1 pax applies PlusPoints, or
- it automatically splits pnr and clears one pax?

If both will be waitlisted, does that mean I should split PNR before PlusPoints are applied so at least one person will clear first?

correct. If you split then PZ=1 will clear and the 2nd person remain on the WL. Whether you want that ... your choice.

I am booked on DEN-SFO-SIN in ~2 weeks. I booked end of May and requested upgrade (UA Plat, UA CC holder, S class). The J cabin has been filling up quickly the past few days. My DEN-SFO segment cleared a few days ago and 80 PP subtracted... at what point would you give up and book a different trip? I don't want to fly to Asia in Y, and I don't want to wait until the last minute to see if the upgrade clears. What would you do? It's a shame that PlusPoints are basically useless.

When I originally booked.

A Platinum in S class has virtually no shot at a waitlisted upgrade on SFO-SIN.