UA's IT already allows this, sort of; you can choose whether to use a GPU or an RPU for a trip, and it'll show which segments would be covered. It's hardly a stretch to think that they will be able to update the screen to add checkboxes.

That's true, but (1) every time they change anything, they seem to break something else, at least temporarily — and 'temporarily' can easily be a year; and (2) I'm more concerned about the combinability, which, for me for the past year, has not worked reliably with more than two segments.

Maybe, but it's already possible for award tickets (to waitlist award F domestically when it is not available at booking but the international J leg is), so I'm guessing it's not a technical limitation.

I think you're both right. UA IT can actually be quite good, the app is absolutely industry leading, and the website has long provided more information and more functionality than either DL or AA's.

On the flip side, UA does tend to go live before everything's been fully tested and stable, and some well known bugs never get fixed (almost certainly because UA does not assign resources to them).

As a software product person, I think UA IT is a very different group than makes the app/site/customer connection/data/etc. Otherwise, they are organized like 90s technology groups...

Sorry to dwell on this but I still don't get the point of your post about AC. GBadger made the same point I would have made if I wasn't on a ULH flight. UA has already clearly and explicitly laid out how the new PlusPoints will work with domestic and international flights. Anyone can sit there and hope for better but it is what it is for now (until, and if, they announce changes).

And I disagree it's a limitation vs desired policy. You clear the domestic but not the "true" business and you get the GPU back; albeit you usually have to call to get the GPU back because any automated system to do this almost never works. So in the PlusPoints world, there's no calling to get the PlusPoints back because UA has made it abundantly clear that if you clear the domestic portion and not the "true" business you are still charged 20 points. Period. Will they change this in the future? Maybe. I'm a little surprised about the lack of backlash in this thread about (what is in my opinion) the worst aspect of this new system. But there are definitely more positives than negatives, again IMO.

Since UA are willing to invest the resources to modify the website and the mobile app to apply PlusPoints to specific flights in a reservation they could _easily_ modify the logic to either a) allow the domestic portion to upgrade without the "true" business and you get all PlusPoints back; or b) allow a passenger to later add the domestic portion of an itinerary after the "true" business portion has cleared. Neither of these are in the works right now.

Sorry, but when has UA ever followed what AC does? UA and AC are purely partners by the Star Alliance. They don't follow each other based on what I've seen. UA has seemingly always followed DL to try and stay on par. UA has never been seen as industry-leading.

-RM

And you know this how?

With the introduction of PlusPoints?

both are stated on the official FAQ:
https://mileageplusupdates.com/milea...ccordion-faq-8
https://mileageplusupdates.com/milea...cordion-faq-11

They could have just copied over the old GPU logic for refunds, but they did go out of their way to change it.
Like RobOnLI said, this is a desired policy change.

While I understand they probably made these changes to prevent abuse of the refund policy, I still think they should give us the ability to pull the points AND confirmed upgrade IF our original request isn't fulfilled in its entirety and the original fare is still there.

Something odd happened with the quotes.

But anyway, I think mr8 answered the question. The stated policy is being changed to disallow later extension of the instrument/pluspoints, and it is also being changed to offer only partial refund if a waitlist doesn't clear. Previously both were explicitly stated as given, albeit there wasn't a self-service for the former, and the latter rarely occurred automatically (although for me it has at least once).

edit add: I am not very happy about the changes either, and since they are apparently deliberate ones, I don't have much hope they'll be walked back or updated away with some new interface.

Any speculation as to how UA is going to treat the newly sold PP on domestic flights? Doesn’t appear to provide upgrades from Y to PP.

1). If a pax wants LAX-EWR-LHR in PP using PlusPoints, how does this work? For example, will the LAX-LHR 20 points request even provide for a LAX-EWR upgrade into PP? And if only that clears into PP, and not the EWR-LHR, then how many points are deducted? I don’t see any points amounts for domestic Y to PP or PP to transcon F/J.

2) And on a separate topic: if a pax requests a 20 point Y to PP upgrade for ORD-EWR-CDG, does a request for ORD-EWR into F occur? And if that clears and the EWR-CDG doesn’t, the pax is still charged the full 20 points?

1) do not know yet.
2) 20 points will be charged for ORD-EWR.

Not sure if there have been any changes, but the old GPU PP requests did not waitlist for domestic first.
I don't think ORD-EWR would get waitlisted if doing a PP request in this situation, so no points would be debited if EWR-CDG doesn't clear.

Its interesting that Platinum can now upgrade an international flight.
Personally this appeals to me because I don't see making it back to 1K anytime soon. One or two trips to Japan a year is about all I can manage and the rest is domestic travel.
So this fits my travel habits.

Looking at the structure of the Points system I would need to blow all of my Platinum points to have a chance on an international flight. But at least its a chance.

It would be much better if points never expired in the same way that mileagepoints never do.

My best guess would be the LAX-EWR upgrade is treated as a 10-point upgrade but I'm shooting blind. They probably took more than half the company by surprise with the domestic PE rollout, let alone FT and the public :)

Upgrade to F on ORD-EWR would be requested if pax wants it (optional), and yes if that clears and CDG does not, still charged 20 points.

PlusPoints Impact on Int'l Upgrades
 

I’m trying to assess the impact of the PlusPoints program on international upgrade availability in 2020.

Before the announcement a few things were clear going into ‘20:
1. Four RPU cap implemented in ‘19 would drastically reduce ‘20 RPUs in circulation. To the point where many would exhaust their RPUs by first half of ‘20.
2. Increasing 1K qualification spend to $15K in ‘19 would reduce 1Ks in circulation in ‘20, thereby reducing RPUs and GPUs in circulation in 2020.
3. The combined impact of #1 & #2 would reduce RPUs in circulation by ~30% and GPUs in circulation by ~10% based on my calculations. Assumptions below.
4. Projected RPUs/GPUs in circulation in 2020 = 372K/762K
5. So far, so good…fewer instruments chasing roughly similar upgrade inventory in 2020!

PlusPoints changes a few things:
6. Two currencies are now replaced by a single interchangeable currency. So if everyone wanted to use their points for domestic upgrades, 368K RPUs in ‘20 could now turn into nearly 2M RPUs! Similarly, the 748K GPUs in ‘20 circulation could now turn into nearly 1M GPUs in the points world.
7. Platinums now enter the international upgrade arena. It’s only 1 GPU, but could be material depending on the number of Platinum members. Anyone have a sense of how many globally?
8. Breakage goes to zero!!! This is a big deal. The RPU/GPU worthless thread conveyed that many members were flushing RPUs/GPUs annually. With this new system, most folks will completely flush their accounts. I’m waiting for the thread on how someone flushed 300 points for the SFO-LAX upgrade on Jan 31…

So overall, I think int’l upgrades will become more difficult. The theory being that long-haul upgrades are so sought after, points will skew towards int’l vs domestic upgrades. Other thoughts?

Assumptions:
1K members - 100K in '19, 90K in '20
GS members - 3K in '19, 3K in '20