This is unambiguously the new desired behavior by UA, and is absolutely a change from how GPUs worked.

That would actually have been a favor, because it's against policy to remove a request once it's cleared.

I would say death by a thousand cuts, but seems to be more than a thousand now.
Makes me far less anxious about the "Non-United Airlines" Business Class Trip I just booked.

Hi all - new poster here. I've been United 1K for a number of years running (5+) with my main route being SFO [alt SJC] <> EWR [alt PHL]. I fly this route every 2-3 weeks, working out of Philadelphia and New York that week. Historically, I've always found some automatic Regional or Global upgrades [as I say "green" upgrade!] available either way. That upgrade may require that I fly SFO - SAN - EWR or SJC - IAH - EWR. That was OK. Since the change over to PlusPoints (had 520 at beginning of year), all those flights that allowed for automatic upgrade are pretty not available at all or the short leg is automatic, long leg wait listed. Is this just me? Am I missing something that would allow me to use 40 or 60 points to guarantee the upgrade? I was under that impression. I'm super disappointed and it appears they closed 90% of the automatic upgrades. Any advice is much appreciated. -- Janice

With primary destinations of NYC and PHL, my advice is status match to AA EXP.

The upgrades are easier and the product is better than UA's, too.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

There is no difference between the ability to use RPUs/GPUs and PlusPoints to upgrade those routes. However, the search interface that you're using has been badly broken and is now completely worthless. I doubt that they've shut down that much inventory -- although the ability you're describing always to find something is out of line with many other people's experiences. I'd say, inventory is getting tighter year over year, but I wouldn't expect it to go from 100% available to 10% overnight. (At least, that hasn't been my experience).

Unfortunately, there's not a great alternative. You can activate Expert Mode, if you don't mind clicking through each option to see what's available. (PZ is the inventory you're looking for).

Good luck!

Thanks so much. I think what helped me have flight options was being SUPER flexible in terms of departure/arrival times as well connection. So are you saying that the current United search function is broken? Often I'll look for available PZ tickets and also do do look through full inventory. I think I'm searching in Expert Mode, but will double back on that. Given where I'm flying To/From, I've always feared I wouldn't be high enough on the list to ever get upgraded. However, I've noticed more recently that I'm often in the top 1-3 to be upgraded depending. And thinking back, I likely used a combination of reward miles and upgrades on the long haul flights which made it appear I got upgraded frequently.

Thanks again, much appreciated!

The color-coded search results that turn green when a flight is fully upgradeable -- that display is broken. If you're used to looking for PZ though, then that does sound like expert mode, because that's the only place you'd see PZ appear.

SFO-SAN-EWR does sound like a route that would be easier to find in an award search than an upgrade search. (It's often very expensive to piece together flights that don't go through hub cities).

That sounds more likely. The SFO-EWR upgrade is arguably the toughest upgrade across the domestic network.

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

I'll be a bit contrarian to the general sentiment (it seems) and say I've actually greatly appreciated the flexibility PlusPoints offers since the switch and as of early Feb, have almost used all of my PlusPoints on itineraries this year with confirmed Polaris upgrades. In particular, it has been very nice to maximize value on certain flights with the ability to upgrade discounted fares. For example, for a RT to Italy in April, the cheapest RT was ~800, while a RT in W was 1,400. I was able to do a half W fare, half S fare that priced out somehow to $890 and apply 120 pluspoints which confirmed instantly as there was PN=1 in one direction and PN=9 in the other. Saving $500 and only forking over an additional 40 points was a nice tradeoff.

A few caveats:
I do not care about domestic legs being upgrade as I'm based in Chicago and therefore the longest domestic leg I could possibly have is only ~4 hours - not enough to care about the difference between Y+ and first if not working
Having GS and therefore PN access is definitely a huge game changer but that was just as true with GPU's as it is with PlusPoints
The only issue I had with stuck waitlisted points actually benefited me as an upgrade cleared with PlusPoints but still showed the points as waitlisted (I had the agent clear at T<72 as I was #1 on waitlist with 3 seats in J) - when I flew the segment they redeposited as the system assumed they weren't applied

You're not a contrarian. A recent FT survey showed:
1. 62% were satisfied with UA's PlusPoints program in '19
2. 75% were able to use the majority of their PlusPoints in '19
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...e-program.html

My guess is 2020 will look even better. 2021 will be the breakout year (post 1K thinning) when I'd bet PlusPoints satisfaction hits 80%.

How in the heck could people really be satisfied with PlusPoints in 2019 when it was turned on in December? They are likely satisfied with their potential. Acutal practice is more mixed with allt the tech snafus <note, I find them theoretically satisfying, until they turned down the earnings with the new 24k gold status level>

As for #2 , that seems to be counter to all the threads about "GPU/RPU are useless"... Again, I used two lots of UG, but I have flexibility. I am the customer UA is really trying to fire.

It covers GPUs and RPUs as well. The exact survey question was, "Are You Satisfied w/ UA's 2019 (+Jan 2020) RPU/GPU/PlusPoints upgrade program?"

That's the power of the survey. the reality is the vast majority of folks use all their upgrade instruments and most are satisfied with the program.

Note, these satisfaction numbers are before the 1K thinning. Only gets better from here.

I suspect people were voting on their experiences with RPUs/GPUs also.

People who are able to use their upgrades have little reason to create threads about it. :)

There are far too many variables to express in a single, unscientific poll. I voted 'satisfied' because I get a sense of enjoyment out of finding a way to use my certificates; circuitous routings, off-peak travel, etc. But if you're trying to enhance your work travel, or just trying to get from point A to point B on a nonstop flight, PlusPoints aren't going to be any better than RPUs/GPUs were.

If upgrades get easier, it will be because the economy goes into a tailspin, not because of changes to the UA program.

Oh, come on, it shows nothing of the kind. It shows that approximately 50 people who responded to an online poll are satisfied with the program, and 65% of all respondents were not able to use all of their upgrade instruments.

Sure, unless you get thinned. I suspect people who are dropping from 1K to non-1K status aren't going to be satisfied with the program in 2021. Let's add a category for "no longer GS/1K and not satisfied."

The UA Upgrade Satisfaction Poll has been taken by nearly 100 folks. That represents over 25% of the active 1K/GS population on FT. Sorry the 'favorable' numbers are so high and don't support the 'sky is falling' narrative. The reality is, the UA upgrade program is pretty good, and on a path to get better.