Rolling The Dice On Premium Plus
 

Hey Everyone - I have a few hypotheticals I'm trying to figure out. I've applied for a DTV which would get me 180 days in Thailand if I undertand correctly. I fly into BKK on 4/29 and assuming I get my DTV I'll probably be here 6 months. Here's my question, I'm 6'3" and always prefer to ply premium plus. I can buy an E- ticket home for $980 and a premium plus for $2750. If I bought the E- for $980, do you think there'd be a chance at an upgrade down the road for less than the $2750 total; is this even making sense? I feel like I'm trying to explain this and its gibberish

What's your routing? If you're flying from the US to TYO, you'll get Premium Plus only to NRT or HND on UA. Your connection on NH from TYO-BKK would be in Y. If you buy a P+ ticket, you'll get P+ all the way to BKK -- so that's a consideration. P+ usually fills with upgraders with status and/or using PlusPoints on US->TYO, so don't count on a cash upgrade if you really want the extra room.

Do you not have any miles for the upgrade to PP?

Yes, there’s a chance, but — are you buying one-way tickets? Even with a 180-day stay, you should still be able to buy a round-trip and get a discount over two one-ways. Or, if you need to buy a one-way to Thailand, you may still be able to buy a round-trip return flight, if you’ll be returning within ~10-11 months of leaving the first time.

Yes and no. Yes, the 7-hour flight to Tokyo you would be Y on this routing. However, the fact that people will use PlusPoints to upgrade into P+ does not affect the possibility of a cash upgrade; UA will sell discounted cash upgrades before they clear upgraders. The bigger problem is that UA appears to have successfully gotten people to pay for PE for the possibility of an upgrade to J, so PE is often full — or oversold — with paying customers before processing upgrades. That does have an effect on the cash upgrade prices.

OP: When do you expect to travel? If you have some time, monitor PE prices on the route you want and see if they come down. Don’t be afraid to expand beyond UA or even *A. :)

Sorry what is a "DTV"?

DSM-ORD-TYO-BKK going over and BKK-TYO-DEN-DSM coming home



The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) is a visa for long-term stays in Thailand for remote workers, digital nomads, and freelancers. It's also known as the "digital nomad visa".

P+ fills first (well, after booked fares) with cash upgrades. Only then is it filled with status fliers using miles/plus points.

Since it is almost 3x for P+ vs. Y, and you would still be in Y for ~37% of the trip, why not buy 3 coach seats? Hard to imagine you would not be more comfortable in 3 coach seats vs. 1 P+ seat.

Also worth checking other airlines as IME UA often charges significantly more for PE than their competitors.

Good idea. Buying 3 coach seats=“poor man’s Business”.

Checked this morning and Emirates/UA has a pretty cheap flight back to the states, always wanted to fly EK. Is it everything its cracked up to be?

I know you can buy one extra seat. Can you really buy two??

Never actually done it, but the website allows it. Just check "this is an extra seat" and assign both extra seats to the same passenger.