International First/Bus Seats Available but not offered for paid/miles upgrade
 

I'm booked on an international UA flight E+. I have 300k miles in the bank with CO and now that it's so easy to transfer them, I would like to upgrade if possible. 75% of the First and Business seats are open currently but none are offered for upgrades. Will UA open these closer to the outbound date or at check in time. Or do they just never offer on some flights?

Thanks.

Welcome to FT, dkmatter!

UA will open seats if they're not selling them, but there's no guarantee. Upgrades are also waitlisted in status order, so if you don't have status on CO or UA, your chances could be pretty low depending on how many elites are ahead of you.

UA sometimes opens NC (biz upgrade) space closer to departure date, depending on the load factor. Sometimes Upgrade For Cash is also offered at check-in.

If you are basing the 75% open seating using the seat map, keep in mind that it's not very accurate. Also keep in mind that a lot of C and D tickets are sold much closer to the departure date. Keep checking the C, D, and Z fare buckets to get a better indication of the load factor in the biz cabin.

upgrades have started to clear much close to departure - if you're looking to upgrade, best bet is to waitlist and pray