Hi All,

I have a ton of e-upgrades sitting in my account. What can I do with them... besides the obvious upgrades...

Can I transfer them to someone else so I can trade them? I know that the paper ones are transferrable.

Is it possible to change the eletronic ones to paper?

Thakns.

Alex

You can let them expire and you get 500 miles credited to your account.

If you need the miles now, call M+ and cash them in before expiration any time.

If you want to use them for the intended purpose of upgrading, you can use them to upgrade a companion on the same trip.

However, others here have reported that you can transfer them by calling reservations or going to a CTO....

That benefit is undocumented and most UA employees don't know how to do it, so you will probably get frustrated if they are not on the same itinerary and ask UA to use your E-Upgrades for them.

On the other hand, if you have confirmed N. American electronic upgrades, the published rules allow you to transfer those, but again, some UA employees are not familar with that benefit.

Good luck!

I am not familiar with the difference between confired electronic upgrades and the regular ones.

What I usually do is call the reservation to put me on the upgrade list. If I get it, I will get an email from my travel agent with the new seat assignment.

Does this mean that I now have an confirmed electronic ticket?

Alex

Alex,

A confirmed North American Upgrade is different from the normal 500-mile certificates, and are generally only given to 1K's or for customer service problems.

You'll also see them referred to as HK49's on this board. They allow you to confirm your upgrade on any North American flight (regardless of distance) using one certificate, and you don't have to wait for the 100-hour window, it's confirmed when you book.

The "regular ones" are the 500-mile certificates that require you to go on the list until 100, 72 or 24 hours in advance require 1 certificate for every 500-miles of flight that you want to upgrade.

Thanks!

That explains a lot.

Alex

Quite true. In short, it's not permitted, but the system can do it. So, you have to find someone who knows the system well enough to do it for you, but doesn't realise that it's not allowed.

It used to be that you were not allowed to transfer 500-mile E-certs to someone not traveling with you, now it is allowed. Electronic 500 mile certs and HK-49s are fully transferrable. You just have to know the traveling party's PNR and they will pull them out of your account when they fly.

You have to autorize it in person at a CTO or airport office. They will not just transfer the certs to someone else's account.

Don't take no for an answer on this. It is permitted now and can be done. I have done it many times over the past few months with both HK-49s and 500-mile E-certs.

As to expiring certs, you don't have to do anything. When they expire, they are automatically converted to miles in your account.

I have to disagree your "official" statement on transferability of E-500 milers. As I mentioned before, it can be done (transferring) if you have the patience. But as per official rules from UAL website as of today, you only are able to transfer them to one traveling companion on the same itinerary:

As for your statement on expiring e-certs, you mention that when they expire they are automatically converted to miles. That is a true for the 500 milers, but not for the N Americans (HK49). The N Americans simply go away when they expire... In other words, you only get miles for expiring 500 milers, not HK49's.

Please understand that this is the official rules.... It is known that unofficially, you can transfer electronic 500 milers to others, but that it is undocumented at this time.

[This message has been edited by chix (edited 11-11-2001).]

I agree on the simple expiry of the HK-49s; I was referring to the 500-mile certs.

The UA web site is out of date in a lot of areas, and the transferrability of 500-mile e-certs is one example. There are instructions in the computer for UA employees telling them how to transfer them. They are officially transferrable.

Just to make sure I understand, I CAN transfer my e-upgrades?

This must be someone that's on the same itinerary, right?

I mean, I can't transfer 30 of my upgrades to my girlfriend to use by herself, right?

Alex

If this change has occurred, it appears to have happened in the last month or so. Can you provide any reference to when the change occurred?

(We've been through this before:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/007095.html )

It was 4 to 6 months ago. The UA guys confirmed it during the on-line chat on Flyertalk. I have done it about a half dozen times with both HK-49s and 500-mile certs (and sometimes a mix of the two).

I had the address in the UA computer for the employees to use, but I tossed it since it has not been an issue doing it.

If they can't figure it out. Have them call the Irvine, California CTO and they can tell them how to do it.

To the other poster:

You are not transferring certs to someone else's account. You are authorizing their use on a specific reservations records. When they check in, if they get the upgrade, they will pull the certs out of your account.

I had 5 500 E-Certs expire yesterday. I see they are gone from my summary today but the 2,500 miles were not credited.

Do I need to call M+ or should I see them appear shortly?

It has happened on the first of the month for me - happened today, as a matter of fact:

1-Feb-02 AUTO CREDIT OF EXPIRED UPGRADES 1000 1000

(Cynical aside: why do they take them away right on time but wait to post them? I haven't received any new ones for travel during January.)

I would call MP to see what's up.