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Finding business- or first-class availability with miles can be hard. Without a high level of elite status, it might be even harder to get an economy ticket upgraded to a premium ticket on a long-haul flight. However, did you know that United Airlines lets you upgrade your economy ticket to a higher cabin with miles and cash? Even if you don't have status, you can book a ticket with United, upgrade with miles, and enjoy a better seat via a process called MileagePlus Upgrade Awards.
Here's how the United upgrade with miles process works.
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United MileagePlus Upgrade Award Chart
United Airlines displays the cost of upgrading tickets in the “Upgrade Awards” section of the website. By putting in your departing region, arriving region, and the fare class you are in (which can be found on your United Airlines ticket), you can quickly calculate how much an upgrade should cost.
For example, if you are flying from the United States to Europe and have an economy ticket with a fare class of G, it will cost you 20,000 miles to upgrade from economy to Premium Plus or 20,000 miles plus $550 to upgrade to business class (Polaris).
Searching for United MileagePlus Upgrade Availability
New reservations
Searching for upgrade availability on a new reservation is easy. All you have to do is go to United's expert mode or advanced search, enter your reservation info, and scroll down to the upgrades section. From there, you can click on the “Upgrades, certificates, and promotion codes,” then select “MileagePlus Upgrade Awards (MUA)” in the “Upgrade type” dropdown.
Let's take a look at an example search from Chicago to Frankfurt.
The first flight only has waitlist upgrade availability. This means that you are not guaranteed an upgrade to business class. Rather, you will know closer to departure if your upgrade has cleared. These should be avoided if possible, as upgrades off the waitlist are unlikely if you're purchasing a discounted fare class and don't have elite status with United MileagePlus.
The second flight has upgrades available, meaning that if you purchase the upgrade with miles and cash, you will immediately be upgraded to business class. The first “Upgrade to Business” column denotes the prices for upgrading to business class from an economy ticket. The bold number ($878) is the price of the economy ticket. In addition to purchasing the economy ticket, it will also cost $550 in fees and 20,000 miles to upgrade to business class. These fees and mileage costs are the same as the rates quoted in the United upgrade award tool above.
The second “Upgrade to Business” column has similar numbers, except it costs $2,368 for a premium economy ticket on this route. If an upgrade is available right away — not via waitlist — there is little reason to book the premium economy option; the United upgrade with miles option from economy is much better.
If you have not yet purchased your flight, this is the best way to search for upgrade availability, as you can book your flight and get upgraded immediately.
Existing reservations
United also makes the upgrade process simple if you've already booked a flight. When you pull up your reservation, you'll see the following icons before your flight information.
After clicking “Upgrade cabin,” you can view the price of upgrading your reservation with miles by pressing the “Miles” option next to “Upgrade by.” Unfortunately for my flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., the MileagePlus Upgrade Award cost of 20k miles plus $75 will only get me onto the first class waitlist — not a confirmed upgrade.
Related: Do United MileagePlus Miles Expire?
Waitlist Priority for United Upgrade With Miles
If you use a MileagePlus Upgrade award to get onto the waitlist, how do you know when your upgrade might clear? Waitlist upgrades are approved in the following order:
- United Airlines Premier status
- Fare class
- Chase United MileagePlus cardholders
- United Corporate Preferred participants
- Date and time of the request
If your request does not clear, your miles and co-pay fees will be refunded.
Related: Get Access to Hidden Award Space with United Credit Cards
United Upgrade With Miles: Is It Worth It?
It depends. While some flights might be worth upgrading from an economy ticket, you might find better value booking Polaris (business class) directly with points or miles. The best way to determine if a MileagePlus Upgrade is worth it is by calculating how much upgrading an economy ticket will cost versus buying a business- or first-class ticket outright.
Let's check another example flight, this time from San Francisco to Sydney.
AwardWallet users typically redeem United miles at 1.94¢ apiece. We'll use a flat 2¢ to make the math easier.
Using 2¢ as the value of a mile, what's the cost for a business-class ticket from San Francisco to Sydney using upgrades? You'll pay $1,261 for the ticket, $550 in fees, and 30,000 miles. 30,000 miles are worth $600 in this equation (30,000 x 0.02), so your total cost is $2,411.
But what if we booked a Polaris ticket outright with miles? It would cost a whopping 200,000 miles (worth $4,000, or 200,000 x 0.02) plus $26.19 in fees. That's a total cost of $4,026.19 between the miles and fees — way more than just purchasing the economy ticket and upgrading it directly to business.
Even worse, buying this Polaris ticket with cash will set you back $6,891. While there are scenarios where you're better off buying a business class ticket with miles or cash, rather than using the upgrade process with United miles, in this case, you are significantly better off purchasing an economy ticket and upgrading to business.
Related: Sweet Spots With United Airlines MileagePlus Awards
Bottom Line
Upgrading flights can provide excellent value if you check the math first. Just ensure your upgrade can be confirmed immediately, as waitlist upgrades are not guaranteed to clear before your flight. In addition, check the overall cost between money and miles to upgrade, compared to the cost of booking an upgraded seat outright. While upgrading an economy ticket to business class can seem like a good deal, sometimes buying a business class ticket outright might be cheaper. A United upgrade with miles won't always make sense, but it's nice to have options.
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