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Finding cheap business- or first-class availability to book flights with airline miles can be hard. While some airlines let you use miles to upgrade cash tickets, it can be hard to get an economy ticket upgraded to a premium ticket on a long-haul flight without a high level of elite status. 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 and regardless of whether or not you are on a short flight or a transcontinental one, 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
The United Airlines MileagePlus upgrade award chart isn't a simple one. Instead, each region pairing has over a dozen rates, depending on your booking fare class and cabin.
You can check the cost of upgrading tickets in the “Upgrade Awards” section of the website. By entering 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 the cost of an upgrade if availability exists.
For example, here's just the United mileage upgrade chart between the mainland U.S. and Europe:
| Booking Fare Class | Upgrade to Premium Plus | Upgrade to United Polaris business |
|---|---|---|
| O | n/a | 15,000 |
| A, R | n/a | 20,000 + $425 |
| Y | 10,000 | 15,000 |
| B | 12,500 | 20,000 |
| M, E, U | 15,000 | 20,000 + $300 |
| H, Q | 17,500 | 20,000 + $425 |
| V | 20,000 | 20,000 + $475 |
| W, S, T, L, K, G | 20,000 | 20,000 + $550 |
Let's run through a few specific examples. Say 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).
If you are flying from the United States to South Asia and have an economy ticket with a fare class of M, it will cost you 25,000 miles to upgrade from economy to Premium Plus or 30,000 miles plus $350 to upgrade to business class (Polaris).
United upgrade award chart going dynamic
But come November 24, 2025, United will ditch its upgrade award chart in favor of pricing its upgrade awards dynamically. After that date, the cost of upgrading with miles will no longer be set and instead will fluctuate based on demand, route, etc.
United already spelled out how you'll be able to see the miles required to request your upgrade once these changes go into effect. During booking, you can click “Advanced search” and then “Upgrades, certificates and promotion codes”. In the “Upgrade type” box, select “MileagePlus® Upgrade Awards” and “Find flights” to see how many miles are required for an upgrade.
For travel already booked, you can select “Upgrade cabin” under a trip and then “Miles” in the “Upgrade by” section to see the mileage required for an upgrade.
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” tab, then select “MileagePlus Upgrade Awards (MUA)” in the “Upgrade type” dropdown.
Let's take a look at an example search from Newark (EWR) to London (LHR).
The first three flights only have premium economy 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. However, if you want to use your miles to upgrade an economy fare to premium economy and have it process instantly, these flights are fine.
Look for upgrades available, avoid the waitlist
In the screenshot above, the 6:55 p.m. flight has upgrades available. So, 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 ($344) 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 $839 for a premium economy ticket on this route and $425 in fees instead of $550. If a business class upgrade is available right away — not via waitlist — there is little reason to book the premium economy option because it is several hundred dollars more expensive. The United upgrade with miles option from economy is much better.
This is the best way to search for upgrade availability because 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.” In the case of my Indianapolis (IND) to Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) flight, there was a MileagePlus Upgrade Award available at 20k miles plus $75.
Unfortunately for my flight from Chicago (ORD) to Washington, D.C.-Reagan (DCA), there was only upgrade availability on the waitlist, not a confirmed upgrade.
Related: Do United MileagePlus Miles Expire?
Earning More United MileagePlus Miles
Found a United mileage upgrade that you want to take advantage of? If you don't already have United miles in your MileagePlus account, here are some options.
Transfer points to United
The easiest way to top off your United mileage balance is by transferring points in from a flexible point program. For example, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United at a 1:1 ratio. Here's a full list of transfer options:
Buy United miles
You can also buy United miles. We don't recommend doing so when United isn't running a sale. But you can often buy United miles with a 100% bonus to drop the price to 1.88¢ per mile. That's not cheap, but it may help you unlock a valuable upgrade if you are just short of the necessary miles and are tapped out of transferable points.
Earn United miles through cards
If you can stand to wait, the best option may be to sign up for a new United credit card and earn the sign-up bonus. United credit cards often offer lucrative offers for boosting your MileagePlus account. Here are some current options:
- 2X miles per $1 spent on purchases from United®
- 2X miles per $1 spent on dining and hotel stays when booked with the hotel
- 1X mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 5 miles per $1 spent at Renowned Hotels and Resorts
- 3 miles per $1 spent on United® purchases
- 2 miles per $1 spent on all other travel
- 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants
- 2 miles per $1 spent on select streaming services
- 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
- 2x on United® purchases
- 2x on local transit and commuting — including train tickets, taxicabs, mass transit, tolls and ride share services
- 2x at gas stations, restaurants and office supply stores
- 1x on all other purchases
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 Global Services requests
- PlusPoints upgrades and MileagePlus upgrade awards
- Premier status
- Fare class
- United Club Infinite and United Presidential Plus cardholders
- United Corporate Preferred participants
- United Chase cardholders with $25,000 or more in annual spending
- Date and time of the request
If your upgrade request doesn't clear, you will receive a refund of your miles and co-pay fees.
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 Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD):
AwardWallet users typically redeem United miles at 1.96¢ 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 Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) using upgrades? You'll pay $939 for the ticket, $600 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 $2,139.
But what if we booked a Polaris ticket outright with miles?
On this same flight, a business class award booking costs a whopping 200,000 miles (worth $4,000, or 200,000 x 0.02) plus $34.30 in fees. Using the same 2-cent valuation, the total cost would be over $4,000 between the miles and fees. That's 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 $4,338. There are scenarios where you're better off buying a business class ticket with miles or cash, rather than upgrading with miles. However, in this case, you're 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. Upgrading an economy ticket to business class can seem like a good deal, but 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.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The New United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees), The New United Quest℠ Card (Rates & Fees), and The New United℠ Business Card (Rates & Fees)
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