New to MP: Some questions

[openseat]

I hope that I might get some questions answered that I am a little confused about after reading FT and FF boards. We have a new overlord who demands UA/*alliance travel and all travel has to be in Y.

Following the advice on FT I hope to be able to use my AA Plat status to get 1P status on MP using the 15,000 miles in 90 days possibility. It seems a lot depends on which agent you get on the phone. The miles should come easy as I have some Asia to North America flights coming up, all in booking class B.

The question following this is about upgrades. If one were 1P, if you use miles to upgrade do you put yourself ahead in the request line as opposed to allowing an auto upgrade from a 'B' fare, or is it simply that the auto upgrade from a 'B' fare is only within North America? I'm hoping to upgrade a PVG-ORD flight & I'm assuming that midweek is best.

Any comment or advice on the above would be gratefully received.

 

[trooper]

Pretty sure the auto -upgrade is Domestic USA only...

To cover all the bases I'd ask these questions on the UA forum of FT personally... this site is a great resource too.. but is pretty Oneworld-centric"! (Not that there's anything wrong with that...:mrgreen

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

IThe question following this is about upgrades. If one were 1P, if you use miles to upgrade do you put yourself ahead in the request line as opposed to allowing an auto upgrade from a 'B' fare, or is it simply that the auto upgrade from a 'B' fare is only within North America? I'm hoping to upgrade a PVG-ORD flight & I'm assuming that midweek is best.

Miles or Certs are the only way you can upgrade as far as I am aware (apart from purchasing for cash at check-in on an availability basis).

I've never heard of "auto upgrades" from B class, but if they do exist they will certainly be behind certs/miles requests, particularly if you are not 1K. And they certainly do not apply to international travel.

 

[openseat]

Miles or Certs are the only way you can upgrade as far as I am aware (apart from purchasing for cash at check-in on an availability basis).

I've never heard of "auto upgrades" from B class, but if they do exist they will certainly be behind certs/miles requests, particularly if you are not 1K. And they certainly do not apply to international travel.

Thanks for the reply.

I have discovered on .bomb that there is only a limited number of 'B' fares that give domestic North American flight upgrades.

The worry I have is that the 1P status match come challenge has to be 15,000 miles in 90 days (according to majority opinion on FT), so any chance to get an early upgrade are wiped out as the status won't come through until about 60 days before at the earliest.

Nothing like learning the intricacies of another program!! Keeps the grey matter churning.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

Nothing like learning the intricacies of another program!! Keeps the grey matter churning.

Despite all that has been said, I am a strong advocate of Mileage Plus (being 1K, Million Miler) and it is still an excellent program when compared with the rest.

Once you become 1P, you will get 100% miles bonus on all paid UA fares, which is pretty good really. And redeeming your miles for award flights (UA and Star) is quite easy.