Use Mileage Plus to Upgrade with different FFP (VA) in the booking?

[bcworld]

Has anyone used MileagePlus miles to waitlist an upgrade but had another airline FFP against the booking?

I have an upcoming UA itin, mostly in Premium Plus and would be interested in trying to upgrade to Polaris. I will credit the points / status to VA.

I already have an (empty) MileagePlus account and if I pull up the booking while logged in it offers the upgrade with miles (some pretty generous) options. If this can work I'd consider buying miles in the current promo...I'd find a use for them if the upgrades don't clear...but I'm not prepared to credit the flights to UA.

So interested to hear if anyone has done this...I suppose most likely with a different *A partner against the booking.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I haven't done the switcheroo but I have successfully upgraded UA flights from Y to Polaris J using points (most recently LHR > SYD via LAX). Generally speaking, once the upgrade clears (i.e. at check-in or at the gate) you should be able to switch the FFP over. Whether it is worth it is an open question. For me I'd actually try and do the opposite (use my VA Gold to access United Premier benefits then switch the FFP to UA so I the miles flown earn me million miler status with them).

One thing I should point out with United is sometimes you can end up being able to get a confirmed upgrade to Polaris J at time of booking. If you click the advanced search options on United you can specify MilagePlus Upgrade Award as a criteria and it'll show you which ones clear at time of booking. That would of course be ideal although you'll need some flexibility on when you are travelling, routing, etc.

Hope that helps!

-RooFlyer88

 

[bcworld]

Now that I have completed this trip I thought I'd update on what happened with upgrading these flights while crediting to VA.

Ultimately this was very straightforward and there was no issue with keeping my VA number against the booking at all times - the booking was associated to my mileage plus account but the earning FFP was VA...no need to switch FFPs at any time.

I submitted upgrade requests for MEL - LAX (30k + US$450 from Premium Plus) and EWR-LAX-MEL (30k + US$450 from Premium Plus). All that was needed was to be logged into my Mileage Plus account to see and request the upgrade options.

The transpacific upgrade requests both cleared several days out. For EWR-LAX I scraped in and was upgraded at the gate just as boarding was about to start.

The only issue is that upgraded sectors have failed to post to my VA account whereas I found that UA flights in the original booking class posted in about 24 hours. Presumably UA has sent the booking class PZ (upgrades to business) to VA who doesn't understand what to do with it...so I'll need to retro claim for the paid for Premium Plus fare class.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Ultimately this was very straightforward and there was no issue with keeping my VA number against the booking at all times - the booking was associated to my mileage plus account but the earning FFP was VA...no need to switch FFPs at any time.

Would be curious to see if it's possible to do the opposite (i.e. use your Virgin Gold benefits whilst crediting the mileage to United to earn lifetime status). Out of curiosity, did you simply add it to my flights on United to process the upgrade?

I submitted upgrade requests for MEL - LAX (30k + US$450 from Premium Plus) and EWR-LAX-MEL (30k + US$450 from Premium Plus). All that was needed was to be logged into my Mileage Plus account to see and request the upgrade options.

The transpacific upgrade requests both cleared several days out. For EWR-LAX I scraped in and was upgraded at the gate just as boarding was about to start.

Good to see the upgrade cleared with days to spare! That was one thing I really enjoyed flying United as an elite having upgraded a $900 USD economy fare from LHR to SYD (via LAX) into Polaris J for 35,000 miles + $650 co-pay. Indeed, if I were to travel between AU and Europe this would be the airline I would choose.

The only issue is that upgraded sectors have failed to post to my VA account whereas I found that UA flights in the original booking class posted in about 24 hours. Presumably UA has sent the booking class PZ (upgrades to business) to VA who doesn't understand what to do with it...so I'll need to retro claim for the paid for Premium Plus fare class.

Points upgrades to business class will credit as whatever fare you originally booked as. The only exception to this rule are paid upgrades made through manage my booking or at check-in (although even then YMMV).

-RooFlyer88

 

[bcworld]

Points upgrades to business class will credit as whatever fare you originally booked as.

Yes of course...but they just haven't posted at all. I guess it's possible there could be manual processing on the UA side in this scenario that causes the delay.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yes of course...but they just haven't posted at all. I guess it's possible there could be manual processing on the UA side in this scenario that causes the delay.

Sorry I misread that. Yes you should receive credit on the original flight booked albeit you may need to chase Virgin to get those flights credited. Whether this is caused by United recoding the ticket as having a PZ fare is up for debate and certainly this wouldn't be the first time Virgin has failed to properly credit flights taken with them or partner airlines.

-RooFlyer88

 

[twiningb]

For a slightly different scenario:

Might it be possible to use Velocity Platinum to get a free checked bag and priority boarding for a UA domestic flight, but credit to Aeroplan? I don't need the small number of SCs to requalify for Platinum for another year, so earning a few Aeroplan points and renewing my account might be good.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

For a slightly different scenario:

Might it be possible to use Velocity Platinum to get a free checked bag and priority boarding for a UA domestic flight, but credit to Aeroplan? I don't need the small number of SCs to requalify for Platinum for another year, so earning a few Aeroplan points and renewing my account might be good.

Potentially, but there is absolutely no guarantee it will work out that way. What you can try doing is entering your Aeroplan number into your booking with United. Then during check-in head to the counter, and flash your card Virgin card to get that free bag checked in. Best case scenario the agent gives you the free checked bag without switching out the frequent flyer number. Worst case scenario it gets swapped out. If the latter, you can then see a gate agent to get it swapped back to Aeroplan (although there are no guarantees that will work). Don't worry about Priority Boarding, it means nothing on United since they will pre board Military, Global Services, 1K and Platinums, then Gold (that would be you), those with credit cards, those with a last name Kirby, etc. (in that order). If you are travelling on a major hub to hub route like San Francisco to Chicago or Los Angeles to Houston as examples, the number of people who are in the first three groups before you will be most of the plane.

To be perfectly honest, it doesn't make a lick of sense to credit those flights to Aeroplan. If you are on a basic economy or deep discount (K, G) United economy fare you'll earn 25% of miles flown on Aeroplan. That number does go up a bit if you are on slightly higher fares (S,T,L) - 50% of mileage flown, but otherwise you're not playing with a whole lot: