In my experience, the days of complimentary upgrades for Premier 1K members on United Airlines continue to wane, changing my loyalty valuation.
Why United Airlines First Class Upgrades Are Harder For Premier 1K Members
My friend Ben from One Mile At A Time shared his assessment of upgrades for Executive Platinum members at American Airlines and I thought I’d do the same for Premier 1K members at United Airlines.
In short, the upgrade paradigm has been turned upside down and the idea of “complimentary” upgrades is a pipe dream on many routes, even for United’s most loyal flyers. This is an observation, not a complaint.
Historically, those with 1K status on United were more likely than not to get upgraded. That is no longer the case. Clearing into the front cabin at 96 hours prior to departure (the opening of the 1K complimentary upgrade window) has not hapepned once this year for me. But it’s more than that. I do a lot of domestic travel and my upgrade rate has been woeful: unless I am buying first class outright or using PlusPoints to upgrade (United’s confirmed upgrade instrument which gives flyers higher upgrade priority), I remain in economy class.
This is true on transcon routes, hub-to-hub routes, and even mid-week on routes that used to be easy upgrades. For example, I recently failed to clear an upgrade from Burbank (BUR) to Denver (DEN) despite using PlusPoints.
This is true for three reasons:
- United has lowered the price of domestic premium cabin tickets, pricing them at much more reasonable rates such that it often makes sense to simply buy directly into the front cabin
- United monetizes upgrade sales, offering post-booking paid upgrades at reduced prices (generally tied to fare class availability)
- There are a lot of PlusPoints floating around and United prioritizes a no-status passenger using PlusPoints or miles at a higher rate than a Premier 1K waiting for a complimentary upgrade (for the record, I like this approach much better than AA’s approach where an Executive Platinum waiting for a complimentary upgrade would trump a Platinum Pro trying to use miles to upgrade on the same flight)
On a recent Chicago to Los Angeles flight, I was offered a $299 upgrade to first class…and I took it. Because when I flew the reverse direction and decided not to pay cash for the upgrade, I wound up #8 on the upgrade list…with zero seats available.
At least for me, international longhaul upgrades have been a different experience. As I said in a recent story on my elite status “progress report,” I do end up using all my PlusPoints each year, especially for international upgrades. It is worth thousands of dollars to buy economy or premium economy class tickets and upgrade to business class.
So yes, I’ve flown all over the world in the Polaris cabin this year thanks to my PlusPoints. Without those upgrades, I’d be paying higher cash fares, so I do see the PlusPoints as a genuine rebate and benefit to 1K status.
But as I sit at $12,500 in annual spending, the idea of spending $6,000 more to requalify for 1K status when I don’t even have a trip planned right now is difficult to stomach. Am I not better off just buying points if I require premium travel to Europe?
In terms of the loyalty equation, the constant MileagePlus devaluations on the redemption side only make elite status seem less valuable…
I think becoming a free agent would be liberating and I am closer than ever to becoming one. The international upgrades have kept me loyal to United, but I work with Award Expert clients all the time who always manage to travel in business or first class…without any meaningful status…just by using points (and no, the days of exclusively “saver” level travel are over).
CONCLUSION
As United continues to whittle away at the upgrade benefits of holding 1K status, we can be thankful that in many cases buying a first class ticket outright is no longer unreasonable. But in making upgrades so much more difficult, United has taken away a prime incentive to chase loyalty.
I’m closer than ever to declaring free agency, but also cannot blame United for monetizing upgrades in a way that makes sense for it. I’m sure I will still be flying United quite a bit no matter what, but liberating myself from the yoke of pursuing 1K status would be liberating.
Upgrades were over a while ago. I am a Delta Diamond but living in a Delta hub makes it impossible to get upgraded. Very often I am #35 on the upgrade list. Thus, loyalty is over but in my case Delta is the best option even without getting many of the perks. Unless Delta offers a non-stop at a decent price, I will shop around on other airlines.
I’m a frequent flyer on both United and Delta and yes upgrades are getting harder and harder to come by now days. Like Matt I now make a decision on whether to buy first class or not depending on the length of the flight. However I don’t necessarily blame the airlines for pricing their premium products more reasonably than they did in the past. I’ve witnessed United FA’s come to recognize a GS (global service) passenger seated in economy plus and I’ve witness the same from Delta FA’s acknowledging a Delta 360 member in comfort plus. Just a few years ago that was unheard of from both these airlines. If you had achieved that status you were practically guaranteed to be upgraded on just about any domestic flight. Now days the top of the top tier passengers are also finding themselves in coach with no upgrades available and it’s because airlines are selling those seats. So I’ve come to the realization that on certain flights that are a certain length or longer I have to buy first class its the only way I can guarantee that seat.
Being NYC based, it’s just easier to be a free agent. When you’re at a fortress hub it’s kinda why not but if you’re in NYC or LA (some degree Chicago) you’re better off picking the airline with the best fare/schedule and using money “saved” from being loyal to buy the seats you want
Airlines win. They’ve now programmed their most elite customers to PAY for something they used to get for FREE. WN nonstop > DL/UA/AA with a cxn in Y. Sad, but true.
It annoys me most that they use the mythical complimentary upgrades to sell the program. It’s all over the marketing materials and ads. Having been a 1K for many years I’m accustomed to it, but imagine a new member thinking he’s going to be getting free upgrades like United claims only to find it never happens.
I agree with Hunky Klint – really the only draw is plus points, all of which I use every year and do offer great value on international flights.
Try Alaska, plenty of upgrades to go around even as a 2nd-tier 75K
Then you have to fly AS. I’d rather be in Y on UA.
I don’t mind flying AS, but going via SEA is a bit much, even for me.
@ Matthew — AS is an excllent airline. Going through SEA is good for the extra disatance, since AS still bases qualification on distance not $$.
As a low Silver, I love the ability to obtain the 2nd to last first class seat available for $200 after check in time, especially on routes like IAH-SFO where I would not pay for this outright or ever to be able to get the upgrade even with 1K/GS instruments.
This is the new model…if I only flew domestically, I’d be very happy just keeping my lifetime Gold (MMer) and not looking back…but the international upgrades are different. I’m not seeing a lot of cheap Polaris upgrade offers…
I think the big problem for me is that I’m just not seeing the future travel to make up that $6K…it’s not that much, but I’m still far too stubborn to buy full-fare just to get more PlusPoints.
@ Matthew — Just pay for a couple of J trips to Europe around the holidays. Use miles for the family. We booked the cheapest days we could find, way in advance, for about $3,000 round trip, which isn’t terrible, Then, due to the inevitable schedule changes, we have been able to change our flights by multiple days on each end.
I had 1K withdrawals after finishing work with 2.5MM (UA LT). I’m paying by choice. While not flying coach anymore, I still lean towards UA even though getting PPs I can’t use and I won’t wait for comp upgrades that never seem happen anymore. Got a Chase SapR card and I now buy the best priced first-class fare on a reputable airline, finding good deals in Delta, Hawaiian, and sometimes even UA.
I am intrigued by this use of plus points- I’ve had exactly one international upgrade request work for me since they rolled out plus points (and I’ve been a 1k the whole time)- and I fly internationally every month for work. It may be the routes I am taking are too popular, or that I cannot buy the tickets far enough in advance to lodge the PP request before others do… But I’ve repeatedly had the 1k desk folks tell me that it is either bc there are GS upgrade requests ahead of me or business is almost entirely sold out. Please tell me your secret bc I am once again (even with flying four times domestic and trying to use up my PP on those) going to end the year with a metric ton of plus points. Are you able to be that much more flexible in route/timing/buying ahead?
That was my experience as well when I achieved 1K. If work plays for me to fly, I would try to get 1k again but flying international for leisure and praying that international upgrades come through using plus points was hopeless. I’ll never chase that goal again. I am wondering if going to a card like American Express platinum for all my transactions so that I can use my points anywhere to get business class tickets international is the way to go. I lost hundreds of useless plus points seeking domestic and international upgrades. Never again.
Why not use partner carrier earnings to push your PQD up?
United has greatly limited partner earning potential by putting caps based on cabin flown that make it worse than buying on 016 stock.
I agree with everything you say in this article except maybe the Plus Points. I have searched countless times to find flights/routes with advanced eligibility to use them and not once succeed. I have lost more to expiration that I’ve used. I try using them on my domestic work trips and 9 times out of 10, the short segment clears but not the longer one so they take 20 PP’s for an hour long flight and I am still in Couch for the longer one. I don’t mind flying coach at all but I’m old enough to remember the days when I got upgraded 75% of the time domestically and had the global upgrade certificates that were totally useable for international trips. Also used to be able to use miles easily for I ternational upgrades. I am sitting at 1.85 MM Lifetime Miles on United right now. I want to get to 2MM before I am put to pasture but even that is more difficult now. It’s going to take 3 more years if I’m lucky and that sucks. I will still make 1K again this year despite most of my travel being domestic. I spend a lot of my life traveling for work and looking back on my life I have a lot of regret over my career choices that required so much travel. I’ve sacrificed relationships and my own well being. I wish I had chosen differently.
I’ve mostly defended United my entire career but not anymore. Thanks for writing this. It sums things up perfectly.
I really appreciate your perspective. Thanks for sharing, Tay.
As I said in a reply above, your experience reflects my recent ones as well. I have lost hundreds of plus points. The primary reason I stay with United is that when I do fly for work, I can use a reasonable amount of miles or dollars (or plus points) to get international upgrades. Delta restricts fair codes for upgrades and American’s international partners historically have made it difficult to upgrade economy tickets to business.
United will offer “reasonable” day of departure upgrades. For example, I recently paid $1200 on a 40k award ticket SFO-CDG at the beginning of summer to upgrade from economy to Polaris. Yes it is pricy but the Polaris cabin was nearly full for weeks prior. For me that is the upper limit of what I am willing to pay to upgrade using dollars.
On the long haul routes I fly generally it’s hard to get upgrades even using plus points. On very long flights I just can’t take the risk so I pay the huge Polaris class costs up front. At the end of the year I have several hundreds of these plus points. I’d rather have spent a lot more points to get a guaranteed upgrade than just leave them lying around.
Ditto. Exact same problem. I don’t want to get caught out on a very long haul (12+ hours) flight to Asia hoping my PP upgrade will clear. So I pay. UA probably has a note in my 1k file saying “don’t worry about upgrading her, she will pay for the business class seat” haha.
I will say that every time I debate going truly freelance, the 1K help desk reminds my why I am still loyal. They are just so much better than any other airline’s help desk. Even during that huge meltdown a month or so ago, I waited on hold on the 1k line for less than 5 minutes and the person who helped me said there were 8,000 total people on hold.
As a 1K that matched from a credit card spend AA EXP, i’ve been very happy with my flights on UA.
AA cut a lot of the flights that made AA preferred, and UA combined with Star Partners, serve most of my flight needs directly.
For short flights (<500 miles) to an UA Hub – i was upgraded more often than not. Being based in another airline hub made it easier to get better upgrades on UA – fewer UA loyal members in my home base. Fewer people willing to pay $75-100 to upgrade on the flight and fewer elites made it easy.. Longer flights it's a different story, but this 1K has had plus points clear into Polaris more often than not and upgraded from Y to J more often than not.
This is why I find it amusing to see folks chase lower-tier status, especially when they live in a hub city.
I know a few folks in WAS who are wasting their time (and frankly money) chasing Silver, for example. You are never going to get upgraded ex WAS on Silver unless you strictly fly to smaller outstations. You are better off just getting an Explorer Card – which comes with the same boarding priority and a free bag, plus it allows you to bring a carry-on in BE. United lets all customers select Preferred seats at check-in, so honestly the only benefit I see is access to Economy Plus seating at check-in.
I don’t even see the benefit of Gold (for lounge access internationally) given how many nice Priority Pass lounges IAD has. Economy Plus is the only benefit there.
I suppose any Premier member may have a better IRROPS experience, but I have had fantastic service during IRROPS situations as a general member…far better than AA ever treated me as a EXP.
Like you said, it’s insanely cheap to upgrade these days. They were selling F seats on my IAD-SEA flight the other day for $259. An absolute steal IMO.
@ Matt — As GS, I don’t feel like I get ANY special treatment during IRROPS, so status seems more pointless than ever. Typically, I’ll buy a first class ticket and when a flight cancels, I will be re-booked into economy seat on the next available flight, all with zero contact from United. I don’t consider that great service. As a GS buying a first class ticket, I expect a personal phone call and an offer to be re-booked onto the next available flight in First on ANY airline, but that is apparently a pipe dream.
Matt,
You talk about First being more affordable?
I am not sure that I agree – regardless of the metric that is used – I am not sure that domestic flights that are sometimes greater than 5x the cost of economy is “affordable” vs just not worth it. The differences in the soft and hard product in the pointy side of a curtain and the backend are hard to justify. Heck, on a recent DEN-OGG flight, F was full (I took myself off the UG list) because I was able to easily get an entire 4-across row to myself (and had several to pick from).
@ Matthew — C’mon, you KNOW you are going to re-up for 1K. You post an article like this every year and requalify every year.
Status on AA (when I had it) was great for economy plus or whatever it’s called for the whole family on booking. And priority check in (I’m happy to board last). Would get upgraded ORD to NYC quite frequently.
Now I have no status and choose points to fly most places. Either accrued from cc or bought (Alaska, lifemiles, avíos, aeroplan). I don’t need status because I’m usually redeeming for biz.
I think you’re being pretty generous in not assigning any blame whatsoever to United for changing the upgrade dynamic completely. I also think that Kirby is once again wearing blinders by going for the easy money through cheap paid upgrades at the expense of demonstrably loyal passengers. If you intentionally kick out the people who choose to stick with you then you’re just going for the lowest common denominator, which means constantly cheapening things to scrape out that extra buck you used to have anyway with loyalists. This is more AmericaWest thinking and it’s got to stop.
That’s why UA has been encouraging FA’s to recognize 1k’s and thank them on a flight. They really have nothing much else to offer anymore.
Back in 2009, United announced that starting in 2010, all open seats in first class would go to elite members for free (unlimited upgrades). As a marketer, I was shocked by the idea, having come of age coveting 500-mile upgrade certificates (which would arrive via mail) and the occasional “systemwide upgrade.” The Olive Garden may stand by all-you-can-eat salad and breadsticks as a way to drive customer traffic, but United is smart to have begun monetizing first class. As a 1K for 20 years and 1.8MM, I finally jumped off the hamster wheel last year. I am enjoying OneWorld Emerald status much more. Matthew–how close are you to 2MM?
“500-mile upgrade certificates” and “systemwide upgrades” were on American, not United. American changed its policy during Covid. I lost a lot of 500-mile certs.
They were on United too…both 500-mile upgrade certs and systemwide upgrades.
The world did not start in 2020.
Speaking of paper certificate upgrades, two incidents still stand fresh in my mind. One was in 2000 when there was a strike at United and many delayed flights. Pre-eUpgrades, United would hold a first class seat for an economy-ticketed passenger based on the passenger saying that he had 500-mile upgrade certificates to hand over at airport check-in. Because of the strike, United employees were authorized to volunteer, “given the delays you are facing, you keep your certs for another time…enjoy first class.” In a different incident, I had a last-minute trip from California to Europe booked by my company on American in economy. Occasionally, American provided my company with systemwide paper upgrades. On a Friday afternoon, a FedEx envelope showed up from our in-house travel agency with two paper systemwide upgrades for me to hand over at check-in. I had protected seats in business class for my economy ticket. When I looked at the upgrade certificates they were for use to upgrade a business class ticket to first class. I thought that I was in trouble. It was too late to correct the error; I started realizing that I would be in economy; and being last-minute, who knew what kind of seats remained. At airport check-in, I explained that I had just received the FedEx the day before and the AA check-in agent smiled and said, “I’m fine with them” and then updated my computer file to say that I had handed over the needed paper certs and I was confirmed in business class roundtrip. I’m not sure if that kind of personal touch exists anymore in the era of AI algorithms making offers for paid upgrades to people who aren’t even elite fliers.
Silly article. Upgrades are 90% dependent on route, time of day, day of week, etc. Assuming everyone knows how to view the number of unbooked First/Business seats on flights, you can find flights that guarantee around 90% upgrade probability. Example: my wife was Star Alliance Silver for decades and was upgraded to United Business 100% of the time IAH-GUA. She flies twice annually on this route. She would upgraded close to 0% of the time IAH-SFO on a mid-day flight during Thanksgiving.
I’m comparing routes that I used to get upgraded on but no longer do. Nothing silly about that.
I’ve been a 1K for over a decade and a United Premier for over 20 years…so I have a good idea what I’m talking about and don’t really care about upgrades from Dulles to Richmond or Newark to Cincinnati.
I’m UA 1k and have been since ’18. This year the elite saturation took over and United’s opaque upgrade process has led to me being unable to process upgrades on over 10 long haul international flights this year alone, meaning I’m sitting on 360 plus points that most likely won’t get availability to use before they expire in January.
An experience this summer stands out as representative of my experience. I booked in highest premium plus class DEN-FRA, with a follow on flight booked separately going to India from there, popular route but picked a slow day with about 50% Polaris availability two weeks before travel. Put in for PP upgrade and went on wait list. An hour before flight leaves I’m number four on the wait list with four seats available. 20 min later I look up to see if they’ve started releasing the upgrades and notice that the person below me at #5 on the list has cleared and all seats are gone. Gate agents said no one paid at the gate and that was the only way to get ahead. Called UA customer service and was passed around until someone gave me a case number and promised to follow up in 4 weeks. I called 4 weeks later and learned the case number they gave was bogus and they were very apologetic, offering $500 travel credit but that’s basically insulting at that point. After I said I didn’t want the travel credit but did want to understand what happened so I can take the same action and clear first and they went dark and quit responding to my inquiries.
At this point I’m going one more year 1k but if the PP upgrade situation doesn’t loosen up in ’25 I’m flying Etihad and playing the points award game.
I travel most of the year on UA, including a lot of international. In the past four years, my plus points have never cleared 96, 72, or even 24 hours ahead. The only time I get into 1st or Biz is when I book it up front, or when I buy an upgrade before the flight. Plus points are a joke. So from now on, I’m not going to bother reaching any status higher than Gold. The rate of return on benefits for Platinum or 1K are next to nil.
I agree with you
I think we are also missing to add what’s driving down the availability. Like many, I fly every week multiple legs, I have noticed the number of pilots sitting in first explode with contract ratifications: One flight I had 4 sitting up front (most have 1-2). Additionally, selling out to affinity credit cards more and more (although not a new idea) to help reach higher once harder to reach tiers is flooding higher tiers.
Yes, I notice a lot more deadheading pilots too, especially via DEN.
I’m impressed you can get your Plus Points to work. I’ve had zero upgrades using Plus Points internationally this year, even after buying Premium Plus to get higher on the list. I ended last year with nearly 200 expiring, and looking like it may happen again this year.
I feel swindled by this fake currency – something they control, and then don’t allow me to use.
(1K for previous 8 or 9 years)
I really think that if I end up not qualifying for 1K status, I’m just going to ask readers for them when I need them! 😉
I’m a 1k on United who Flys basically every week and have spent over $47,000 on United. Every year over 300 plus points expire because you can’t use them. I’m happy if I’m less than #10 on the upgrade list. As far as I’m concerned, if your not a Global Service member or a friend of the gate agent you can forget about upgrading.
The upgrade fairy must just really like me. I’m 2/2 on UA as a free Bonvoy Silver. On AA, I very rarely miss upgrades, and when I do, I’m usually 1 or 2 on the list. I think being based in AUS improves my odds, but I often fly out of JFK/LGA up and down the East Coast, and I connect in DFW all the time. There isn’t really a route that I view as specifically tough. Maybe stuff in and out of YYZ, and Caribbean routes can be tough-ish. I’m probably 4/8 to the Caribbean this year.
FWIW I had just over 400,000 LPs last year, and will probably come out in the low 300s this year.
Was 1K up to COVID. I had already begun to see all my PPs expire unused. Since 2021, I’ve been flying a lot more paid BA, AF, and VS J and they are much nicer. Domestic, I fly mainly UA, and don’t miss being 1K. OW Emerald is the really useful status, as it provides free seating on BA.
As a 1K using plus points it’s been dismal as well. This year will be the first year I’ll most Likely not make 1K for next year due to less work travel in the past 8 yrs and after pondering on the benefits I’ve received over the last couple years it didn’t seem like I was losing much by way of benefits. The 2 benefits I’ll miss Is the free drink/food item and the priority boarding.
This is my first year at Gold after a decade as a 1K. I split my spending between UA, DL & VA. Don’t miss 1K much other than PlusPoints and perhaps additional award availability. 1K CSRs are better than Gold CSRs but Virgin Gold CSRs are way better than United’s 1K CSRs.
A benefit that many forget is the help you get as a passenger with 1K status when things go wrong. One can’t blame the airlines for trying their hardest to sell the premium seats. Maybe it’s their advertisement of elite status benefits that needs updating.
One interesting thing is that I can really count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to call the 1K desk this year. The app and automated rebooking make things so easy…
But yes, the 1K desk and helping during irr/ops (including hotel during weather delays/cancellations) is another big benefit.
I think the airlines are giving the store away. If you want first class or Polaris pay for it. I use my miles to upgrade when possible but getting upset for not receiving first complaining the airline is making it difficult to upgrade is just crazy. I have shopped at the same grocery store most of my life and they have never once given me a free bag of groceries.
A lot of the comments sound like you are buying a Chevy but you want a Cadillac.
BZN-ORD used to be an easy upgrade for a 1K. Ha! 20 on the list for 2 or 3 seats if that much? I just buy the seat I’m done chasing “rewards”. It’s equivalent to being in Vegas and getting comped for a meal because they watched what you were betting. I’m not complaining about United – flown 95% of my lifetime miles with them. Just saying the market changes. I save my miles for my kids and grandkids so they can come out and see us!
As a 1MM living in CRP, I’m just happy to not have to worry about making Gold anymore. As Gold, I still always get a complimentary upgrade on IAH-CRP, and the fact that I can reserve exit row at booking I’m happy with that.
Last year I was 1K, and I appreciated the gesture of offering one free food and drink if I didn’t get upgraded domestically, that meant a lot.
Great article, thank you Matthew, and I appreciated everyone’s comments.
I had the good fortune of achieving Lifetime 1K status in 2012. It came about because I was a Lifetime Gold with Continental Airlines, then transitioned to Lifetime Platinum when Continental changed its elite tier structure from Bronze/Silver/Gold to Silver/Gold/Platinum, then when United and Continental merged the < 5,000 Lifetime Platinum customers at that time became Lifetime 1Ks. Up to the merger, I did quite well with first class upgrades and usually was able to redeem international upgrades for a seat up in Continental's "Business First" cabin. However, the merger definitely changed all that. I experienced after the merger a significant drop in my domestic upgrade success rate and usually would strike out in redeeming international upgrade awards.
The main reasons for this? I believe post-merger it's been much greater excess demand for upgrades due to adding the pool of Continental OnePass elites to MileagePlus elites. The supply of upgradable seats rose but the demand for comp upgrades rose much more proportionally. I know a lot of United elites and former Continental elites who have been bemoaning this since 2012. I believe the excess demand problem 12 years ago has led to where we are today. So, it's a combination of too many elite customers and a shrinking supply of upgradeable seats. It's been very disappointing, but it what it is, and I don't think it's any more favorable at other carriers. I'm also a Delta Platinum and encounter the same issues there (Even CEO Ed Bastien stated publicly that there are simply too many Diamonds out there).
Today, the value of my 1K status comes from the complimentary Global Entry and Clear subscriptions, virtually guaranteed seating in Economy Plus, pre-boarding, the free drink and snack, and the 1k phone line (which is outstanding). In total, it's not much compared to the old days but it's about having realistic expectations in this day and age of flying. I still greatly value 1K status and will continue to be loyal to United.