United Airlines is jettisoning regional and premier upgrades for a new points currency called PlusPoints. Believe it or not, the news is actually quite positive.
On December 04, all your regional or global premier upgrades will vanish from your account. As ominous as that sounds, they will be replaced with a new currency called PlusPoints. This new currency will have distinctive advantages over the old upgrade system. New perks include:
- Applying for upgrades on multiple flights at once
- Bypassing minimum fare class restrictions
- Cheaper upgrades from Economy Class to Premium Plus
- Cheaper upgrades from Premium Plus to Polaris Business Class
PlusPoints: A New Flexible Upgrade Currency For United Platinum and 1K Members
One of the biggest complaints I hear from my Award Expert clients and fellow United flyers is that United’s upgrade instruments are worthless. That’s usually hyperbole, but these are not always easy instruments to use.
Each year, Platinum members receive two regional premier upgrades (RPUs) upon qualifying or re-qualifying for status (75K elite qualifying miles [EQM]). These RPUs are valid for one-way upgrades from economy to first class (what United calls its domestic premium cabin) on flights within North America, Canada, and the Caribbean.
1K passengers (100K EQMs) receive two additional RPUs and six Global Premier Upgrades (GPUs), which are valid to upgrade any one-way longhaul international trip booked in W-Class or above, a mid-range economy class fare.
Starting on December 4th, those upgrades will be converted to PlusPoints at a rate of 20 PlusPoints per RPU or 40 PlusPoints per GPU. Going forward, MileagePlus embers will earn 40 PlusPoints upon surpassing the 75K EQM Platinum threshold and 280K additional points upon surpassing the 100K EQM 1K threshold.
New PlusPoints Award Table
With RPUs and GPUs extinguished, a new upgrade chart will take effect.
|
Upgrade |
PlusPoints |
|
Economy (W+ fare) to Polaris |
40 |
|
Economy (G,K,L,S,T fare) to Polaris |
80 |
| Economy (all fares) to Premium Plus |
20 |
| Premium Plus to Polaris |
30 |
| Economy to United First (“domestic”) |
20 |
Note the upside to this new chart. Upgrades will be earned at the same rate as before, but the new upgrade currency has become so much more flexible.
Don’t feel like paying up to W for the gamble of an upgrade? You no longer have to, you’ll just pay the premium via the higher costs of the upgrade. Want to upgrade to Premium Plus? It will cost the same as a domestic upgrade to first class.
PlusPoints Can Be Applied On All United Platforms
Currently, upgrades can be applied over the phone or online (desktop version only). PlusPoints will also be native to the United app, making it even easier to apply upgrades.
As is the case now, upgrades can be applied to reservations for friends, companions, and loved ones, even if the sponsoring member is not traveling with them.
PlusPoints Only Pulled When Upgrade Confirms
Say you have enough points for two upgrades but three trips coming up. You can request upgrades on all three trips at once: points will no longer be deducted until the upgrade confirms. That way, if your upgrade fails to clear for one trip you won’t have (potentially) lost out on another trip. When the upgrade clears, the points will be deducted. In my example above, if your upgrades cleared for the first two trips, your would automatically drop off the waitlist for the third trip.
Special Bonus For 1K Members
From “time to time” United may allow 1K members to use additional PlusPoints to bypass the waitlist and receive a confirmed upgrade at time of booking, even when upgrade fare classes (PN for Global Services members, PZ for everyone else) are not available.
Cutting the queue for a premium will only be offered on longhaul flights and not be available on a consistent basis.
No Change To Complimentary Premier Upgrades
The new PlusPoints program will not alter United’s complimentary premier upgrade program, which confirms upgrades for elite members for free on most North and Central American flights on a space-available basis.
No Change To Upgrades on Lufthansa or ANA
Lufthansa and ANA flights will still be upgradable. 40 PlusPoints will be required per segment upgrade.
One Downside
It’s a small matter, but currently if a Global Premier Upgrade is applied and only the domestic segment(s) clear, the entire Global Premier Upgrade is returned…the domestic upgrades are essentially free.
Under the new program, if only the domestic part of your international trip clears, you will be charged the price of a domestic upgrade, 20 PlusPoints, instead of the full 40. This is quite fair, though less generous than before.
Where It Could Go Bad
Forgive me for being cynical, but I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop. There is little downside to today’s announcement. In fact, the flexibility is worthy of celebration and will make the upgrade benefit far more valuable for many MileagePlus Platinums and 1Ks.
My concern is that in assigning a points value to these upgrades makes them subject to inflation, like any other award chart devaluation. The one nice thing about GPUs and RPUs was that the value was always fixed.
My concern is that is the 20 PlusPoints domestic / 40 PlusPoints international upgrade pricing may not stick around for years to come, as RPUs and GPUs have.
Hopefully my fear is misplaced.
More info here.
CONCLUSION
Luc Bondar, United’s Vice President of Loyalty and President of MileagePlus, said:
We’re making it even easier for our Premier members to use upgrades when and how they want. The new PlusPoints program increases the overall number of upgrade opportunities for top tier Premier members, expands the fare classes where they can be used, and lets members request upgrades on multiple flights all at once. We already make it easy for members to manage all of their upgrades online, and the move to PlusPoints is yet another way we are making MileagePlus the best loyalty program in the industry.
The devil is in the details, but Bondar clearly laid out a compelling case in a conference call yesterday that there are no tricks, just treats.
For those who are used to business as usual, the status quo is not changing much at all. You can still use your earned upgrades in the same manner as before. But for those who want more flexibly, PlusPoints represents an upgrade, not downgrade, to the United MileagePlus program. At least for now.
Also makes it easier to allow PointsPlus earnings in other ways. Chase and UA could get creative and offer these as spend benefits on the credit card.
We’ll see. That would be nice, as long as it was not too easy to earn these.
Do they expire?
Yes, same as GPUs and RPUs currently do.
I’m slightly confused as to whether United is eliminating the need to find upgrade inventory. Could you please clarify?
Well, damn. Another reason for me to really think about jumping ship to United. I just wish they would actually match my Exec Plat with 1K right away.
You should call them and see. I jumped ship two years ago from Exec Plat, and they matched me to 1K immediately for 90 days. They then gave me that 90 day window to earn 35,000 PQMs (no PQD requirement) to get 1K for the following year. Haven’t looked back to AA since..
I don’t think Economy (G fare) to Polaris is allowed. You’ve indicated it is here. I fly some long haul G fares and will have 800 points next year so a bit pissed about this.
It is currently prohibited, but I was told fare class restrictions would be waived, with the exception of N-Class Basic Economy fares (for 80 PlusPoint upgrades starting on 04 Dec). United told me they will update their website to include G…stay tuned.
Wow excellent. Now my only complaint is that they didn’t do this last year. I often fly planes that go out with with a lot of empty Polaris space. The real unhappy campers here are going to be the non-revs. They’re now behind anyone on a discount fare with 80 ppoints.
United will win here with customers like me. I can now make real use of any high GPU points surplus. If they were looking for a cheap way to get me to shunt more of my business to United, that makes everyone happy, this was pretty ace.
Are you sure about G being eligible? It’s excluded from UA’s materials…
The website will be updated. G will be upgrade eligible.
Matthew, Any idea what the cost will be to upgrade award travel now? Before I could use 1 GPU to upgrade to Polaris as a global services member
No changes as a Global Services member.
So you think it will be 4ok pointe equivalent of one GPU?
Curious as to what the expiration will be on the converted RSU and GPUs for those that earned them in the 2018 qualifying year.
Identical to the GPU/RPU system.
@ Matthew– Pay cash and fly a better airline.
Some of us have tighter budgets than FCQ+1
😉
The downside you mentioned is kind of a big deal since they only give Platinums 40 points. My trans pacific flights go from Denver to SFO then onward, and it’s usually a Sunday morning early flight where I get a CPU anyways. Now it will deduct 20 pts, I probably won’t get the int’l upgrade, and i only have 20 pts left so can no longer try for an Intl upgrade next time. I hope now that points are fungible they shrink the disparity between 40 and 280 pts (why not 80, 280??)
If both legs clears, only 40 points will be deducted. To prevent an unwanted loss of 20 points on a DEN-SFO flight, you can request a points-supported upgrade only on the longhaul segment.
So are you saying we could “opt out” of certain segments? I would hate for a short SAT-IAH or LAX-SFO to eat up points if what we’re looking for is the upgrade on say IAH-NRT or SFO-PEK which is what I would want my points going towards.
@Moisés: Indeed, you can opt out and still be eligible for a CPU on those routes. But if your longhaul clears, you cannot go back and add the domestic segment using the same 40 PlusPoints.
Good to know you can break it up by segment. Yeah I knew it wouldn’t deduct 60 for upgrading both but when you only get 40 pts you gotta make em count!
It will be interesting to see how this really plays out.
One thing I note is that with the bars for earning 1K being raised so much the last year, I suspect there will be fewer people who will see much advantage. I will probably only be Plat, after several years of 1K. (Not because of PQDs, but PQMs. Also, UA has not been very competitive on price in international business class, so I have been flying other, cheaper airlines, with better food and service.)
A second is that I have certainly found that PZ upgrade space has become scarcer in the last year. There won’t be any advantages in this change if it is not available.
Which brings me to a third point: You say “From “time to time” United may allow 1K members to use additional PlusPoints to bypass the waitlist and receive a confirmed upgrade at time of booking, even when upgrade fare classes (PN for Global Services members, PZ for everyone else) are not available.” That would be great for 1Ks if that happens – but I have a suspicion it will be quite elusive.
By the way, any change to miles plus copay upgrades?
No change to the mileage upgrade + co-pay system at this time.
Another shoe will drop. Remember 1K boarding enhancements? Great, they value us!
Then – $3k more PQD.
I’m gonna hit 1K this year thanks to paid intl business class travel and am selfishly excited to see if the # of 1Ks decreases as many won’t get the PQD! (I’ve been Platinum for last 3 years…)
Steve it likely may but don’t think it will help you’re upgrade rate any more! They just end up selling more in advance or more at checkin. 11 year 1K speaking. Upgrade rates keep going down.
Help me understand as someone who isn’t familiar with UA’s upgrade system, and I’ll admit up front that I may be missing something obvious here. Is this really an improvement if UA doesn’t also increase upgrade availability? In other words, doesn’t it just mean an increased number of upgrade points now chasing the same (limited) number of available upgrades?
Exactly! I’ve tried using my RPUs and failed. In May, I booked a trip to SIN. In July a friend with GS Status gifted me with GPUs. Only the SAN-SFO cleared immediately, I’m waitlisted for everything else even though a majority of the Polaris seats show empty. Today I booked SAN-EWR a full month in advance. Again, a majority of the first cabin shows available but I’m waitlisted anyway.
Wow looks like I’m flying Premium Plus a lot now, its a no brainer for just the price of 1 RPU.
What? An airline making positive changes to its FF program? You’re kidding. And UNITED? Gimme a break!!
But it’s true.
For me (1K) this is overwhelmingly positive. I’ve already switched to a strategy of book Premium Plus long haul and GPU from there (100% success) and from December I can upgrade that for less, giving me more PlusPoints (it’s a cheesy name) for a couple of domestic upgrades.
The only downside is not getting the free domestic upgrade on a GPU when the long haul doesn’t clear. And I’ll need to be wary of that as my long hauls invariably include a SFO-PDX. But I’ve been upgrading domestics by segment (by phone) when I have long segment/short segment trips anyway (say DTW-ORD-PDX or MIA-SFO-PDX) to protect the value of the instrument.
Good one UA. Kirby’s recent claim that United had to compete on quality was met with massive derision. For frequent fliers like me this is a big quality upgrade.
Of course you’re right Matthew, no changes such as these are ever made to, net-net, benefit the customers. Adjustments, over time, will occur as market conditions warrant as they should. However, my up front question is: will these various categories be separate class buckets, or will this still just show up as PZ / PN. My suspicion is there will be now multiple upgrade buckets so these various tiers can be better controlled. Like, all else equal, Plus – Polaris might be open but not W – Polaris, etc. Has it been explicitly stated that it’s all just PZ/PN still?