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Regional Premier Upgrades are one-way, one-cabin upgrades, confirmable as early as time of ticketing on eligible United and Copa-operated flights.

Premier members will earn two Regional Premier Upgrades when they reach 75,000 Premier qualifying miles (PQM) or 90 Premier qualifying segments (PQS), plus two more for each 25,000 PQM or 30 PQS earned thereafter. Learn more about Premier status.

Regional Premier Upgrades earned for 2012 activity and beyond will be deposited at the time they are earned, and will be valid through the end of the following Premier program year.

Eligible Flights

These upgrades are available on most United- and Copa-operated flights in the following regions:

Regional Premier Upgrades can also be used on all flights between the continental U.S. and Hawaii, as well as all p.s.® flights between New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO).

See the upgrade regions chart for full details on upgrade eligibility, as well as exceptions to the regions listed above.

All paid, published tickets, except award tickets are eligible for Regional Premier Upgrades.

How to request

Once the traveler’s ticket has been issued, members can redeem Regional Premier Upgrades by viewing the reservation on united.com and selecting the Upgrade Reservation link. Regional Premier Upgrades may also be redeemed by contacting United Reservations.

Confirmation priority

Regional Premier Upgrades may be confirmed as early as time of booking or time of upgrade request. If upgrade space is not available at time of request, members will be placed on a waitlist. The waitlist will clear automatically by Premier status, then fare class*, then time of request. New waitlist requests for Regional Premier Upgrades can be made until 24 hours prior to departure.

Learn more about upgrade confirmation priority

*Fare class structure for Regional Premier Upgrades, in priority order, is J, C, D, Z, P (for upgrades from United Business® to United First® or United BusinessFirst® to United Global FirstSM on 3-cabin aircraft) and Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T L K, G, N (for upgrades from United Economy to the next class of service on all aircraft).

Sponsoring another member

MileagePlus members may request an upgrade for any other traveler using a Regional Premier Upgrade, even if they are not traveling on the same reservation. In order to sponsor a Regional Premier Upgrade for another traveler, the sponsoring member will need to sign in to united.com using their own account, then search for the reservation using the traveling member’s confirmation number and last name. The sponsoring member can then redeem the Regional Premier Upgrade by selecting the Upgrade Reservation link. Waitlist confirmation priority is based on the Premier status of the redeeming account.

Other terms

• Each Regional Premier Upgrade is valid for a single one-way, one-cabin upgrade.
• Regional Premier Upgrades are earned based on flights taken between January 1 and December 31 of the same calendar year.
• Members must fly at least four flights on United or Copa during a calendar year in order to be eligible to earn Regional Premier Upgrades.
• Regional Premier Upgrades are deposited at the time when they are earned, and will be valid for travel through the end of the Premier program year for which they are earned. For example, a Regional Premier Upgrade earned in June 2013 will be valid for travel through January 2015.
• Regional Premier Upgrades earned via 2011 activity are valid for twelve months from the date of issue.
• Regional Premier Upgrades in certain types of sales accounts may also have different expiration policies.
• Regional Premier Upgrades may be redeemed at united.com or by contacting United Reservations.
• New waitlist requests for Regional Premier Upgrades can be made until 24 hours prior to departure.
• Regional Premier Upgrades are valid only on select United- or Copa-operated flights.
• Regional Premier Upgrades are fully transferable and may be used for travel with or without the earning Premier member.
• In the case of redeposit or cancellation, the Regional Premier Upgrade will be returned to the account from which it was taken.
• A Regional Premier Upgrade will be considered used if any segment of an itinerary is upgraded and flown.
• Regional Premier Upgrades are subject to capacity controls, which may limit the number of seats available.
• Award tickets, flights that have already been upgraded, and certain fares such as industry discount, Hotwire and priceline.com fares, are not eligible for Regional Premier Upgrades.
• The number of MileagePlus award miles, Premier qualifying miles and premier qualifying segments earned is based on the fare class of the ticket originally purchased, not the upgraded class.
• Other restrictions may apply. Terms and other information are subject to change without notice.