PlusPoints
MileagePlus® members with Premier® Platinum or Premier 1K® status can request premium cabin seat upgrades anytime they fly with PlusPoints.
PlusPoints
MileagePlus® members with Premier® Platinum or Premier 1K® status can request premium cabin seat upgrades anytime they fly with PlusPoints.
PlusPoints benefits
PlusPoints is our most generous upgrade program, only available for our most loyal members. Here are a few of the top benefits of using PlusPoints.
It’s easy
Request upgrades to any seat and available premium cabin, like United Polaris® business class or United Premium Plus®.
It’s do-it-yourself
You can request and confirm premium cabin upgrades on our website or app. No need to call or wait in line.
It’s flexible
We don’t deduct PlusPoints from your account until your upgrade is confirmed, letting you make as many requests as you want.
It’s easy
Request upgrades to any seat and available premium cabin, like United Polaris® business class or United Premium Plus®.
It’s do-it-yourself
You can request and confirm premium cabin upgrades on our website or app. No need to call or wait in line.
It’s flexible
We don’t deduct PlusPoints from your account until your upgrade is confirmed, letting you make as many requests as you want.
Earning PlusPoints
Once you reach Premier Platinum or Premier 1K, you’ll immediately receive PlusPoints based on your status: 40 PlusPoints when you reach Premier Platinum and 280 more when you reach Premier 1K.
You can earn even more PlusPoints after you reach Premier 1K status. For every 3,000 Premier qualifying points (PQP) you get beyond 18,000, you’ll earn 20 more PlusPoints.*
*Any PQP you got for using your United MileagePlus credit card doesn’t count toward earning more PlusPoints, unless you have the United Presidential PlusSM card or the United Presidential Plus business card.
PlusPoints upgrades
Once you’ve got PlusPoints in your account you can start using them right away. You can request an upgrade on all flights operated by United and United Express®. Some partner airlines let you request PlusPoints upgrades as well, including ANA, Lufthansa and Copa Airlines.
Here's what you need to know before you request an upgrade, from pricing to how to submit your request.
Upgrade pricing
The amount of PlusPoints required for an upgrade depends on where you’re flying to, your original ticket, and what seat you want to upgrade to.
Here's our pricing breakdown:
Upgrade pricing
The amount of PlusPoints required for an upgrade depends on where you’re flying to, your original ticket, and what seat you want to upgrade to.
Here's our pricing breakdown:
Points
Upgrade from
United Premium Plus to United Business® on short-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Economy® to United First® or United Business on short-haul flights
or
United Economy to United Premium Plus on short-haul flights
or
United Economy to United Premium Plus on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Premium Plus to United Polaris® business class on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Economy to United Polaris business class on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
Discounted economy to United Polaris business class on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Premium Plus to United Business® on short-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Economy® to United First® or United Business on short-haul flights
or
United Economy to United Premium Plus on short-haul flights
or
United Economy to United Premium Plus on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Premium Plus to United Polaris® business class on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
United Economy to United Polaris business class on long-haul flights
Points
Upgrade from
Discounted economy to United Polaris business class on long-haul flights
We won’t deduct PlusPoints from your account until your upgrade is confirmed, unless your upgrade request is with a partner airline. These requests are always 40 points and will be deducted from your account immediately.
If you request multiple upgrades for your trip, you’ll only be charged for the highest-priced upgrade you receive. For example, if you request a 20-point upgrade for your first flight and a 40-point upgrade for the second, you’ll only be charged 40 PlusPoints.
How to request an upgrade
Pick your upgrade type
When entering your trip information, select “PlusPoints” as the type of upgrade you’d like to request.
Pick your view
You can choose between viewing flights that may or may not have upgrades available and only flights that do have them.
Pick your flight
Finish shopping for flights like you normally would. You’ll be able to see both ticket price and PlusPoints upgrade pricing.
You can also request a PlusPoints upgrade on flights you’ve already booked in the My Trips section of our website or the app. Simply view the flight you’d like to request an upgrade for and select “Upgrade”. This is also where you can check on the status of your requests or cancel them.
Managing your PlusPoints
You can view the number of PlusPoints you have available, how many you’ve requested and how many you’ve used in your MileagePlus account.
Available
This is your current PlusPoints balance. PlusPoints for unconfirmed upgrades are included in this total.
Requested
This is how many PlusPoints you’ll need to pay for upgrades that haven’t been confirmed yet.
Deducted
This is the total PlusPoints you’ve used to pay for confirmed upgrades.
Skip Waitlist
For a limited time, Skip Waitlist is available on even more flights. Use PlusPoints to upgrade on eligible flights by July 31, 2023.
Learn more
Skip Waitlist is exclusively for Premier 1K members. With this perk you can use additional PlusPoints to instantly confirm your upgrade on select international flights. Have friends or family traveling on the same reservation with you? You can upgrade them too.
Things to remember about Skip Waitlist:
It’s only available more than 30 days before your flight.
It’s only available on select international flights operated by United.
It’s non-refundable and can’t be transferred to new flights if you change your travel plans.
How to use Skip Waitlist
Option 1
Make a Skip Waitlist request during booking by selecting “Available only and Skip Waitlist” during the pick your view step when making a PlusPoints upgrade. You’ll see a “Skip Waitlist” label on eligible flights.
Option 2
Add Skip Waitlist to a flight you’ve already booked by viewing it in My Trips and selecting “Upgrade”. If the flight is Skip Waitlist-eligible, you’ll see it as an available option.
PlusPoints FAQs
When you’re a MileagePlus member, you earn miles every time you fly, stay at a hotel, rent a car and more. These miles can be used toward buying plane tickets, making in-flight purchases and getting upgrades (to name a few). PlusPoints are earned when you reach Premier Platinum and Premier 1K status and can only be used on upgrades to premium cabins.
You’ll be charged for the highest-priced upgrade you requested as soon as one of your upgrades is confirmed. This is to make sure you can receive your highest-priced upgrade if and when it becomes available. If you don’t end up receiving your highest-priced upgrade, the difference will be credited to your account when you reach your destination.
For example, you’re flying from Chicago to New York to London for a family trip. You’ve requested a 20-point upgrade from United Economy to United First for Chicago to New York and a 40-point upgrade from United Economy to United Polaris class for New York to London.
As soon as your upgrade for your flight to New York is confirmed you’ll be charged 40 points because that’s the highest-priced upgrade you’ve requested for this trip. If you don’t end up getting upgraded for your flight to London, 20 PlusPoints will be added back to your account once you land.
Note, Skip Waitlist upgrades cannot be refunded or partially credited back to your account since they’re confirmed instantly when you make your request.
If you don’t end up receiving your highest-priced upgrade, the difference will be credited to your account when you reach your destination.
You’ll receive an email if you don’t have enough PlusPoints to pay for all your upgrade requests. If you don’t have enough PlusPoints by the time your upgrade is confirmed, your request will be skipped. You can remove upgrade requests at any time before your upgrade is confirmed.
No, once your upgrade is confirmed it can’t be canceled.
You can make a new upgrade request after your upgrade is confirmed, but you can’t add to an existing request.
You can make as many upgrade requests as your available PlusPoints balance allows.
No, you can pick and choose which segments you’d like to request upgrades for.
If your flight is canceled or moves because of a schedule change, you can get a full refund of your PlusPoints. If your flight is delayed it will not affect your PlusPoints upgrade.
Yes, they do receive PlusPoints based on their lifetime Premier status level. PlusPoints will be deposited in their accounts each January.
You can request an upgrade until check-in is closed for your flight. This can be anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes before takeoff, depending on the flight and whether or not you’re checking bags.
PlusPoints expire at the end of the program year for which you earned Premier Platinum or Premier 1K status. However, PlusPoints set to expire on July 31, 2022, will now expire on January 31, 2023, and those set to expire on January 31, 2023, will now expire on July 31, 2023.
Yes. Members can sponsor upgrades for friends and loved ones whether they are traveling or not. However, when sponsoring a companion for Skip Waitlist upgrades, the PlusPoints account holder must always be traveling with the companion.
You can use Skip Waitlist for both you and a friend if you’re traveling on the same reservation. But, you can’t use this benefit to upgrade a friend’s seat if you aren’t traveling with them.
Skip Waitlist allows you to confirm a premium seat when upgrade inventory is closed. This benefit is exclusive to members with 1K status, which is why those members must be flying to use this benefit. All other PlusPoints upgrades allow the Premier member to sponsor another traveler without being on the reservation.
Eligibility for Skip Waitlist depends on fare class.
Upgrade Eligible fare classes From United Premium Plus to United Polaris business class O, A, R From United Economy to United Polaris business class Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W From United Economy to United Premium Plus Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K Once you request a Skip Waitlist upgrade on an itinerary, that upgrade is confirmed immediately and cannot be cancelled or moved to another flight. If you change flights, you will not be refunded the PlusPoints for your Skip Waitlist upgrade.
- For example, you could place a Skip Waitlist request for an itinerary and later decide you’d like to change flights.
- Your confirmed Skip Waitlist upgrade will not be transferred to your new flight.
- If you’d like to request an upgrade on your new flight, you’ll need additional PlusPoints according to the PlusPoints price of what’s being requested.
Because Skip Waitlist allows you to reserve a premium seat when upgrades otherwise would not be available, a Skip Waitlist upgrade cannot be re-confirmed on other flights in the event you wish to change your itinerary, and PlusPoints will not be refunded if you decide to forgo a Skip Waitlist upgrade after placing it. Customers who change their travel plans involuntarily, in situations such as irregular operations, cancellations and schedule changes, are eligible for a full refund of PlusPoints if we’re not able to re-confirm your upgrade.
- Each PlusPoints upgrade is valid for a single one-way upgrade into a premium seat.
- PlusPoints are earned based on flights taken between January 1 and December 31 of the same calendar year.
- Members must fly at least 4 flights on United or United Express during a calendar year in order to be eligible to earn PlusPoints.
- PlusPoints will be deposited at the time when they are earned, and will be valid for travel through the end of the following program year. For example, PlusPoints earned in June 2023 will be valid for PlusPoints upgrades for travel through January 2025.
- PlusPoints in certain types of sales accounts may have different expiration policies.
- PlusPoints may be redeemed at united.com, through the United mobile app, or by calling the United Customer Contact Center.
- PlusPoints are valid on United- and United Express- operated flights.
- Stopovers require additional PlusPoints. A stopover for a single, one-way trip within the U.S. or between the U.S. and Canada is defined as longer than 4 hours in the connecting city. A stopover for a single, one-way trip to or from all other destinations is defined as longer than 24 hours in the connecting city.
- Waitlisting is permitted for PlusPoints upgrades. Travelers placed on a waitlist are prioritized according to the Premier status of the traveler. If the request includes multiple travelers, then priority is based on the highest Premier status on the reservation. Waitlisted are confirmed automatically based on the Premier status of the traveler first, followed by fare class, Chase United MileagePlus Club cardholders, United Corporate Preferred participants, and lastly by the date and time of request.
- On flights equipped with United Premium Plus, waitlist requests for United Polaris business are first processed for customers who have purchased United Premium Plus fares, followed by Economy.
- The earning Premier member may use PlusPoints for upgrade requests for themselves or to sponsor others with the exception of “Skip Waitlist” upgrade requests, for which the earning Premier member must be traveling. Although the earning Premier member may use PlusPoints to request upgrades for others, PlusPoints are not transferable to other members.
- PlusPoints used for Skip Waitlist upgrades are not refundable or transferable to other flights in the event of itinerary changes. A PlusPoints upgrade on a changed itinerary will require additional PlusPoints.
- Skip Waitlist upgrades won’t be available for corporate and agency account travelers who are using upgrades from a Corporate Upgrade Bank account.
- The full PlusPoints price of an upgrade request will be deducted upon receipt of the first upgrade in the request. Upgrade requests in which the highest-priced PlusPoints upgrade is not received after completion of the last flight will be refunded the difference in PlusPoints between the amount of PlusPoints for the requested PlusPoints Upgrade and the highest-priced PlusPoints upgrade(s) received.
- Because PlusPoints aren’t deducted until you receive your first PlusPoints Upgrade, members have the ability to request more waitlisted upgrades than their available PlusPoints balance can afford. If a customer’s available balance ever falls below the price of an upgrade request that has not received an upgrade, that request will be skipped until the available balance is increased to be equal or higher than the price of the skipped upgrade request price.
- PlusPoints upgrades are processed on an individual flight basis as upgrades become available and are subject to waitlist rules and priority for each flight.
- PlusPoints upgrade requests that are waitlisted and that have not received an upgrade may have the full PlusPoints price deducted from the available balance at any point in time if a seat becomes available on any of the requested flight segments.
- In the case of a partial refund or itinerary cancellation, PlusPoints will be returned to the account from which they were redeemed. PlusPoints upgrade requests that have been upgraded on any flight within the request cannot be cancelled or changed.
- Flight segments cannot be added to an upgrade request that has already been placed. A new request must be placed for any additional flight segments being requested for upgrade.
- PlusPoints upgrades are subject to capacity controls, which may limit the number of seats available for upgrade.
- Award tickets, flights that have already been upgraded, tickets containing Basic Economy fares or Economy (first bag charge/no changes allowed) fares, and certain fares such as industry discounts and tickets purchased on websites where you don’t know the exact flight itinerary or airline until after you’ve paid for the ticket, are not eligible for PlusPoints 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.
- The sale, barter or other transfer or attempted sale, barter or other transfer of any mileage, certificates, PlusPoints, awards, benefits or status, other than as authorized and/or sponsored by United, is expressly prohibited. Any mileage, certificates, PlusPoints, awards, benefits or status sold, bartered or otherwise transferred is in violation of the rules and any accounts or members involved in such sales, barters or other transfers may be subject to United’s Remedies. The acquisition, use, transfer or attempted acquisition, use or transfer of mileage, certificates, awards, benefits or status that have been acquired by purchase, barter or other transfer in violation of the rules may result in United’s exercise of United’s Remedies.
- Other restrictions may apply. Terms and other information are subject to change without notice.