MileagePlus Flight Upgrades
How to upgrade your seat on United
Get more legroom and an enhanced onboard experience on your next United® or Star Alliance™ flight. With MileagePlus®, you can upgrade with money, miles or PlusPoints.
Not a member? Join MileagePlus today to make your trip more comfortable.
Paid Cabin Upgrades
Want to secure a place in a premium cabin and select your seat? Use money or miles to buy a Paid Cabin Upgrade on united.com or the United app.
Paid Cabin Upgrades are open to all travelers on United and United Express® flights, when there’s space available. Use this type of upgrade to buy United Premium Plus, United First, or United Polaris® business class seats, from the time you get your ticket until check-in.
Pay with miles
Sign in to your account and go to My trips on united.com or the app. Select a seat in the seat map and pay with miles from the time you book until check-in.
You cannot use miles to pay for upgrades at the airport. We only accept credit cards at kiosks and the gate.
Pay with money
Go to My trips and enter your confirmation number. Select a seat in the seat map and pay with money from the time you book until check-in.
If there are still open seats on the day of your flight, you can buy an upgrade at a kiosk or from a gate agent.
Download the United app to keep track of available seats on your flight.
Premier upgrades
Members with MileagePlus Premier® Platinum status and above have the most upgrade options. Here’s what you can look forward to at our highest status levels:
PlusPoints
If you’re Premier Platinum or higher, you can use PlusPoints to request upgrades on United and select partner airlines for yourself or other travelers. After you make a request, your name will be put on a waitlist. The waitlist closes at your flight check-in cutoff time.
PlusPoints upgrades are not guaranteed. We’ll only deduct PlusPoints from your account if your upgrade is confirmed.
To book a new reservation for yourself
Select “PlusPoints upgrades” from the upgrade type drop-down menu in advanced search. You may be confirmed at booking if there are open seats.
To upgrade your existing reservations
Sign in to your MileagePlus account or call the Premier Priority Desk phone number on your digital membership card.
To upgrade another traveler’s flight
Sign in to your MileagePlus account and go to “My Trips”. Enter their confirmation number and last name and select “Upgrade” to view your options.
To use Skip Waitlist upgrades, the person with PlusPoints must be on the same flight as the companion. For all other types of upgrades, the companion can travel alone.
Complimentary Premier Upgrades
On select United and United Express flights1, Premier members get free, single- cabin upgrades, when available. In some cases, you can use them for one companion. Premier members who are cardholders may also be able to use them on award flights2.
If you’re a Premier member, you’re eligible, but seats are limited. Availability is based on how many upgrade seats we expect to have on each flight, not the space in the seat map. We’ll start processing upgrades five days before the flight in status level order.
Premier 1K Premier 1K | 96 hours before departure |
|---|---|
Premier Platinum Premier Platinum | 72 hours before departure |
Premier Gold Premier Gold | 48 hours before departure |
Premier Silver Premier Silver | Day of departure |
1. Complimentary Premier Upgrades are available on flights within the mainland U.S.; between Hawaii and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO); and to Alaska, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Guam, and Micronesia. They are not available on flights between New York/Newark (EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO).
2. For more information, read the Complimentary Premier Upgrades terms and conditions.
MileagePlus upgrade requests
If you’ don’t want to buy an upgrade, you can make a request with miles. Upgrade requests are available to all MileagePlus members. They’re not guaranteed, but they cost less than confirmed upgrades.
After you make your request and prepay with miles, we’ll add your name to a waitlist. Some upgrades may have a co-pay fee, unless you’re a Premier member. If you don’t clear the waitlist, we’ll refund the miles and fees.
United flights
Use MileagePlus Upgrade Awards to request upgrades on United- or United Express- operated flights for yourself or other travelers. To book a new reservation and request:
Sign in to your MileagePlus account on united.com or the United app.
Select “Advanced search” and choose “MileagePlus Upgrade Awards” as your award type.
Enter the rest of your search criteria and select “Find flights”.
To request an upgrade for an existing reservation, sign in to your MileagePlus account and make a request online. You can also call the reservations line, the Premier Priority Desk, or talk to an agent at the airport check-in counter or your gate.
To upgrade another traveler’s flight, sign in to your MileagePlus account and go to “My trips”. Enter their confirmation number and last name and select “Upgrade” to view your options.
Partner airline flights
You can also use miles to request Star Alliance Upgrade Awards for yourself and up to four people on select partner airlines. All travelers must be on the same itinerary. You have until 24 hours before departure to make a request.
You must have an existing partner airline reservation to make a request. Sign in to the Star Alliance Upgrade Awards portal to get started. Premier members can also make requests by calling the United Contact Center.
Partner airline award space is not guaranteed. If you plan to travel with a lap infant, call the airline. Some partners do not allow lap infants in premium cabins or require that they have special tickets.
When will my upgrade be confirmed?
Our system processes upgrade requests until three hours before departure. Any requests made after that will be handled by the gate agents.
If your upgrade isn’t confirmed when you check in, we’ll add you to the upgrade standby list. If there are open seats, we’ll call your name at the gate and let you know.
Upgrade requests are confirmed in the following order:
- United Global Services® requests
- PlusPoints and MileagePlus Upgrade Awards
- Premier members
- Fare class4
- United ClubSM Infinite and UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM cardholders
- United Corporate Preferred participants
- United Chase cardholders with $25,000 in annual spending
- Date and time of request
4.On flights with United Premium PlusSM, we’ll process requests to upgrade to United Business® for customers ticketed in United Premium Plus (fare classes O, A, R) before processing requests for customers ticketed in Economy. If the request includes multiple travelers, then priority is based on the highest Premier status on the reservation.