All about upgrades

Added comfort especially for MileagePlus members

MileagePlus® upgrades are a valuable feature of your membership that can make your flight experience that much more comfortable and luxurious. Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about upgrading your flight.

How to request upgrades

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards

You can request a MileagePlus Upgrade Award while booking your flight or after booking your flight.

To request during booking:

Make sure you’re signed in to your MileagePlus account and have selected “Advanced search options.”

Enter your flight search criteria and choose “MileagePlus Upgrade Awards” for your upgrade type.

If none of the flights in your itinerary have upgrade availability, you can request the upgrade(s) later.

There are three ways to request a MileagePlus Upgrade Award after you have booked your flight:



  1. Sign in to your MileagePlus account and pull up your existing reservation to request the upgrade online.
  2. Call United Reservations at 1-800-UNITED-1 (1-800-864-8331) or your designated Premier service line.
  3. Once you’re within 24 hours of departure, you can make your request at the check-in counter or at the gate with a United representative.

You’ll then be placed on a waitlist that will be cleared as upgrades become available. Learn more



PlusPoints upgrades

You can request a PlusPoints upgrade at booking or after you've been ticketed. To book a new reservation with a PlusPoints upgrade, go to advanced search on united.com and select PlusPoints upgrades from the Upgrade Type drop-down menu. To request an upgrade for an existing reservation, view the reservation on united.com or in the United app and select the Upgrade Reservation link, or call your designated Premier service line.

In addition to using PlusPoints for United flights, you can also request a PlusPoints upgrade on select partner airlines. Learn more



Double upgrades

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards

  • Requests for both United Premium Plus℠ and United Polaris® business class will initially be charged the United Polaris business price.
  • If you’ve requested upgrades to both United Premium Plus and United Polaris and sit in United Premium Plus, we’ll refund the business class price and recharge the United Premium Plus price.

PlusPoints upgrades

  • If you’re requesting an upgrade on an aircraft with United Premium Plus, you’ll be able to opt in for an upgrade to both United Premium Plus and United Polaris business class.
  • If you opt in to both United Premium Plus and United Polaris business class, you’ll be charged the full PlusPoints price of the request when you receive your first upgrade. If you fly in United Premium Plus, your final charge will be for the United Premium Plus upgrade price. We always refund the difference between what you requested and what you flew.
  • The best part about opting in? If your upgrade clears first into United Premium Plus, we’ll continue to look for space in United Polaris. If upgrade space becomes available, we’ll upgrade you again. Since the full PlusPoints price of the request is already deducted, you won’t have to use additional PlusPoints.