A little more about PlusPoints:
- They can be used on all flights operated by United or United Express.
- They can be used on flights operated by Copa, Lufthansa, or All Nippon Airways.
- You can use them to upgrade multiple segments of the same itinerary.
- They’re never deducted until we’ve confirmed an upgrade on one of your flight segments.
- After you’ve requested your upgrade, it can be confirmed as early as the time of ticketing all the way up until departure.
Earning and using PlusPoints
Among loyalty programs of U.S. global airlines, MileagePlus® offers the most generous upgrade benefits for members at our highest published status level — and PlusPoints makes them even better:
Compare conversion of Regional Premier Upgrades and Global Premier Upgrades to PlusPointsPlatinum | 40 PlusPoints |
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1K | 280 PlusPoints (plus the 40 you earned with Platinum status) |
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1K earning additional upgrades | Additional 20 PlusPoints for every 2,000 PQP beyond 15,000 PQP* |
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*Applies only to members who meet all qualification requirements for 1K status
Earning extra PlusPoints after reaching 1K status in 2022
In 2022, we’ll make it easier to earn extra PlusPoints. After meeting the requirements for 1K status, 1K members will receive an additional 20 PlusPoints for every 2,000 PQP they earn beyond 15,000 PQP. Previously, 1K members earned extra PlusPoints for every 3,000 PQP beyond 18,000 PQP, which means you now have even more opportunities to earn upgrades. Although PQP earned from your eligible credit card can help you reach status, it will not count toward extra PlusPoints after reaching 1K status and receiving +280 PlusPoints.**
The earlier you earn Platinum or 1K status, the longer you’ll have to use your upgrade benefits. PlusPoints are valid as soon as they‘re earned through the end of the following Premier program year. For example, a member earning Premier 1K status in January 2022 would have PlusPoints that don’t expire until the end of the 2023 program year.
**Among United MileagePlus credit cards, only PQP earned from the UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM and UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM Business cards count toward extra PlusPoints after reaching 1K.
Eligible flights
These upgrades are available on most United- and United Express- operated flights system-wide.
Pricing
PlusPoints upgrade pricing is based on whether the request is for a long-haul or short-haul upgrade, the requested seat and fare purchased. The PlusPoints request price is equal to the highest-priced upgrade in your request.
Short-haul flights
Compare Short-haul flights upgrades benefit for PlusPointsUpgrade from: | Upgrade to: | PlusPoints |
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United Economy | United First or United Business | 20 |
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United Economy | United Premium Plus | 20 |
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United Premium Plus | United Business | 10 |
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Short-haul flights are flights without United Polaris business and include flights within the U.S., including Alaska, Hawaii and premium transcontinental service; flights between the U.S. and Canada, Bogota, Central America, Caribbean, Mexico and Quito; flights between Guam and Honolulu, including island hopper service; and intra-Asia flights.
Long-haul flights
Compare Long-haul flights upgrades benefit for PlusPointsUpgrade from: | Upgrade to: | PlusPoints |
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Discounted Economy | United Polaris business | 80 |
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United Economy | United Polaris business | 40 |
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United Premium Plus | United Polaris business | 30 |
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United Economy | United Premium Plus | 20 |
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Long-haul flights are flights with United Polaris business and include flights between the U.S. and Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, South America, and Tahiti.
Eligible fare classes
Long-haul flights:
- Discounted Economy to United Polaris business: Fare classes S, T, L, K, and G
- Economy to United Polaris business: Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, and W
- United Premium Plus to United Polaris business: Fare classes O, A, and R
- Economy to United Premium Plus: Fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, and G
Short-haul flights:
All paid, upgrade-eligible tickets can be upgraded with PlusPoints. This includes fare classes Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, and G.
Requesting PlusPoints upgrades online or in our mobile app
- To manage your PlusPoints or upgrade an existing trip on united.com, visit My Trips, where you can look at the status of upgrade requests and cancel requests that have not been upgraded.
- Upgrade requests can also be made by viewing existing reservations and selecting “Upgrade” on united.com or from the mobile app.
- For new bookings, you can select advanced search from united.com to shop for new itineraries and PlusPoints upgrades at the same time.
- There are two options for PlusPoints upgrades within advanced search: Available and waitlist, and Available only and Skip Waitlist.
- Available and waitlist will show PlusPoints pricing for flights that may or may not have available upgrades. This option will not allow you to view Skip Waitlist upgrades.
- Available only and Skip Waitlist will show waitlist pricing for flights with available upgrades, as well as flights wherein upgrade inventory is closed but Skip Waitlist is available.
Star Alliance partners
You’ll be able to use PlusPoints for upgrade requests on eligible flights operated by Copa, Lufthansa, and ANA. Each upgrade request on a partner airline will be priced at 40 PlusPoints per flight segment. All PlusPoints upgrade requests on partner airlines will be deducted at the time the PlusPoints upgrade request is placed.
The following Copa fare classes are eligible for PlusPoints upgrades: A, B, E, H, K, L, M, O, Q, S, T, U, V, W, and Y. The following Lufthansa fare classes are eligible for PlusPoints upgrades: B, C, D, E, G, H, J, M, Q, U and Y. U.S. government fares are not eligible for upgrades on Lufthansa-operated flights. The following ANA fare classes are eligible for PlusPoints upgrades: B, C, D, E, G, J, M, U and Y. PlusPoints cannot be used to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy on Lufthansa or ANA-operated flights.
More information about using PlusPoints on Copa, Lufthansa and ANA
Managing your PlusPoints
PlusPoints will appear in three different categories based on your activity.
Available: Your useable balance of PlusPoints
- These PlusPoints can be used for future upgrades.
- You must have enough PlusPoints in your available balance to cover the price of an upgrade request.
- If your available balance ever goes below the price of an individual request that hasn’t been upgraded, that request will be skipped until your available balance can cover the cost of the upgrade.
Requested: The total amount of PlusPoints for upgrade requests that haven’t yet been upgraded
- These PlusPoints have been used to request waitlisted upgrades
- They’re not withheld from your available balance until we’re able to confirm an upgrade.
Deducted: The total amount of PlusPoints deducted for requests that have at least one confirmed upgrade
- These requests have received at least one upgrade.
- When you receive an upgrade, the PlusPoints price of the request is deducted and withheld until departure as we work to clear any remaining upgrades within your request.
- You may receive a partial refund after reaching your destination if you didn’t receive the highest priced PlusPoints upgrade.
Things to remember:
- Requests that have received an upgrade cannot be cancelled.
- Skip Waitlist upgrades are confirmed immediately at time of request, so we’ll deduct the full PlusPoints amount at the time of request as well.
- PlusPoints upgrades on Star Alliance partners are deducted immediately at time of request.
- Once your request has been placed, you cannot add additional flight segments.
We won’t deduct PlusPoints from your account until you receive an upgrade, which means you can request as many upgrades as you have bookings, as long as you have enough PlusPoints for each individual request.
We’ll deduct the full PlusPoints amount when we can give you at least one of the upgrades in your request. This way, once you receive an upgrade, we’ll be able to fulfill your remaining upgrades when they become available.
If you don’t receive the highest priced PlusPoints upgrade, we’ll credit the difference between the request price and the price of the upgrade(s) you received.
If your PlusPoints balance falls below the amount needed for any requests you’ve made, those requests will be ‘skipped’ until you get enough PlusPoints, and then your original request will be reinstated.
Skip Waitlist
With Skip Waitlist, you can pay a higher PlusPoints price to confirm an upgrade request even when upgrade space isn’t available.
This option is available to 1K members. You may sponsor other travelers, but you must be traveling on the same reservation with them.
Other restrictions:
- Skip Waitlist will only be available from time to time on select flights.
- Skip Waitlist will not be available once you’re within 30 days of departure.
- For Economy to United Polaris business requests, tickets must have a W fare class or higher.
- Remember: Skip Waitlist upgrades are always non-refundable and can never be transferred to other flights.
If you choose to skip the waitlist, your PlusPoints will be deducted immediately.
How to find Skip Waitlist upgrades
For an existing reservation, if Skip Waitlist is available for your flight, it will be an available upgrade option after you elect to upgrade your trip.
For new reservations: Within advanced search, after searching for PlusPoints upgrades, select the “Available only and Skip the waitlist” button.
Still have questions about PlusPoints? Visit mileageplusupdates.com for more information and answers to frequently asked questions.