For members traveling on upgrade-eligible fares, there will be no fare class restriction for members who purchase a United Economy seat and request a move to a United^® Premium Plus seat, and no fare class restriction for members who purchase a United Premium Plus seat and request an upgrade to the United Polaris^® business class cabin. Instant upgrades for all Premier members on Y and B full-fare Economy tickets and for Premier 1K^® members on M fares are available on all flights that are eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades. Regions and route exceptions are subject to change at any time. Upgrades are subject to capacity controls, which may limit the number of seats available.

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards have limited availability and are subject to capacity controls. MileagePlus Upgrade Awards cannot be used when flying on award tickets or deeply discounted promotional tickets, tickets containing a Basic Economy fare or Economy (first bag charge/no changes allowed) fares, or tickets purchased on websites where you don’t know the exact flight itinerary or airline until after you’ve paid for the ticket. Money + Miles tickets are not upgradable with MileagePlus Upgrade Awards.

If you’ve booked a ticket in O, Y, or B class, you won’t be charged a co-pay, but most other fare classes will require a co-pay. Requests for both United Premium Plus and United Polaris® business class will initially be charged the United Polaris business price. Miles and co-pay are deducted from your account at time of request or when you are placed on the waitlist. All waitlists expire 24 hours before trip departure. Co-pay may not be applied to future travel and may change without notice.

Open-jaw trips, stopovers and circle trips are permitted only in accordance with the rules of the fare purchased.

Mileage accrual for MileagePlus and other participating loyalty programs will be based on the original fare class purchased.

Flight changes are permitted in accordance with the rules of the fare purchased.

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards have no cash value except for applicable taxes, fees and surcharges. If you request an upgrade using a MileagePlus Upgrade Award, and none of your travel segments are upgraded, we will redeposit the miles and co-pay.

In most instances, a MileagePlus Upgrade Award will be considered used if any segment of your travel is upgraded. However, if your travel includes requested upgrades to United Polaris business class and none of the segments are upgraded, then your MileagePlus Upgrade Award will not be considered used, even if you are upgraded to United First or United Business on another segment. In these instances, we will fully redeposit the miles and co-pay. When applicable, these refunds will occur 7 to 10 days after travel.

Co-pays may not be applied to future travel and may change without notice.

If you're only moved to a United Premium Plus seat and requested an upgrade to the United Polaris business class cabin, we'll refund the difference in co-pay and miles after departure.

The government may collect additional taxes for travel in an upgraded seat.

As of January 1, 2023, PQP are also earned on the miles portion of the MileagePlus Upgrade Award at a rate of 1 PQP for every 100 MileagePlus miles redeemed.

Premier qualifying points (PQP) are based on the cash portion of the co-pay fee.

PQP will only be accrued once a MileagePlus Upgrade Award has been flown and may take up to one week after departure to post to your account. PQP earned from miles redeemed and PQP earned from the co-pay fee will post to your account separately and may post at different times.

Complimentary Premier Upgrades are eligible for one-cabin upgrades on select flights from United Economy to the next cabin of service. As long as you’re a Premier member, you’ll be automatically eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades. The higher your status, the faster the upgrades become available. Only select flights operated by United and United Express^® are eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades.

Upgrades are subject to capacity controls, which may limit the number of seats available.

Your waitlist priority for Complimentary Premier Upgrades on award tickets will stay within your Premier level, after customers traveling with paid tickets.

One companion traveling on the same reservation as a Premier member is eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades on select flights and can be confirmed with the same priority as the Premier member, even on the day of departure. This benefit does not apply to companions traveling on award tickets.

You may be able to receive a Complimentary Premier Upgrade for your award travel if you’re a MileagePlus member with Premier status and a primary Cardmember of any of the following Chase or First Hawaiian Bank-issued MileagePlus credit cards:

United^℠ Explorer Card, United^℠ Business Card, United Quest^℠ Card, United Club^℠ Infinite Card, United Club^℠ Business Card, United^℠ Presidential Plus^℠ Card, United Presidential Plus Business Card, United^® World Elite Credit Card, United^® World Elite Business Credit Card

This benefit only extends to one companion traveling on the same award reservation as the primary Cardmember. If you’re a Premier member who is also a primary Cardmember and would like to request a separate reservation in order to be considered for a Complimentary Premier Upgrade, call the Premier Priority Desk number on your digital membership card.

Upgrades are not available on flights that have already been upgraded, or on tickets containing Basic Economy fares, Economy (first bag charge/no changes allowed) fares, certain fares such as industry discount, and tickets purchased on websites where you don’t know the exact flight itinerary or airline until after you’ve paid for the ticket.

If a reservation includes three or more travelers, and only one is not a Premier member, the Complimentary Premier Upgrades will follow the lowest Premier status level in the reservation. If two or more travelers on the reservation are not Premier members, the reservation is not eligible for Complimentary Premier Upgrades unless one or more travelers are moved to another reservation. Travelers can contact the United Customer Contact Center for help.

The number of MileagePlus award miles, Premier qualifying miles and Premier qualifying segments earned are 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.

Upgrades are valid only on participating Star Alliance airlines. Star Alliance Upgrade Awards are not available through general selling agents. Codeshare flights not eligible.

Star Alliance Upgrade Awards may not be requested when you travel on industry discount, agency discount, deeply discounted promotional tickets, award tickets using miles, or tickets purchased on websites where you don’t know the exact flight itinerary or airline until after you’ve paid for the ticket. Business class C and D fares and Economy class Y and B can be upgraded, and other fare types may also be eligible depending on the airline.

An upgrade may be confirmed as early as time of ticketing if a seat is available. Some airlines may impose blackout periods where upgrades are not permitted.

Miles are deducted from your MileagePlus account automatically at time of reservation. Required mileage is per person. Each individual segment requires a separate Star Alliance Upgrade Award. Double upgrades from Economy to First are not permitted on three-cabin aircraft. Standby is not permitted. Waitlisting is not permitted except for on ANA.

Mileage accrual is based on the original ticketed booking class, not the upgraded class of service. Requests for seat assignments, special meals and amenities should be made directly with the operating carrier.

The number of miles required to upgrade is based on when the request is submitted and is subject to change. If you wish to make changes or cancel your Star Alliance Upgrade Award request, please contact the operating carrier. If a segment of your Star Alliance itinerary is canceled, the upgrade request will also be automatically canceled. Miles will be automatically redeposited 24 to 48 hours after the cancellation.

All multi-cabin flights operated by Copa Airlines are eligible for PlusPoints upgrades. For a complete list of the program’s terms and conditions, visit the PlusPoints page.