Now that United Airlines converted to Shares and the old upgrade and award fare buckets no longer exist, I thought it might be helpful to summarize the new ones as shown in the below chart. The new alphabet soup has gotten a touch more complex depending on your elite status, so I’ve broken out the correct buckets by level.
The first “Upgrade†category covers burning your miles (+co-pay) or using a confirmable instrument (RPU/GPU), but also includes Complimentary Premier Upgrades where applicable from coach to the next cabin. The “Y/B/M Upgrade†section refers to the instant-upgrade program when buying full-fare coach tickets (or M-fares for 1K and Global Services members) in CPU markets (most domestic markets plus a few intra-Asia).
This is the new system in theory at the moment, as I have yet to attempt to book an award in one of the two-character buckets ending with –N. My reservation to Australia that was converted from Apollo shows my upgrade to business as simply being in the R-cabin, though we as customers might only see the first character online after a reservation is booked.
To view a flight’s allocation of inventory, simply click into the “Fare classes” link that appears on the right-hand side of a flight search when you go to make a reservation.
R.I.P. XF/NF/XC/NC…
I booked through UA’s new system over the phone a regular business class seat on UA (was available to aeroplan and ana as well), however they called it ON class, and they wanted the easypass amount of miles….
:’-(
@Superflyer: Oh boy… did you ticket it as such or were you just shopping the system?
Don’t forget that some co-branded CC holders get access to the larger “Standard” award inventory along with elites. The full – and original 😉 – list is here: http://boardingarea.com/thewanderingaramean/2011/10/decoding-fare-buckets-on-the-new-united/.
Great website, and thanks for this really useful information! One question: Are YBM upgrades generally available for international flights on United? On Flyertalk etc it looks like the answer is “No” — most people seem to say these upgrades are only for the flights eligible for UCUs. However I am looking to book a flight from SFO > LHR, and on the United website I see several such flights which indicate PN9, which according to your chart means availability for B-upgrades. Does this mean B-upgrades are possible after all on these fights? Or is it just possible with a co-pay? Thanks for any help.
@Seth: Thanks! Yep, the Flyertalkers are correct The YBM upgrades are domestic-only – I’ve updated the post text to clarify it as a domestic perk.
r u kidding… do i need a collage degree in bullshit to understand this… what good r these miles if u can not use them? if u do it by phone u get charged an extra $25… what a scam!!!!!