United Mileage Plus upgrade on Lufthansa
 

I have downloaded the information and it indicates: 15/30 for upgrade from business to first class. I called United and they were unable to give me any more information. Does anyone know which amount is correct? 15,000 or 30,000?

The upgrade award chart on the UAL website indicates 30,000 for NA-Europe business to first upgrades (this table is for an upgrade on United, but I believe the same rules might apply to a flight on Lufthansa).

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1151,00.html

http://www.united.com/ual/asset/MP_U..._Grid_0304.pdf

The 15,000 is for a Y/B upgrade to Business. The 30,000 is for an M/H upgrade to Business, or a C/D upgrade to first. That's how I read it. I assume you know that is 30,000 over and 30,000 back.

Now, don't get me started on the quality or consistency of answers I've received from the MP desk. OR, the process for actually using the upgrade on Lufthansa (currently dealing with that right now). Good luck!

I tried, but failed, to find on ual.com about using Mileage Plus points for upgrade on LH. Maybe a link to the page for downloads?

The award rules say:
Travel on code share flights operated by other airlines is excluded.

The 30,000 miles is right, but I don't see any info that would lead me to believe that upgrade awards can be used on anything other than United flights.

The award chart talks about "United Business" with the "R" in the circle meaning registered trademark (something like that). That's pretty specific to me, and I doubt that they offer the "United Business" product on any LH operated flight.

You can use UA miles to upgrade on LH, but the rules are very restrictive:

-upgradeable fare class (H or higher)

-must be a LH flight number on LH metal (no code shares; i.e., you can't upgrade if the flight is a UA flight number but an LH plane)

-UA must request the upgrade on the PAX behalf. No waiting lists; if upgrades are not available, you have to keep trying.

This is an agreement between UA and LH; upgrades are not possible on any other *A members.

I'm in the process of trying to work one of these right now and I've had a number of conversations with MP desk agents. It is a real pain, but possible.

Ok, then good luck ms_go & bajaflash.