How does it work to upgrade with miles from a coach class ticket to biz class on UA? I was thinking of doing this on a flight to Paris and UA staff have given me different answers as to how this works. Do I need to buy a certain class coach ticket? Is it likely that the upgrade will even go thru? Thanks

You have to buy an upgradeable fare: M/H fares are 30k miles each way; Y/B fares are 15k miles each way.

It's best to look for available upgrade inventory before buying, otherwise you risk buying a more expensive ticket and not getting the upgrade. You can check by making sure your UAL . com profile is set to "expert" mode, then doing a dummy search for a standard award (make sure you're logged in). Mouse over the "flight details" and look for NC inventory. If it says NC0, there's nothing currently available. If it says NC2, that means there are 2 upgrades available, etc. Or just call and ask.

If you have to go on a waiting list, then that's a tough call.

thank you--that's very helpful. A few more questions, if you buy a Luthansa ticket for a flight operated by UA I assume you can not upgrade? Can u get seating in E+ if you buy on a Luthansa flight? What about if you use a consolidator site like Vayama? Are those tickets upgradeable on UA? Can u get seating in E+ if u use Vayama? I'm Premier status on UA. thanks again

If you buy on Vayama they are not upgradeable. My daughter just checked her flight as Vayama totally changed her route but got her to destination at the same time. So good news is she is still on track time wise bad news is she was doing it United Luthansa to Venice & return to SFO, now its United United going and return which she hates because of the poor UA service, and worse food. Try to stay with Lufthansa if you can much better service and food, and seating 2 middle 2 sides.She said Vayama did give her a choice of staying with Luthansa but she would have gotten there two days later not an option in her case. She was ticked because she booked early in November 2007 on the 2nd or 3rd day you could book that flight and didn't like being bumped from it.

Just want to add that LH doesn't have Economy Plus or Premium Economy.