How To Upgrade Seats On United Airlines

Who doesn’t like to travel in business or first class? With so many upgrades options, passengers often face confusion while they to plan to upgrade their reservations. United Airlines provides various types of seat upgrades in their flights. However, passengers with elite status are most likely to secure their business class and first-class seat instead of non-elite passengers. But if you are a member of United Airlines loyalty program then you can always enjoy the perks of its higher class seats.

Hence, if you are already a member of United Airlines loyalty program and trying to understand the types of United Airlines seat upgrade and upgrade process then read this article further.

Types Of Seat Upgrades: United Airlines

Following are the types of UA seats upgrade:

·        Upgrades via Miles

United Airlines allows its passengers to redeem their earned miles in order to upgrade their seats. Passengers with elite status can easily upgrade their UA seats to business or first class by using their miles. However, the seat upgrade will be subjected to availability.

·         Complimentary Upgrades

United Airlines often offers its complimentary upgrades to its elite members also known as MileagePlus Premier Members. However, the seat upgrades will depend on the availability of selected flights only.

·         Regional and Global Premier Upgrades

Both Premier Elite and 1K members can use their earned seat upgrades to book business and first-class seats. However, in regional upgrades, passengers can upgrade their seats on UIA flights that are operated within certain regions. Whereas, Global premier upgrades means that the passengers can upgrade their seats on the flights operated by UA airlines Global partners.

·        Star Alliance Seat Upgrades

Passengers can easily upgrade their UA seats that are operated by Star Alliance network partners. However, these upgrades are subjected to availability and can be done using earned miles.

How to Check UA Seats Upgrade Availability Online

Well, this pretty easy and quick but the basic requirement to check UA seats upgrade availability is that United Airlines Expert Mode must be activated in the passenger’s account. See the steps below to activate it on your account.

·         Go to the official website of United Airlines

·         Now sign into your MileagePlus account and then scroll to the “View Account” option

·         Click on it and then click on “profile & preferences" under the "My Account."

Now click on the "View all flight search preferences." Option at the bottom of the page

·         At last, turn on the Expert Mode

Once you have turned the Expert Mode on then you can easily check if the seat upgrade is available on your reservation. Here’s how to do it.

·         Once the Expert Mode is enabled, enter your reservation details in their respective space.

·         Now, you’ll be able to see the availability of the upgrade. Following are the fare classes in their descending order (highest to lowest) that you can see for,

o   Business Classes: J, C, D, Z, P

o   Economy Class: Y, B, M, E, U, H, Q, V, W, S, T, L, K, G

Now that you know how to see the availability of Business class or First class on United Airlines, have a look on how to upgrade to business/first class on United Airlines flights.

Steps To Upgrade To Business Or First Class: United Airlines

·         Go to the united Airlines official website

·         In the flight search section, enter your departure and arrival airport, choose trip dates, and enter the number of passengers.

·         Now, click on the “All search option” link and then choose “MileagePlus Upgrade Awards (MUA)” option.

·         Now, you will find various upgradable seats and payment methods such as miles and currency at the time of check out.

Additionally, there is no United Airlines seat selection fee payable by you on the available seats. However, you will have to pay fee for the preferred seat which is $9 each way. The fee may vary from $16-$169 (each way) for Economy Plus Upgrade.

Consequently, it is good if you are a member of the United Airlines loyalty program. It will enable you to book or upgrade your business/first class seats easily. However, if you are a non-elite member then you shouldn’t have to worry about upgrading your seats. Hence, this was all about the United Airlines seat upgrade.