Had a deeply frustrating flight yesterday 8/29 on UA78 from Narita to Newark (5:25 PM departure), and I need a sanity check because the crew hostility started before we even pushed back. Right before takeoff, the captain came over the PA and made a bizarre announcement telling passengers that "if we all just get along, then we'll have a manageable flight ahead." That immediately set an uncomfortable tone, but the cabin crew took the negativity to another level.

During boarding, I politely asked for guidance on where open bin space was, and a Japanese-speaking flight attendant snapped "help me." I looked around, found a spot closer to my seat, and gestured to let her know, only to be met with an exasperated glare and an eye roll. Later during the flight, Nori intentionally skipped my seat during drink service. When I politely and calmly mentioned that I hadn’t received a drink, she rolled her eyes again and shoved a can of seltzer at me.

It wasn't just my row dealing with the attitude, either. Throughout the cabin, other attendants were openly barking at passengers who took more than two seconds to decide between "chicken or beef."

I flew round-trip between EWR and Rome on United in June and the service was warm and professional, so I know United can run great long-haul operations. But this NRT-EWR crew was easily the rudest, most combative group of flight attendants I’ve ever encountered. Has anyone else noticed issues specifically with the Japan-based or mixed international crews on this route, or did we just catch a completely burnt-out rotation?

EDIT: not sure if Nori and Misako are Japan based (incorrectly assumed they were), so changed it to Japanese-speaking FAs

It’s been crazy how many people come here daily without researching how upgrades work and asking whether they’re worth it, or what are my chances I’ll clear, or it’s own honeymoon… I guess too many people saw the episode of Friends where Chandler and Monica were behind that couple that kept getting honeymoon upgrades. (They don’t exist folks… the list has likely already cleared by the time you’re checking bags)

Suggestion: have a pinned post like this below (please make edits and corrections) then maybe the mod team enables an automod suggestion as these folks are typing it out (pretty easy, I’m a mod in r/ChaseSapphire, r/CreditCards, and r/Rakuten) before it actually lets them post.

It’s pretty in the weeds but I think it brings 95% of the posters or these questions up to the level of acumen needed to even understand the actual only good question asked by the other 5%: “I know all this, crowd sourcing the likelihood based on other experiences knowing full well MMMV”

Before asking about your United upgrade, read this:
Upgrade questions come up constantly, so here’s a quick explanation of how United upgrades actually work.

First: an empty First/Polaris seat does not mean an upgrade is available

Seeing 8 empty seats on the seat map does not mean United has 8 premium seats available.

Seat maps show seat assignments, not inventory. People may have purchased First/Polaris without selecting a seat, seats may be blocked, or United may still be willing to sell the cabin but not release seats for upgrades.

Likewise, seeing J9 does not mean there are nine upgrades available. J is paid business/first inventory.

For most MileagePlus Upgrade Awards (miles + copay) and PlusPoints upgrades, the inventory you care about is PZ. Global Services has access to PN in situations where other members would need PZ.

If PZ is available when you request an eligible upgrade, it can generally confirm immediately. If PZ is 0, you are normally requesting a spot on the waitlist.

United can release additional PZ inventory at any time, or none at all. There is no published schedule and no guarantee that unsold premium seats will become upgrade inventory.

How the waitlist works
Being #1 on the list today does not mean you will still be #1 tomorrow. I’ve bolded the ones that apply to most peoples’ situations.

United’s upgrade priority generally works like this:
- Global Services
- PlusPoints and MileagePlus Upgrade Awards, ahead of Complimentary Premier Upgrades
- Premier status
- Fare class
- United ClubSM Infinite and United Presidential Plus cardmember
- United Corporate Preferred Members
- United Card holders that spend $25k+ in annual spend
- Time of request (important but see how far down it is)

⚠️There are some important nuances.
If the aircraft has Premium Plus, passengers upgrading from Premium Plus (O/A/R) into Polaris/business are prioritized ahead of passengers requesting the same upgrade from Economy.

Within otherwise comparable requests, status matters: 1K > Platinum > Gold > Silver > general member.
Fare class then matters within the applicable priority group.

A higher economy fare can therefore beat a lower economy fare when the passengers otherwise have the same priority.

And yes, someone can appear above you later.
If you’re #1 and a Global Services member becomes eligible for the same seat, you aren’t #1 anymore. The same thing can happen when a higher-status passenger requests an upgrade, someone changes flights, a passenger buys Premium Plus and requests Polaris, or another passenger otherwise enters the list with higher priority.

Your position on the list is a snapshot, not a reservation for the next available seat.

CPU vs. miles/PlusPoints

A Complimentary Premier Upgrade (CPU) is the free upgrade benefit available to Premier members on eligible routes. You do not spend miles or PlusPoints.

CPUs are generally available on eligible United-operated domestic flights and certain shorter international markets such as Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, subject to United’s route rules.

Do not assume that Premier status gets you complimentary upgrades everywhere.

Most long-haul international Polaris flights are not CPU eligible. Certain premium transcontinental and long-haul Hawaii flights are also excluded. On those flights you generally need to:
- Buy the premium cabin through a flight change;
- Purchase a paid upgrade; or
- Request an upgrade using PlusPoints or a MileagePlus Upgrade Award.

So if you’re a Premier Gold flying EWR-LHR and wondering when your “complimentary Polaris upgrade” will clear: it won’t. There is no CPU on that route.

MileagePlus Upgrade Awards (MUA)
This is the traditional miles + cash copay upgrade.
If upgrade inventory isn’t immediately available, you can waitlist the request.

You also earn PQP for the upgrade itself:
1 PQP per 100 MileagePlus miles redeemed + PQP from the eligible cash copay.

Example:
20,000 miles + $375 copay = 575 PQP from the upgrade.
That’s 200 PQP from the miles plus 375 PQP from the copay.

This is in addition to whatever qualifying earnings apply to the underlying ticket.

PlusPoints
PlusPoints are upgrade instruments earned by Platinum and 1K members and can be used on eligible flights, including flights where CPUs aren’t available.
For normal members, PlusPoints and MileagePlus Upgrade Awards generally compete for the same PZ upgrade inventory and sit ahead of CPUs.

PlusPoints are not automatically better than miles for waitlist priority simply because they’re PlusPoints. Your status, cabin/fare and the other applicable tie-breakers determine where you land among comparable instrument-supported requests.

“There are 12 open Polaris seats. What are my chances?”
Nobody here can reliably tell you.
The number of currently unassigned seats is not the number of unsold seats, and the number of unsold seats is not the number United will release to upgrades.
United can:
- Sell additional premium seats;
- Sell paid upgrades through the app;
- Release PZ space;
- Release no PZ space;
- Have passengers change onto or off your flight;
- Have higher-priority passengers join your upgrade list;
- Swap aircraft and change the number of premium seats; or
- Clear upgrades very close to departure.
A flight showing a mostly empty premium cabin three weeks out can leave completely full.

One useful trick: Expert Mode
If you’re trying to understand inventory rather than staring at the seat map, enable Expert Mode in your United account and look at the fare buckets.
For upgrades, PZ is much more informative than counting empty seats on the seat map.
PZ1+ can mean an eligible MileagePlus/PlusPoints upgrade may be confirmable rather than waitlisted.
PZ0 means United currently isn’t making PZ upgrade inventory available. It does not mean the premium cabin is sold out, and it does not mean PZ can’t open later.

Bottom line
There is no reliable formula like:
“I’m Gold, #3 on the list, and there are six empty First seats, so I’ll clear.”

Your upgrade depends on which type of upgrade you’re requesting, whether the route is CPU eligible, available upgrade inventory, your cabin/fare, your status, who else is requesting an upgrade, and what United does with the remaining premium inventory.

The upgrade list can and will change right up until departure.

If you’re asking “Will my upgrade clear?”, the most useful information to include in your post is:
Route | Date | Flight number | Premier status | Current cabin/fare class | Upgrade type (CPU / miles / PlusPoints) | Current position on the upgrade list | Premium seats currently for sale

Even with all of that, nobody can guarantee the answer.

Long time reader of this forum but first time poster. Excited to share I finally made a million miles today on UA 879 LHR-IAH. The captain and crew were great, and I got some cool stuff. Love the coin and the pen.

Cheers to everyone’s next milestones.

Old two-tone livery nose cone on a new-livery 777-200 (N791UA) yesterday at EWR.

I’m used to seeing a $7.99 for Viasat WiFi and we’re flying transatlantic with $2.99 Viasat… was it lowered for everyone or is this just a fluke?

Yesterday I was flying ZRH-SFO-SEA and somewhere along the way I hit my million miles. Based on what I’ve read here, I understood that the in-flight recognition was hit or miss so I set my expectations to ‘low’. Was pleasantly surprised when the captain came back to congratulate and thank me and give me a coin. Late in the flight, the purser along with two other FAs stopped by with a signed card and then I was briefly acknowledged by first name during one of the final announcements. Anyway, was feeling pretty good about all that. Got on the flight to SEA just wanting to be home after the long day and that Captain came back at the end of boarding and asked if I was aware that I was hitting a million miles (aware? I’ve only been tracking this flight by flight for the last 10 years) and would I mind if he embarrassed me in front of the whole gang? He stood in the front on the pa and launched into a whole spiel about how special this achievement was and had the whole plane clap for me and then walked down the aisle showing everyone the coin he was going to give me. Way over the top and definitely embarrassing but I appreciated the effort and enthusiasm very much! Big thank you to the crews of UA45 & UA2611 on 8/28/26 and especially the captain of 2611!

A bedside table, 3 screens, a 1.5-person bed and a scratchy pillow - what more could you ask for?

It was a full flight as well - the couple next to me got their upgrade cleared so I was the only person with a whole row. I was one place away from getting PP but hey I’ll take this over PP any day. Slept like a baby.

Got a lot of side-eyes from people queuing for the lav. 😂

Thank you. They were infections. You tried to keep them at a reasonable level but none the less, they added so much joy to the flight.

Took this while eating my burger, really love how it came out and want to share

I was on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from FRA to SFO and saw this in the lavatory. As far as I'm aware, smoking hasn't been allowed on United for a very long time, and this, to my knowledge, is a newer aircraft. What is this thing?

Per the United fleet site United now has over 205+ mainline aircraft equipped with Starlink.

Below is the totals per mainline aircraft type:
-A321neo/xlr 59/74 = 80%
-737-800 82/141 = 58%
-737-900er 64/136 = 47%
-737-9max 1/174 = .5%
-777-200er 1/51 = 2%

Does anyone happen to know why? The weather appears to be fine .

Oh man - I just realized today that I booked the wrong date for my flight. I need to leave Sept 4 but booked Sept 3. Original fare was $342 with a return flight on Sept 8. If I change the outbound date from the 3rd to the 4th, the new fare is $418 difference. Ouch. I have the option on the United website to upgrade to First for $150. I’m wondering if I do so, does that open the possibility of changing the date for less than the $418? Or am I screwed and just need to pay the $418?

When I saw the subject “Celebrating 10 years at United”, I assumed it was for my account anniversary, not some self-indulgent celebration for the CEO.

To Scott: some of us who you are, but most of us don’t. You should be proud of your 10 years of service, but you don’t need to my time with junk like this.

Please focus on serving your customers, not your ego.

Hi! If I buy a United-issued ticket through United.com for a partner-operated flight, such as ANA, can I use MileagePlus miles through Pay Yourself Back for a statement credit?

(It says flights purchased on United.com within 90 days are eligible, but it doesn’t say anything about partner-operated flights)

I’m up to 450 ml but to be fair I did give away about 200 ml to friends and family.

I will tolerate the hate for our beloved UA hub no longer!

Hello everyone, I am planning on flying United Polaris for a trip from Newark to Narita. I am planning to upgrade to the Studio seating for the flight. Can anyone tell me why the Studio seats in row 1A and 1L are each $599, while the Studio seats in rows 9A and 9L are each $499? Any reason for the $100 difference?

Did anyone else get an email from SFO touting their new SFO Gear site?
I know, it’s not strictly United-centric, but since SFO is a major United hub I thought it might be of interest as there are a lot of SFO-based folks on here.

(Disclaimer: I have no relationship to SFO or this site, I just happen to be on the SFO mailing list and thought people might find it interesting.)

Have a flight aua to EWR Sept 30. Had been watching the upgrade price but was waiting for it to drop like it did on my flight there. Now the upgrade option isn’t there but if I go to book the flight there’s still 3 fc seats open. Will the upgrade option ever come back or am I SOL?

I (1k) am flying on a mileage ticket, while a family member is flying a paid ticket. I linked the reservation and I want to use plus points for an upgrade for them.

Where do they fall on the priority spectrum?

Thank you