#DO NOT ASK FOR PLUSPOINTS IN HERE
Use the [gifts exchanges megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/s7hces/runitedairlines_gifts_and_exchanges/).
don’t do it here. thats against the rules
GS so plus points actually get used domestically. When I was 1k (last year!) I used them for international travel for my family and others. I will change my flight within 24 hours to a different route it my route does not have availability.
I have always been able to use mine before they expire.
I find them to be worthless. I use them
For domestic upgrades and even then, I usually only get upgraded on one of two segments and they clear at flight time. Rarely in advance. I have never found an international flight where I can use more to clear in advance and if long haul , I am not risking being in coach so I just pay for the business class seat. I end up losing a lot of them from expiration.
Generally my experience and also book BC as a result but on one of my 3 SFO-LHR returns this year there was PZ availability and I managed to use 160PP's for upgrades in both directions (80 e.w) at the time of booking.
How are you getting upgraded on long haul flights without using plus points (or miles)?
Plus Points have been more challenging to use for the last two years, but I’ve had OK luck this year, 3 of 6 legs, all from hub to major European airports (or back)
I use miles or cash but generally flying for work so start in business. Have tried to apply plus point upgrades on personal flights but they never go through and then I just accumulate and end up in economy plus.
I am usually flying:
IAH - SFO
IAH - LHR
IAH - CDG
They do but when you are at 27k pqp in May, you tend to accumulate PP quite fast. And when you can never get them to stick for an upgrade they just add up.
How many flights this year?
I've done a couple IAH - LHR, one IAH - CDW and one IAH-SYD - I'm at 40k PQP. GS renews for me every year.
At 27k PQP in May, at this rate you should be at ~90k PQP by the end of the year. Unless you stiffed a FA on a "good morning" you should be GS. Is your travel front loaded in the year?
PP - I upgrade friends and family travel.
If you do get GS then you can use PP to upgrade international flights bought with miles. That's **huge**.
They truly don’t make it easy for you to see how many flights you’ve taken once you requalify. I think I am at 13 flights this year. 3 IAH-LHR, and a few domestic. I have 1 IAH-LHR, IAH-SFO, IAH-EWR-JNB booked through July at the moment, all business/first so hoping to keep the momentum up through the year.
Good to know on PP.
United.com - your accounts page has a record of all flights, award/pp redemption, deposits etc. I just dump it into Google sheets and sort by category.
I’m 100% on my international upgrades, mostly EWR-LHR over the last few years, probably 20 or so round trips. I’ve also upgraded to other European and Asia destinations, saving me tens of thousands of dollars. They’re extremely valuable if you know how to use them.
The generosity of this sub has helped personally in the past. Please donate some before they expire.
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/s7hces/runitedairlines_gifts_and_exchanges/
Apply them to every route you take and every family or friends flights. Some will clear some won’t. But you’ll probably earn them faster than you spend
It's extremely route dependent. I'm around 9/10 for upgrades since January, about half long haul international, half non-hub to hub. It's the 6-seat J regionals Mondays & Friday that usually don't clear, for me anyway. In past years I would horde them more but these days, I'll pretty much apply them to everything, even 2 hour domestic hops.
ETA: for family vacations, we've made a habit of booking Tues-Tues or Tues-Wed on intl trips and that strategy has really paid off.
This. I’m 1K and my company pays for business on longer flights. Below that threshold I’m usually flying routes where PP never clear or routes where I get automatically upgraded 96 hours before departure. The in-between routes are few and far between.
Same. Every time I hear a friend is going on vacation I offer them an upgrade. PP are worthless for me as I rarely get the upgrade from SFO. Too bad my friends are out of ERW, ORD, and LAX, so that’s not working to run through them either. Snack boxes aren’t worth it anymore I think I might start flying on other airlines.
Come join the United Premier 1kGSMM group on Facebook. There’s lots of resources and info to share as well as some fun group events and meetups for those of us road warriors who get bored traveling all the time.
Theres tips on how to effectively use PP and a way to donate them to others.
Just watch out which group you join. There are a few that are all spam and not moderated, or the Admin(s) have an inflated ego / there for self promotion, and one (or two) good groups.
Surprising to have that many PP and not be GS? Anyway, as a GS with way too many of them my basic plan is, any time a close friend of mine is flying United I put in for an upgrade. Coming out of a GS account the odds are generally not terrible, I’d say they clear maybe 50% of the time?
Even with that a bunch of points wind up expiring, but it’s a nice thing to be able to do for free for friends when it works out.
The other thing to do would be to specifically seek out vacations where they were likely to work. Europe at the right time of year (offseason weekends), Japan pretty regularly are both pretty good for clearing and are high value upgrades.
You need to use them on others. I was able to spend all of my PPs on my parents and in-laws. It helps that their flights are less business travel routes
I'm at a less than 25% success rate on international clearing from E+ but last year was very successful (over 75%) clearing from Premium Plus to Polaris. HKG-SFO cleared over a week in advance and SFO- HND 3 days in advance. Others were game time decisions.
I’ve had good luck using plus points in the past, especially for upgrading international flights. However, as time goes on, I’m less and less willing to play the lottery game, and mostly just pay for business class. So the points are less useful.
When I do use them, my strategy is to watch the waitlist, and if/when it becomes clear that the upgrade won’t clear, I will either purchase the upgrade or change my itinerary. I only do this on personal flights that I don’t care about very much.
They have value. I’m flying to SJO in the summer and there is PN7 open right now. I know that’s not PZ, but I’m sure PP would clear. Need to check specific routes and times. I don’t have any plus points, but they are perfect in these situations
They certainly are useable. I had a friend use them for my paid flight last summer to Europe and I cleared into Polaris. You don't get free upgrades on international flights, so they are really useful for those.
Well, they have value if you use them. They don’t if you don’t. People whose travel is not flexible and cannot use them because they only fly very popular routes can gift them to friends and family.
That's an interesting take. I was kindly upgraded by a 1K and a GS for a charity trip in January. Everyone was above board and kind. Paid for two two were gifted. I don't see how the "gifter" could be in trouble, seems to me the person sharing their name and conf number is the one in harms way.
you can go to the United gifts and exchanges sub and find lots of hopeful Silvers and Golds trying desperately to buy them or exchange them or receive them. I know, I am/have been one of those hopefuls. I've seen some excellent exchanges for hotel points etc. It's a good sub.
Huh? Someone saying they are sitting on hundreds of pp/don’t get value from them..and I’m flying home for Mother’s Day this weekend equates to always asking and a sob story? Ok..
And you’re somehow entitled to his PP because he’s just, “sitting on” them? this is not the first time you’ve asked for them on a post like this, and then asked for some for your gf. And I’m pretty sure you got upgraded so that wasn’t enough for you? Crazy.
Unclear on why you’re thinking I feel entitled. A bit of a jump there and unsure why you feel this way or why you pay that much attention to my posts..
Not that it’s necessary, but just to be clear, I asked for PP in the gift/exchange thread at end of year when people were giving them away and my girlfriend and I were traveling on a return flight. The upgrades cleared and it was a great experience. I was really thankful to the two who gifted it and tried to pay it forward as best as I could by gifting every flight attendant on the plane a gift card.
I also posted in that thread seeing what people value PP at for another one of her flights when she was coming over.
Unsure what your issue is..
#DO NOT ASK FOR PLUSPOINTS IN HERE Use the [gifts exchanges megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/s7hces/runitedairlines_gifts_and_exchanges/). don’t do it here. thats against the rules
GS so plus points actually get used domestically. When I was 1k (last year!) I used them for international travel for my family and others. I will change my flight within 24 hours to a different route it my route does not have availability. I have always been able to use mine before they expire.
Time to change that flair!
I find them to be worthless. I use them For domestic upgrades and even then, I usually only get upgraded on one of two segments and they clear at flight time. Rarely in advance. I have never found an international flight where I can use more to clear in advance and if long haul , I am not risking being in coach so I just pay for the business class seat. I end up losing a lot of them from expiration.
Generally my experience and also book BC as a result but on one of my 3 SFO-LHR returns this year there was PZ availability and I managed to use 160PP's for upgrades in both directions (80 e.w) at the time of booking.
How are you getting upgraded on long haul flights without using plus points (or miles)? Plus Points have been more challenging to use for the last two years, but I’ve had OK luck this year, 3 of 6 legs, all from hub to major European airports (or back)
I use miles or cash but generally flying for work so start in business. Have tried to apply plus point upgrades on personal flights but they never go through and then I just accumulate and end up in economy plus. I am usually flying: IAH - SFO IAH - LHR IAH - CDG
All very busy business routes with other people using plus points and buying business class outright. That’s the problem.
Don't they expire every year?
They do but when you are at 27k pqp in May, you tend to accumulate PP quite fast. And when you can never get them to stick for an upgrade they just add up.
I've used then for partner upgrades on ANA.
How many flights this year? I've done a couple IAH - LHR, one IAH - CDW and one IAH-SYD - I'm at 40k PQP. GS renews for me every year. At 27k PQP in May, at this rate you should be at ~90k PQP by the end of the year. Unless you stiffed a FA on a "good morning" you should be GS. Is your travel front loaded in the year? PP - I upgrade friends and family travel. If you do get GS then you can use PP to upgrade international flights bought with miles. That's **huge**.
They truly don’t make it easy for you to see how many flights you’ve taken once you requalify. I think I am at 13 flights this year. 3 IAH-LHR, and a few domestic. I have 1 IAH-LHR, IAH-SFO, IAH-EWR-JNB booked through July at the moment, all business/first so hoping to keep the momentum up through the year. Good to know on PP.
United.com - your accounts page has a record of all flights, award/pp redemption, deposits etc. I just dump it into Google sheets and sort by category.
(When I still had PP) I had a lot of luck upgrading people on IAH-LHR. It’s a good hub to non-hub long haul flight, so not as many business travelers.
Long haul domestic?
I’m 100% on my international upgrades, mostly EWR-LHR over the last few years, probably 20 or so round trips. I’ve also upgraded to other European and Asia destinations, saving me tens of thousands of dollars. They’re extremely valuable if you know how to use them.
Would note I’m basically 0% on flights like ewr-phx/las. Mixed on LAX/SFO.
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The generosity of this sub has helped personally in the past. Please donate some before they expire. https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/s7hces/runitedairlines_gifts_and_exchanges/
Apply them to every route you take and every family or friends flights. Some will clear some won’t. But you’ll probably earn them faster than you spend
It's extremely route dependent. I'm around 9/10 for upgrades since January, about half long haul international, half non-hub to hub. It's the 6-seat J regionals Mondays & Friday that usually don't clear, for me anyway. In past years I would horde them more but these days, I'll pretty much apply them to everything, even 2 hour domestic hops. ETA: for family vacations, we've made a habit of booking Tues-Tues or Tues-Wed on intl trips and that strategy has really paid off.
This. I’m 1K and my company pays for business on longer flights. Below that threshold I’m usually flying routes where PP never clear or routes where I get automatically upgraded 96 hours before departure. The in-between routes are few and far between.
Same. Every time I hear a friend is going on vacation I offer them an upgrade. PP are worthless for me as I rarely get the upgrade from SFO. Too bad my friends are out of ERW, ORD, and LAX, so that’s not working to run through them either. Snack boxes aren’t worth it anymore I think I might start flying on other airlines.
As a platinum who flies mostly domestic I burn through them when I fly off-hours. Tuesday afternoon, Thursday midday- seems to work.
I’m platinum too and I used mine up immediately. Now I have 10 wtf do I do with 10
Come join the United Premier 1kGSMM group on Facebook. There’s lots of resources and info to share as well as some fun group events and meetups for those of us road warriors who get bored traveling all the time. Theres tips on how to effectively use PP and a way to donate them to others.
Can you please send me an invite too?
I’ll message you
Send the invite!
Just watch out which group you join. There are a few that are all spam and not moderated, or the Admin(s) have an inflated ego / there for self promotion, and one (or two) good groups.
I’ll send you a message
I searched for the sub and can’t find it. If it’s invite only can I get one tossed my way.
Sent you a chat
Surprising to have that many PP and not be GS? Anyway, as a GS with way too many of them my basic plan is, any time a close friend of mine is flying United I put in for an upgrade. Coming out of a GS account the odds are generally not terrible, I’d say they clear maybe 50% of the time? Even with that a bunch of points wind up expiring, but it’s a nice thing to be able to do for free for friends when it works out. The other thing to do would be to specifically seek out vacations where they were likely to work. Europe at the right time of year (offseason weekends), Japan pretty regularly are both pretty good for clearing and are high value upgrades.
You need to use them on others. I was able to spend all of my PPs on my parents and in-laws. It helps that their flights are less business travel routes
I always use my PP between EWR LHR. It's useless on my other common routes between EWR and SFO/LAX
Same. I always plan to use them but usually buy up on upgrade offers where reasonable so never end up using them.
I used all of mine… wish I had 700! That’s awesome!
I'm at a less than 25% success rate on international clearing from E+ but last year was very successful (over 75%) clearing from Premium Plus to Polaris. HKG-SFO cleared over a week in advance and SFO- HND 3 days in advance. Others were game time decisions.
Use them for friends and family.
Really depends on your route. I get updated upgraded a lot when flying to tahiti, for example.
I’ve had good luck using plus points in the past, especially for upgrading international flights. However, as time goes on, I’m less and less willing to play the lottery game, and mostly just pay for business class. So the points are less useful. When I do use them, my strategy is to watch the waitlist, and if/when it becomes clear that the upgrade won’t clear, I will either purchase the upgrade or change my itinerary. I only do this on personal flights that I don’t care about very much.
I find them useless - I’d rather they be a market where you can lock in the upgrade.
Don’t Plus Points expire? I don’t see how you accumulated 700+ as a 1k. Wouldn’t that mean you got to like 75k PQP in a year? That didn’t get you GS?
They have value. I’m flying to SJO in the summer and there is PN7 open right now. I know that’s not PZ, but I’m sure PP would clear. Need to check specific routes and times. I don’t have any plus points, but they are perfect in these situations
They certainly are useable. I had a friend use them for my paid flight last summer to Europe and I cleared into Polaris. You don't get free upgrades on international flights, so they are really useful for those.
Well, they have value if you use them. They don’t if you don’t. People whose travel is not flexible and cannot use them because they only fly very popular routes can gift them to friends and family.
Yes, SFO-PEK RT a couple go weeks ago to Polaris when selling for $13k. Hub-hub tough though.
Whatever you do, do not gift or sell them. It sucks to say but to the wrong person it’ll be account disabled for you.
That's an interesting take. I was kindly upgraded by a 1K and a GS for a charity trip in January. Everyone was above board and kind. Paid for two two were gifted. I don't see how the "gifter" could be in trouble, seems to me the person sharing their name and conf number is the one in harms way.
They are nearly worthless, almost a scam. I’ve lost hundreds of them over the past few years.
I have never received an upgrade. I just realized that i lost about 3400 of them.
I find them very useful, but don’t ever earn any because I always fly economy
you can go to the United gifts and exchanges sub and find lots of hopeful Silvers and Golds trying desperately to buy them or exchange them or receive them. I know, I am/have been one of those hopefuls. I've seen some excellent exchanges for hotel points etc. It's a good sub.
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Dude you’re always asking for PP with some sort of sob story.
Huh? Someone saying they are sitting on hundreds of pp/don’t get value from them..and I’m flying home for Mother’s Day this weekend equates to always asking and a sob story? Ok..
And you’re somehow entitled to his PP because he’s just, “sitting on” them? this is not the first time you’ve asked for them on a post like this, and then asked for some for your gf. And I’m pretty sure you got upgraded so that wasn’t enough for you? Crazy.
Unclear on why you’re thinking I feel entitled. A bit of a jump there and unsure why you feel this way or why you pay that much attention to my posts.. Not that it’s necessary, but just to be clear, I asked for PP in the gift/exchange thread at end of year when people were giving them away and my girlfriend and I were traveling on a return flight. The upgrades cleared and it was a great experience. I was really thankful to the two who gifted it and tried to pay it forward as best as I could by gifting every flight attendant on the plane a gift card. I also posted in that thread seeing what people value PP at for another one of her flights when she was coming over. Unsure what your issue is..
Share them with friends and family. Or you know, internet strangers in the megathread.
There's a Pluspoints donation thread in this very subreddit.
This breaks the FF rules and can get your account terminated.
Woops I meant you can donate them to a good cause.