Paying for United upgrade?

I don't know if United is doing this, but on Swiss, they offered me the opportunity to bid on an upgrade to Business Class a few weeks before departure. You get one chance. Since it was January, I made the next to the lowest possible bid (about $600) and the day before departure, they dinged my credit card and sent me an email that I was now flying Business Class.

Out of Chicago, United to various European airports, I am generally offered the opportunity to upgrade close to the departure date. I haven't timed it exactly, maybe a couple weeks before departure? Perhaps someone has better info. The price has been set on the offer - no bidding. But, everything depends on the popularity of the flight - the airlines will determine what is in their best interest for offers.

I have had bidding opportunities on a couple different Asian and European carriers for overseas trips. I don't think I've seen this on the domestic carriers I've taken abroad - but my experience is not necessarily representative of domestic carrier practice.

I don't know the route you are taking (departure and arrival) and don't need to know, but if you go to Flyertalk and post specifics on your route and approximate dates, someone there may have experience on what you are looking for. Many folks on Flyertalk are frequent business travelers and often have very good insights into what is "typical" for a given route. (Of course, someone on this RS board might also have a great, definitive answer!)

My experience has been that United will offer upgrades from right after you purchase your ticket. If you go on to the United web site and check under My Trips, you should see possible upgrades. The price varies and, again based on my experience with United, is not likely to go down closer to the flight date.

I flew United both to Europe and Asia this past year and always had upgrade offers - sometimes the prices were good and sometimes they did not seem at all reasonable. Generally, they were higher close to the date of travel though I did find one that was not too bad on a flight returning to the US from Greece when I checked a few days before travel and that was a very pleasant surprise (and the only time that happened for me in the last few years of flying United.)

I think you can bid for an upgrade if you have enough Plus Points but I cannot speak to that as I have never had that option. There is info on that process in the Mileage Plus section of the United web site.

Hope this is useful.

As noted, if you can provide some level of info on where you plan to fly, approximate
dates, and amount of flexibility you have, we may be able to provide more info/advice.

In general, as noted, United upgrade offers will be fairly expensive. Other airlines
give you the opportunity to bid on an upgrade. Obviously, if you are hoping to snag
a less costly upgrade, you will need to target a flight that has a chance of being less
crowded. Plus, May is already the beginning of high season travel.

I will say that Premium Economy for the return flight back to the US suits me just fine;
you're much less likely to want/need to sleep on the return.

If, for instance, you are open to flying to a destination different than your final destination
and then taking a train or short intra-Europe flight, there may be more options. And if
you are open to an airline other than United, there will definitely be more options.

I would be leery of offers from companies that look too good to be true. They tend to
buy miles from people and then book tickets for passengers using those miles, which
is not allowed by the airlines.

and if so how and when to get on the list
If you simply wish to pay with $$ for an upgrade, there is no list. You can just do it.

can’t figure out if I can do so with $$
Has anyone done this? Can you walk me through the process?

Log in to your United account
Click on My Trips (a menu across the top) and then "My Trips" in the drop-down
(Hopefully, you will see your flight listed)
To the right, click on Manage Trip
Scroll to the flight segments where you should see your current seat assignments
Click on the seat assignment you wish to consider upgrading
(The website is screwy, it will take you to your first flight segment, regardless of which you clicked on)
Select one of your flight segments from the dropdown
(where it says Flight 1 of "x" - where "x" is the number of segments in your itinerary)

Scroll down and you should see a yellow circle at your currently assigned seat
If you click on any other seat that shows as available, it will show you a price (if any) to choose that seat
If you like the price, scroll down and "continue to checkout" to start the purchase process

As for the cost of the upgrade, these vary A LOT in the time between your purchase date and your flight date. I have watched many of my flights very closely and have learned quite a few things.

If you buy your flight early enough, sometimes that is the best time to purchase your upgrade. Sometimes.

I've seen a sort of a bell curve on pricing, with the peak price being around the time that I assume business travelers are willing to pay whatever it costs for an upgrade.

The price of an upgrade is highly dependent on the traveler - what you paid for your ticket and what your past purchase history has been.

The price of an upgrade can depend significantly on whether you are flying to a high demand destination on a high demand date. Example - when Frankfurt has big business conventions, upgrades for flights landing in Frankfurt can be really expensive.

If you have multiple trips, upgrades for trip 2 can vary with the timing of your trip 1. Example - if you paid for Polaris on trip 1, they might try to make a Polaris upgrade "offer" on or shortly after your trip 1 to encourage you to buy that same upgrade for Trip 2.

The price of an upgrade is highly variable over time - I might see an upgrade at price X for a while, and then it will jump to 2X and eventually to 8X and maybe it drops back down to X or (rarely) even less than X.

So, if you see a price that you like, it's often best to buy it. If you see the price of an upgrade increasing, unless you're really determined to have that upgrade, it can be worth waiting to see if the price will drop back down. When that might happen depends on how long it is until flight time.

Don't ever panic buy the upgrade at 4X or 8X. As long as there are still Polaris seats available, the price WILL come back down nearer flight time.

On that, it often helps to track how many Polaris seats remain on the flight. If they are not selling, you might see better pricing offers. I once bought one a couple of days before the flight at the lowest price I'd seen for that flight. But that doesn't hapen often.

comfort plus is nothing to get excited about
I think you're referring to Premium Plus? If so, I kind of agree. I often see those upgrades priced at $379 or $739. And sometimes in the $2000+ range, which is ridiculous for the value.

I recently flew in United Premium Plus for the first time and decided to keep track of all the things I liked/disliked as compared to Polaris. This was my random list of observations:

UNITED PREMIUM PLUS (UPP) - comparison to Polaris
Shared seating row
• If you're on the aisle, you have to let someone out; at the window, you have to be let out
• Subject to your row partner's window shade decisions

FOOD AND DRINK
• UPP doesn't get to pre select meals
○ Get whatever is left when they get to you
• No champagne/drinks/warm nuts before takeoff
• No ice cream cart after dinner
• Mid flight snacks are bags of chips; Polaris has cheese plates, soup, etc

Entertainment system doesn't start before takeoff (maybe this was a one off problem...?)
• Same movie choices in UPP and Polaris

UPP Seat Comfort
• UPP Seat has adjustable headrest wings for sleeping
• UPP has a combination of leg rest and foot rest that I found to be super comfortable
• UPP uses economy bathrooms / Polaris has dedicated bathrooms up front
• And my personal favorite - UPP has to put up with the dude in the seat ahead bouncing his seat around making my screen and tray jump

And then the obvious things:
Polaris has lie-flat seating, dedicated overhead storage, lots of storage around the seat
And Polaris has a very low ratio of cabin staff to passengers

I've decided that I can rarely sleep on the way home anyway, so paying for lie-flat seats is a waste for me. I agree with you that Premium Plus is nothing to get excited about. When I see it priced at $2000+, I just chuckle and wait to see if the price comes way, way down.

One other comment on pricing is to check frequently. Especially near flight time. I recently was checking before a flight and saw the price drop in the morning and go up again that afternoon. I wasn't planning to upgrade, but it was interesting to watch the pricing fluctuations.