Win an Upgrade on United!
We are celebrating Veterans’ Day week by extending all of you a generous offer from our reader, Dave. He has five (5) Regional Premier Upgrades (RPUs) and six (6) Global Premier Upgrades (GPUs) on United that expire 31 Jan. 2017 that he would like to give away to a deserving military member or their family! Having done this before out of my personal stash when I used to be a 1K, I know people do not always understand the restrictions on using these upgrades. Nothing is ever simple in the frequent flyer world…
RPUs: These upgrades are good for any fare as long as the flight stays within Central or North America. There is an exception for some flights outside of this, such as Guam to Manila, but these are rare exceptions that I am not going to detail.
GPUs: These are for international travel, but have significant restriction on what fare class you can apply them to. From the UA page: Global Premier Upgrades are not available on flights booked in fare classes Z, P, S, T, K, L, G or N. Meaning that you can’t use them on the cheapest fares. Even cheap First or Business Class.
The United Upgrade page has the details. Here is the chart:
Bottom line is to please make sure that you have an eligible fare class before getting one of these upgrades. The eligible fare can be quite higher than the lowest fare and there is no guarantee that your upgrade will clear. Just want to get that warning out front so you know what you are getting into with the GPUs.
Here’s how we will do this. Make a comment to this post and what you want – either RPU or GPU. I will randomly pick the winners on Veterans’ Day and send your email to Dave. He will then contact you and get your last name and Record Locator in order to apply the upgrade instrument.
Good luck and let me be the first to say “Thanks for thinking of the military Dave!”
My wife, son and I were inspired by your posts and are flying to Costa Rica for my December leave block. I was able to use miles (between the United card and Ultimate rewards)! Our fare class is YN and XN. If I read your post right, RPUs should work. Thanks to you both!
If the GPUs expired at the end of Feb., instead of Jan., I’d be all over this but alas 🙁 Thank you anyway Dave and Glenn.
Thanks so very much Dave. Your support of my Dear Husband is appreciated. We have an anniversary trip planned for Costa Rica in January. Would love to win one, or two, GPU upgrade
Thanks for remembering Veterans, Dave.
Gpu! Love the blog
I’m actually not even entering for something I would get to use! My sister-in-law wants her birthday to be in Madrid next year, and I in no way want to attend. But, since my wife will be 100% going, if I win a GPU, I can send her guilt free by saying “hon, you get to travel in style, so enjoy it! I’ll stay home and watch the dog. We can’t afford two RT tickets!” A guy can dream, right?
@ Chris – Unfortunately, these expire 31 January and have to be used by that date.
Hello, my wife, son and I were inspired to fly to Costa Rica by your posts! We are flying on United over my December leave block on award miles! It shows our fare class as YN and XN, so I think RPUs should work. Thanks to you both.
Pulling for an RPU!
Hello. I would like to have a RPU. Just booked three flights for two different destinations during the Thanksgiving Holiday.
do they work for award flights?
if so if so id take a gpu
@ faisal – sorry they do not work for award tickets.
Good morning sir! I am currently AD and will be taking leave this holiday season to visit family in Asia. I booked a B-class fare ticket and hoping to have this chance to score a GPU via United. Thanks for looking out MFF and Dave, cheers!
Fingers crossed for an RPU home from the holidays!
Thanks for the generosity
Thank you Glenn and David!