Waitlisted: Upgrade Los Angeles to Singapore

Yesterday, I wrote about possibly upgrading my flight from Los Angeles to Singapore. My options were $1780 or 30,000 miles + $600. I ultimately decided to upgrade using the miles and cash option.

6D1B56E8-4F4E-44C9-986E-A02E727CC143A41DE688-8198-4B0C-B59E-F6DAEEE6892E  I only had 8,000 miles in my United MileagePlus account which left me 22,000 miles short.

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I transferred 17,000 miles from my Chase Ultimate Rewards account.

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To make up the last 5,000, I purchased them from United for $175 + $13 in taxes for a grand total of $188.

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There are nine seats available in United BusinessFirst which meant that reservation has been waitlisted. I am waitlisted because 1) United can make more money from full revenue passengers and 2) I bought a cheap ticket (K class), which means that I would be one of the last people to upgrade (if the upgrade clears).

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If the upgrade clears, I will be in BusinessFirst on the outbound leg to Singapore and Economy Plus on the return. I have paid $1484 (minus $200 American Express Travel Credit) + 30,000 miles for the roundtrip ticket. For comparison, the same itinerary would approx. $3700 if purchased outright.

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Final Word

If there upgrade does not clear, I will only be out of the $188 that I used to buy the additional 5,000 miles.  Right now, I feel that I have very slim chance of it clearing.  The one thing that I do not want is for it to clear at the last minute.  The aisle seats, my favorite, are usually taken first and I would hate to climb over someone to use the restroom.

Features image courtesy of The Points Guy

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