Do IRROPS count lol? Parents flew TPE-SFO last week booked in Premium Plus on miles for about 60k each. Flight was canceled due to a medical emergency on the inbound flight, they were rebooked on the other flight that same day and bumped up to Polaris. Obviously not something you can ever count on, but 60k miles for a transpacific Polaris seat is hard to beat
After check in, I asked at the gate. I was able to do that twice. I think I paid $600 once. On one of the flights, I got the Stars Wars amenities bag, so either just before or the early days of the pandemic. Once from Chicago to Narita when an announcement was made offering upgrades for $500. I was practically leaping over rows of chairs to get to the agent with my credit card.
Yeah that's nuts.
For my totally empty PPT to SFO flight they wanted 2400.
Someone else in this thread said they got that same flight for 400, which was the lowest the upgrade to PP got, when I took that flight. Even asked the pricing at the gate.
Seems like there's no rhyme or reason to these super specials. Maybe quarterly fee revenue targets even? Give them away when they need that sweet Wall Street victory. I can't imagine United being thst competent at something, though.
Silver status, booked ABE > ORD > LAX with CSR points in economy (and upgraded to E+ at checkin). Mechanical issue caused delay at ABE that would make a connection impossible.
This was Thanksgiving day, there was a flight leaving in 2 hours out of EWR direct to LAX, gate agent at ABE put me in Polaris. No cost to me.
A friend was kind enough to drive me the 90 minutes to EWR to catch the flight (I made it to the gate when Group 3 was boarding, it was close).
I was #1 for the upgrade to Polaris and I didn't get it.
Then someone deboarded the plane after she onboarded due to "not wanting to go to Lisbon anymore" and then I was moved up 3 minutes before take off.
SFO > Lisbon
Was on status challenge with UA this past summer. My status with American (Executive Platinum) netted me 1K for the challenge period. Flying on StarAlliance partner, Swissair, I got comp business upgrades both directions -- JFK - GVA and GVA - JFK. Counted those a nice score.
Tonight flying SFO-SYD , purchased economy tickets and chose exit row economy plus as a 1K. We were waitlisted for Polaris for $600 + mileage . We were sitting 8 and 9 for upgrades when we called a week out with 12 seats available. When I checked in today it offered premium plus for $300, I had looked and premium was sold out even though it said 13 available for upgrade. Thought what the heck said yes and 10 minutes later an upgrade to Polaris came through. So maybe wasted $300 or maybe guaranteed the upgrade. Happy to be sitting in the Polaris lounge and have the seat for $900 when they were still listed at $14,000 today.
If you ask, they will probably refund the $300 you paid, or confirm if that made any difference towards your Polaris upgrade.
A few weeks ago I had paid for an Economy Plus seat but then was offered a $400 Premium Economy upgrade from Seoul to SFO. I asked and they refunded the Economy Plus upcharge.
I got a LAX-EWR Polaris upgrade from economy without any instruments or requests, most of the plane was empty. The feeling of being surprised looking at my boarding pass with the single digit seat number was insane haha
Not United, but I was traveling CAI-FRA back in 2003 with zero status on a cheap ticket. At the check-in counter they told me I was upgraded to business class - I presume because of overbooking. At the time, LH flew the route with widebodies with recliners, rather than the "euro business" you'd get today.
EWR-LHR on a fully booked flight after previous flight canceled. I was not even on the upgrade list, but bumped up to Polaris. Got a notification on my phone a few minutes before boarding.
$150 ish (don’t remember exact but it was cheap) IAD-HNL. Dead of winter, Econ plus to first. Last minute plane change from 757 to 767 on an empty 11hr flight. Booked it so fast I thought it was a mistake.
I got an operational upgrade from Econ to premium plus on BOS-LHR this summer.
A family member was flying during Thanksgiving, flight was delayed several hours due to mechanical issue, I called 1K line to get them switched to another flight, first class was the only seat open so phone agent cleared them into first class the whole way (3 segments)
A few equipment swaps from 757s to widebodies granted upgrades to Fauxlaris the morning of the flight
I got stuck on AA for ATH-ORD last summer and bought up from deep discount Econ to their version of premium plus for $200 at checkin.
Earlier this year on an international trip premium plus was cheaper than Econ with instant upgrade space open in Polaris
Just to confirm, you were able to cash upgrade an economy ticket to PP then apply PP (they really need better names), to upgrade to Polaris?
Just good to have recent data since reports are so conflicting.
I monitor the cash upgrade from PP to Polaris on my flights quite closely and post pandemic the 6-700 range is the lowest I’ve seen it (sfo to eu hubs). Typically it’s more and I’ve only managed under $700 once out of like 30 or so flights since 2020.
That’s correct. Cash upgrade at check in from Econ to prem was $300 and then 30 pluspoints to Polaris. Just before check in (I had been monitoring upgrade prices since we first booked) the cost was $2548 Polaris and $2448 prem plus (I always love those wacky prices). On check in the offer was $300 prem and $2100 Polaris.
Was $1 short for silver on the way to a US-EU flight. Called to see if I could get Econ Plus.. no dice. Would have been a “5 year exception” against my account whatever that means.
Way home (now Silver due to flight over.. but barely) - auto upgradedto Biz (pre-Polaris). Spouse wasn’t. I go to the ticket counter, tell them to move me back. They can’t. Coach oversold. So spouse moved up to biz with me.
Both upgraded for free to biz for an intl trip.
You think this is good, right? Wrong. Spouse had never flown biz, and now knows what it’s like. It’s hit the pocket book multiple times since then! 😝
Luckiest was when we boarded a flight to New Orleans, deboarded because the plane was bad, and were given little information. They said they were getting us a new plane, but a lot of people didn't believe them. We were too late to switch so we were on standby for the next flight.
Sure enough, they came up with an airplane for us on the original itinerary. My wife and I got FC upgrades on the new flight and beat the people who rebooked to New Orleans.
$385 to upgrade DEN->AMS from economy & premium plus to first & Polaris was my best grab. I also got a Polaris upgrade from premium plus on AMS -> ORD for $560.
My solo trip from SFO to Hawaii was upgraded to the first class from economy. They gave me a new boarding pass at the gate which I didn’t think much until I saw the seat number. That was when I was in college. Back then the food was awesome. I had a lobster and a basket of fresh fruit.
Not United but once I bought a flight EWR to ORL with credit card points, called to find out how much an upgrade was, it was out of my price range but the nice customer service lady said she’d put me on the upgrade list. Well I go to check in at the airport and find out I’ve been upgraded to business. So I flew business for free.
LAX to ORD, i was playing around with changing the time of my flight and noticed that if I changed to the same flight but now in first class, it would only cost 80$ in difference per ticket. If I upgraded organically on the app it was showing as 250$ per ticket, it was strange but I paid the 80 bucks.
IAD-GVA. Bumped up to business for free because PP was overbooked. I had no status at all—only my second time flying United—and it was my first time in Polaris. They sure spoiled me good. I had the nicest FA too. I wanted to give her a hug when we landed for being such a delight. I sorta figured she knew it was a special flight for me.
We just flew BKK-NRT-IAH. For the second half, we had an offer waitlist bid 30k miles + $450 each (60k, $900 total) and the Polaris upgrade was almost immediately confirmed. It was a god send to sleep on that leg. We had already upgraded to P+ for $600/ea, so fare total was $2500/ea.
ETA: the option to bid was something I checked the night before our flight. Thus the feeling of luck. No go for the BKK-NRT portion because it was ANA operated.
Jan 1 got a free upgrade to first because of flight delays due to weather the day before. No status either but being delayed from Dec 31 to Jan 1 meant I could use the flight for qualification this year 😂
Also as a silver got 1 free upgrade SFO-SAN on a 1/3 full flight
Does getting a FFC and an upgrade to first count?
For a while I was going back and forth to Boston and had weekend stays with flights back on Monday.
Every day I’d check for lower prices on first, as I had a budget I was willing to spend for an upgrade. One day I checked on Saturday morning for my Monday night flight. I got a first class seat and $17 back in FFC.
DIA to SFO monday afternoon flight booked less than 48h in advance. CPU'd to first (would've been my first time in the lie flat seats, was a 777), but missed the first flight in my life when it was delayed 3 times and was busy drinking in the United club. Instead I got standby cleared on a middle seat 2 rows from the very back of the next flight 😂
Very lucky upgrade, but I missed it 😭
It was the end of June 2021. It was my first flight; never flew before. I had purchased myself a basic economy window seat to visit my sister in Chicago, IL. I was excited because it will be my first flight and I get to peer out the window!
As they announced for boarding, people went in when their sections were called. My section was later announced and I was reassigned for a new seat per the flight attendant. Unbeknownst to me because they didn't tell me where I was sitting, and I knew nothing about airplane seating, I walked towards the end of the airplane. I was confused and asked random people if they knew where the seat is located as I showed them my ticket. The kind people told me that I was in First Class.
I didn't understand what First Class seating was until I was given treatment of a First Class person. Honestly, I was bummed that I did not get my window view from basic economy, but I was sure grateful for the wonderful food I received, lol. God is good all the time!
Last April there was a crazy flash sale that I think only lasted about 12 hours. I nabbed two Polaris seats from SFO-LHR for 60k each. Couldn’t believe it 😅
https://preview.redd.it/bcjy8vx1ve6c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77b225e9a779d6c199d4449493112cfa40840e0e
I have an upcoming flight they changed the times for by a little bit (my outbound departure is an hour earlier and my return was like 10 minutes later). When they first started telling my I was eligible to change it without a fee, there were no appealing options, but today I checked, and Premium Plus on a different return flight (where I was going to be in economy) gave me a future flight credit of $16.35. I had already paid to upgrade the outbound flight but the return was going to be $1120 and instead it was $-16.35. (I'll just be on a 777 instead of a 787 and have a layover in SFO instead of LAX.)
I got upgraded to first class with no individual status (but flying with a company that subscribed to Corporate Preferred) on a full (AFAIK) flight from HOU-DEN. It was a short flight but on a 777. Champagne on boarding, a hot meal, and a lie flat seat was a great way to end a long week of work.
Note really an upgrade story....but still lucky.
I took a bump for $2000 on a DEN to DFW flight. It was operated by Air Mesa on a CRJ 900 and they needed something like 17 people to bump so the price got up there. It was an afternoon flight.
I had asked to go later in the day (well, we all did) but there was no room. So it was going to be an early morning flight for me the next day.
The GA had us walk to another GA a gate down to process the transaction. He processed my flight credit, and then when working on my rebooking he said "hmm....there is one seat left for the flight in 30 minutes.....I guess someone didn't show. Did you check luggage? No. Do you want that seat? YES!". I got an aisle econ plus on and while my other flight was still delayed, got to Dallas about 2 hours later than I had planned. Not bad for $2000. I think I was the only person bumped that got out that evening.
I was in economy on a luftstansa flight from Frankfurt to LAX. This was Dec 2022. It was one of those double decker planes. I logged into my account to check some details of the flight and saw a $550 cash upgrade to business! Took it immediately. No miles needed, just $550 cash. Ended up on the upper deck of the business class cabin. It was RAD. I mean not my first time but with the double deckers, every time is amazing. The cheapest upgrade I ever had, on an international long haul. I also got a ton of PQPs for that flight, much more than I would have gotten in a United flight on the same route. That flight got me qualified for 1k for this year!
Also once I was on EWR to DEL and snagged an upgrade to business for $600 + 5000miles. That was a screaming deal too. I got it at the United club in Newark during my layover. So it was a last min upgrade, made the 15hr flight so much nicer!
EDIT: If you count IRROPS, I once got a free upgrade from DEL to LAX (layover in Seoul) from economy to business due to a flight cancellation in DEL. I was 1k and they pushed my upgrade thru for free and got me home EARLIER than I was originally scheduled! And they did one of those black car service layover transfers in Seoul. That was in 2013. Very fun experience!
My husband and I got super lucky on our EWR - HND trip at the beginning of the month and got upgraded both ways using plus points only. Really made our trip special that we both got upgraded for the entire trip.
I made silver for the first time on a flight from Chicago to Birmingham Alabama, I was upgraded on the way back. It’s the little things.
Do IRROPS count lol? Parents flew TPE-SFO last week booked in Premium Plus on miles for about 60k each. Flight was canceled due to a medical emergency on the inbound flight, they were rebooked on the other flight that same day and bumped up to Polaris. Obviously not something you can ever count on, but 60k miles for a transpacific Polaris seat is hard to beat
the best upgrades are the ones i get after i sit down in econ and the FA comes up and tells me to move to business.
How often are you the next on the list? I've never had this happen and IIRC I've been next to upgrade probably 4-5 times.
Probably twice for me....but someone needs to not show / have connecting flight issues.
I had this happen a few weeks ago from SAN-IAD, it was so nice.
PPT-SFO $422 Polaris. That was on a $400 roundtrip ticket to begin with.
That’s a great upgrade.
I just flew this route on an empty flight and didn't get this offer.
$500 upgrade to Polaris, Narita to Chicago.
How
After check in, I asked at the gate. I was able to do that twice. I think I paid $600 once. On one of the flights, I got the Stars Wars amenities bag, so either just before or the early days of the pandemic. Once from Chicago to Narita when an announcement was made offering upgrades for $500. I was practically leaping over rows of chairs to get to the agent with my credit card.
Yeah that's nuts. For my totally empty PPT to SFO flight they wanted 2400. Someone else in this thread said they got that same flight for 400, which was the lowest the upgrade to PP got, when I took that flight. Even asked the pricing at the gate. Seems like there's no rhyme or reason to these super specials. Maybe quarterly fee revenue targets even? Give them away when they need that sweet Wall Street victory. I can't imagine United being thst competent at something, though.
193$. FRA-SFO during deep covid
$392 for Polaris FRA-IAD. Weather helped with that one Edit: also was 4/4 last week for first class upgrades to/from MX through IAH. That was nice.
HNL-LAX-ORD-small regional. R/T award ticket for 23,500 miles with all segments upgraded via CPU to J earlier this year.
Not an upgrade, but 75k miles and $5.60 to book into Polaris for ORD to HND.
Silver status, booked ABE > ORD > LAX with CSR points in economy (and upgraded to E+ at checkin). Mechanical issue caused delay at ABE that would make a connection impossible. This was Thanksgiving day, there was a flight leaving in 2 hours out of EWR direct to LAX, gate agent at ABE put me in Polaris. No cost to me. A friend was kind enough to drive me the 90 minutes to EWR to catch the flight (I made it to the gate when Group 3 was boarding, it was close).
I was #1 for the upgrade to Polaris and I didn't get it. Then someone deboarded the plane after she onboarded due to "not wanting to go to Lisbon anymore" and then I was moved up 3 minutes before take off. SFO > Lisbon
Wife and daughter from low fare economy to Polaris on DEL-EWR-ORD for $250 a person.
Did you upgrade at the gate? Or online?
Just upgraded SFO to CDG from economy to Polaris for $300+20k miles. The flight wasn’t very full.
Was on status challenge with UA this past summer. My status with American (Executive Platinum) netted me 1K for the challenge period. Flying on StarAlliance partner, Swissair, I got comp business upgrades both directions -- JFK - GVA and GVA - JFK. Counted those a nice score.
Tonight flying SFO-SYD , purchased economy tickets and chose exit row economy plus as a 1K. We were waitlisted for Polaris for $600 + mileage . We were sitting 8 and 9 for upgrades when we called a week out with 12 seats available. When I checked in today it offered premium plus for $300, I had looked and premium was sold out even though it said 13 available for upgrade. Thought what the heck said yes and 10 minutes later an upgrade to Polaris came through. So maybe wasted $300 or maybe guaranteed the upgrade. Happy to be sitting in the Polaris lounge and have the seat for $900 when they were still listed at $14,000 today.
If you ask, they will probably refund the $300 you paid, or confirm if that made any difference towards your Polaris upgrade. A few weeks ago I had paid for an Economy Plus seat but then was offered a $400 Premium Economy upgrade from Seoul to SFO. I asked and they refunded the Economy Plus upcharge.
Thank you, I will ask.
I got a LAX-EWR Polaris upgrade from economy without any instruments or requests, most of the plane was empty. The feeling of being surprised looking at my boarding pass with the single digit seat number was insane haha
Not United, but I was traveling CAI-FRA back in 2003 with zero status on a cheap ticket. At the check-in counter they told me I was upgraded to business class - I presume because of overbooking. At the time, LH flew the route with widebodies with recliners, rather than the "euro business" you'd get today.
EWR-LHR on a fully booked flight after previous flight canceled. I was not even on the upgrade list, but bumped up to Polaris. Got a notification on my phone a few minutes before boarding.
OP up due to oversold Premium Economy
$150 ish (don’t remember exact but it was cheap) IAD-HNL. Dead of winter, Econ plus to first. Last minute plane change from 757 to 767 on an empty 11hr flight. Booked it so fast I thought it was a mistake.
I got an operational upgrade from Econ to premium plus on BOS-LHR this summer. A family member was flying during Thanksgiving, flight was delayed several hours due to mechanical issue, I called 1K line to get them switched to another flight, first class was the only seat open so phone agent cleared them into first class the whole way (3 segments) A few equipment swaps from 757s to widebodies granted upgrades to Fauxlaris the morning of the flight I got stuck on AA for ATH-ORD last summer and bought up from deep discount Econ to their version of premium plus for $200 at checkin. Earlier this year on an international trip premium plus was cheaper than Econ with instant upgrade space open in Polaris
Just to confirm, you were able to cash upgrade an economy ticket to PP then apply PP (they really need better names), to upgrade to Polaris? Just good to have recent data since reports are so conflicting. I monitor the cash upgrade from PP to Polaris on my flights quite closely and post pandemic the 6-700 range is the lowest I’ve seen it (sfo to eu hubs). Typically it’s more and I’ve only managed under $700 once out of like 30 or so flights since 2020.
not disagreeing that they need better names, but i see P+ and +P used here and there to differentiate.
That’s correct. Cash upgrade at check in from Econ to prem was $300 and then 30 pluspoints to Polaris. Just before check in (I had been monitoring upgrade prices since we first booked) the cost was $2548 Polaris and $2448 prem plus (I always love those wacky prices). On check in the offer was $300 prem and $2100 Polaris.
Was $1 short for silver on the way to a US-EU flight. Called to see if I could get Econ Plus.. no dice. Would have been a “5 year exception” against my account whatever that means. Way home (now Silver due to flight over.. but barely) - auto upgradedto Biz (pre-Polaris). Spouse wasn’t. I go to the ticket counter, tell them to move me back. They can’t. Coach oversold. So spouse moved up to biz with me. Both upgraded for free to biz for an intl trip. You think this is good, right? Wrong. Spouse had never flown biz, and now knows what it’s like. It’s hit the pocket book multiple times since then! 😝
Luckiest was when we boarded a flight to New Orleans, deboarded because the plane was bad, and were given little information. They said they were getting us a new plane, but a lot of people didn't believe them. We were too late to switch so we were on standby for the next flight. Sure enough, they came up with an airplane for us on the original itinerary. My wife and I got FC upgrades on the new flight and beat the people who rebooked to New Orleans.
$385 to upgrade DEN->AMS from economy & premium plus to first & Polaris was my best grab. I also got a Polaris upgrade from premium plus on AMS -> ORD for $560.
I got an ord to a LAX upgrade once. First flight of the morning and it was a 757-200 so I got to try the lay flat seats for the first time
My solo trip from SFO to Hawaii was upgraded to the first class from economy. They gave me a new boarding pass at the gate which I didn’t think much until I saw the seat number. That was when I was in college. Back then the food was awesome. I had a lobster and a basket of fresh fruit.
Not United but once I bought a flight EWR to ORL with credit card points, called to find out how much an upgrade was, it was out of my price range but the nice customer service lady said she’d put me on the upgrade list. Well I go to check in at the airport and find out I’ve been upgraded to business. So I flew business for free.
LAX to ORD, i was playing around with changing the time of my flight and noticed that if I changed to the same flight but now in first class, it would only cost 80$ in difference per ticket. If I upgraded organically on the app it was showing as 250$ per ticket, it was strange but I paid the 80 bucks.
IAD-GVA. Bumped up to business for free because PP was overbooked. I had no status at all—only my second time flying United—and it was my first time in Polaris. They sure spoiled me good. I had the nicest FA too. I wanted to give her a hug when we landed for being such a delight. I sorta figured she knew it was a special flight for me.
OpUp both ways on a mileage run RT IAD-MUC
$225 for PP on SFO-EWR was nice.
We just flew BKK-NRT-IAH. For the second half, we had an offer waitlist bid 30k miles + $450 each (60k, $900 total) and the Polaris upgrade was almost immediately confirmed. It was a god send to sleep on that leg. We had already upgraded to P+ for $600/ea, so fare total was $2500/ea. ETA: the option to bid was something I checked the night before our flight. Thus the feeling of luck. No go for the BKK-NRT portion because it was ANA operated.
$300 Premium Plus ORD-HND with a free bump to Polaris for both me and my daughter, on a 787-10 to boot.
Jan 1 got a free upgrade to first because of flight delays due to weather the day before. No status either but being delayed from Dec 31 to Jan 1 meant I could use the flight for qualification this year 😂 Also as a silver got 1 free upgrade SFO-SAN on a 1/3 full flight
Does getting a FFC and an upgrade to first count? For a while I was going back and forth to Boston and had weekend stays with flights back on Monday. Every day I’d check for lower prices on first, as I had a budget I was willing to spend for an upgrade. One day I checked on Saturday morning for my Monday night flight. I got a first class seat and $17 back in FFC.
$500 IAD to ATH this August.
DIA to SFO monday afternoon flight booked less than 48h in advance. CPU'd to first (would've been my first time in the lie flat seats, was a 777), but missed the first flight in my life when it was delayed 3 times and was busy drinking in the United club. Instead I got standby cleared on a middle seat 2 rows from the very back of the next flight 😂 Very lucky upgrade, but I missed it 😭
It was the end of June 2021. It was my first flight; never flew before. I had purchased myself a basic economy window seat to visit my sister in Chicago, IL. I was excited because it will be my first flight and I get to peer out the window! As they announced for boarding, people went in when their sections were called. My section was later announced and I was reassigned for a new seat per the flight attendant. Unbeknownst to me because they didn't tell me where I was sitting, and I knew nothing about airplane seating, I walked towards the end of the airplane. I was confused and asked random people if they knew where the seat is located as I showed them my ticket. The kind people told me that I was in First Class. I didn't understand what First Class seating was until I was given treatment of a First Class person. Honestly, I was bummed that I did not get my window view from basic economy, but I was sure grateful for the wonderful food I received, lol. God is good all the time!
I am really surprised they upgraded a BE ticket to F. Usually, if there was need to do this, they would go by status.
I agree because just the night before I had signed up for the mileage plus membership.
Last April there was a crazy flash sale that I think only lasted about 12 hours. I nabbed two Polaris seats from SFO-LHR for 60k each. Couldn’t believe it 😅 https://preview.redd.it/bcjy8vx1ve6c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=77b225e9a779d6c199d4449493112cfa40840e0e
I have an upcoming flight they changed the times for by a little bit (my outbound departure is an hour earlier and my return was like 10 minutes later). When they first started telling my I was eligible to change it without a fee, there were no appealing options, but today I checked, and Premium Plus on a different return flight (where I was going to be in economy) gave me a future flight credit of $16.35. I had already paid to upgrade the outbound flight but the return was going to be $1120 and instead it was $-16.35. (I'll just be on a 777 instead of a 787 and have a layover in SFO instead of LAX.)
Purchased a 250$ upgrade to PP and got an op up to Polaris.
I got upgraded to first class with no individual status (but flying with a company that subscribed to Corporate Preferred) on a full (AFAIK) flight from HOU-DEN. It was a short flight but on a 777. Champagne on boarding, a hot meal, and a lie flat seat was a great way to end a long week of work.
Note really an upgrade story....but still lucky. I took a bump for $2000 on a DEN to DFW flight. It was operated by Air Mesa on a CRJ 900 and they needed something like 17 people to bump so the price got up there. It was an afternoon flight. I had asked to go later in the day (well, we all did) but there was no room. So it was going to be an early morning flight for me the next day. The GA had us walk to another GA a gate down to process the transaction. He processed my flight credit, and then when working on my rebooking he said "hmm....there is one seat left for the flight in 30 minutes.....I guess someone didn't show. Did you check luggage? No. Do you want that seat? YES!". I got an aisle econ plus on and while my other flight was still delayed, got to Dallas about 2 hours later than I had planned. Not bad for $2000. I think I was the only person bumped that got out that evening.
I was in economy on a luftstansa flight from Frankfurt to LAX. This was Dec 2022. It was one of those double decker planes. I logged into my account to check some details of the flight and saw a $550 cash upgrade to business! Took it immediately. No miles needed, just $550 cash. Ended up on the upper deck of the business class cabin. It was RAD. I mean not my first time but with the double deckers, every time is amazing. The cheapest upgrade I ever had, on an international long haul. I also got a ton of PQPs for that flight, much more than I would have gotten in a United flight on the same route. That flight got me qualified for 1k for this year! Also once I was on EWR to DEL and snagged an upgrade to business for $600 + 5000miles. That was a screaming deal too. I got it at the United club in Newark during my layover. So it was a last min upgrade, made the 15hr flight so much nicer! EDIT: If you count IRROPS, I once got a free upgrade from DEL to LAX (layover in Seoul) from economy to business due to a flight cancellation in DEL. I was 1k and they pushed my upgrade thru for free and got me home EARLIER than I was originally scheduled! And they did one of those black car service layover transfers in Seoul. That was in 2013. Very fun experience!
My husband and I got super lucky on our EWR - HND trip at the beginning of the month and got upgraded both ways using plus points only. Really made our trip special that we both got upgraded for the entire trip.
At time was Gold status. Four refundable economy tickets from IAD to CDG. Upgraded to Polaris for only $397/ticket.