narvik

So, your final destination is somewhere on the East Coast?

Most of us East Coasters who like to fly in J using upgrades are getting to China via a third country, not via SFO or LAX, AFAIK.
The LAX/SFO ---> East Coast ---> LAX/SFO legs are just a horrible proposition on UA: 1) extremely low chance of upgrade clearing, and: 2) horrible connection times

moondog

I'm not sure what kind of details you're looking for. I normally just book xxx-DFW-PVG or vv. If your destination in China is somewhere other than Shanghai, TYO and HKG are also sensible connection points, but I haven't seen anything better than economy class on CX tpac flights (when using AA miles) in quite some time.

UnitedHostage

Yes! My home is in NYC but my wife has homes in Hong Kong and Beijing. Flying through HND is nice. I am trying to get 3 million lifetime miles on United which is why I mainly why I fly through SFO. EWR to HND only gets me 6760 butt-in-seat miles but EWR to SFO to HKG gets me 9492 butt-in-seat miles. I will reassess my strategy when I hit 3 million miles and consider taking the HND route. I am still young so I will easily hit 4 million before I'm 35 but I don't think it will be worth it. By then I expect PlusPoints to be similar to Delta upgrades that only confirm into Premium Economy.

mahzor

I messaged their customer support

uanj

If you are after lifetimes miles, you already have your answer, going through SFO or LAX will be the most productive for you. Before I hit 4 million I often made the same decision in your situation. Just monitor the upgrade situation, it does change over time but currently HKG, SFO and PEK are pretty easy, especially if you have some flexibility in choosing which weekday you travel.

For many of the posters here, we look for the best use of upgrades when redeeming PPs, so flying HND-East Coast gets you to the US and across it in business. Flying into SFO or LAX requires a domestic connection where upgrades are sparse. Different goal.

eflyte

Pricing on these routes (SFO-PVG is the one I'm focused on) continues to perplex. Direct routing from the UAL hub has dropped to 'normal' or even generous levels (e.g., one-way $850 in Y, $1300 in PE) but if originating in an outstation the same date is $6600 in Y, $8000 in PE.

I'm currently holding a XXX-SFO-PVG economy ticket (S fare bucket) but am considering splitting this into XXX-SFO SFO-PVG (with the latter in PE), which would actually be cheaper (and save me some Plus Points on the upgrade to Polaris, which looks likely to clear either way). My ticket was booked by a third party in China and paid in RMB, however, and I'm a little reluctant to mess w/ it for fear of triggering some glitch in the UA reservation system and because I'm not 100% sure what will happen to the ~$300 residual between the current ticket and the re-fared PE ticket (UA.com shows everything in RMB and isn't showing that I'll receive a credit when I price the change on the website). Anyone have relevant experience here, or have suggestions for how to proceed? I suppose a call to the 1K desk might be the best strategy?

moondog

Where is xxx? The best strategy might entail using a different origin or airline.

eflyte

In this case SLC. Considering breaking this into 2 tickets: SLC-SFO, SFO-PVG. W/ the current pricing the two together (w/ the second in PE) are about the same cost as the original economy ticket. Unfortunately it looks like I won't get any FFC from the fare difference between the current ticket and the new SFO-PVG PE reservation, I guess because it keeps one of the same flights.