How hard is it to get points upgrades on Asian carriers using United miles?

How hard is it to get points upgrades on Asian carriers using United miles? I'm about to join United Club for its lounge benefits, as I'll be travelling extensively in SE Asia, and a little domestically in Australia. I expect I'll most often fly Singapore Airlines (United is StarAlliance), but have read that upgrades can be tricky if your points are not with the actual carrier's programme.

Should I be concerned?

adambreen,

I don't believe your United miles are good for upgrades with SQ. SQ does not have a culture of upgrades and their policy for upgrades using SQ miles are not as good as the US carriers. Most upgrades on SQ tend to be on an op-up basis i.e. they have over booked in a cabin and will upgrades elites from their own programme.

So really you have to choose between lounge access (United's programme) or higher chances of upgrades (SQ's programme).

Now this choice is only valid on the assumption that you will be flying a lot but not enough to hit Gold on SQ's programme. If however you envisage flying a considerable amount so as to hit Gold, I would do the following;

1) Get a United Club to gain access to lounges. But accrue your miles to SQ's programme 

2) Once you've hit Gold on SQ's programme, discontinue your United Club membership.

That way you get to use the lounge in the interim whilst you work your way towards SQ Gold.

Thanks mate, I reckon I'll hit SQ Gold within 12 months. So I'll accrue to SQ, but go with United Club for lounges in the meantime.

I appreciate all your good advice!

Only one problem within Australia regarding UA Club.It's not much use here.Trans Tasman on NZ maybe but other than that Get Krisflyer as they have a partnership with Virgin Australia which can be used domestically.

OP is going to be based out of MNL as per previous thread.